Throughout 2017, the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart has been dominated by men. Although there’s been a host of female acts inching closer and closer to the top slot on the chart, the top five songs in the country have been the product of male artists or groups for the past 12 weeks.
Not anymore.
Thanks to the DJ-Khaled produced jam “Wild Thoughts” hitting number four on the chart dated Jul. 8, Rihanna is the first woman to have a song chart in the top five since Apr. 8, 2017. Through this feat, the bad gal has ended the longest drought of female solo artists the top five has experienced in 35 years.
According to Billboard, “From the charts dated June 12 through Sept. 11, 1982, no female soloists ranked in the bracket for 14 straight weeks…the last time that women were entirely absent from the Hot 100’s top five for at least 12 weeks before the interlude between Swift and Rihanna? Nearly 45 years ago.”
Even more mind-boggling? The track, off of the Miami hitmaker’s Grateful LP, is just the seventh song with a female artist (either as the lead musician or a featured guest) to crack the top five in 2017.
While the track is still bookended by a male artist, we’re glad we have a shining light in RihRih that hopefully signals a positive change to come.