Dataset for the analysis of gender inequality in albums and singles charts in the Spanish's music industry

The data originates from Promusicae’s official website, which provides weekly and yearly charts for albums, singles, and additional music-related content categories. The paper associated to this sample is available here:

Sánchez-Olmos, C. (2025). Gender Inequality in Spain’s Official Music Charts: Neither Representation nor Success for Female Artists (2008–2020). Journalism and Media, 6(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia6010010

This dataset features the top 50 from 2008 to 2020, comprising 1300 recording units with an equal split between albums (650) and singles (650) (Figure 1). Promusicae represents Spanish record labels affiliated with the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and is responsible for publishing these official charts. The analysis period started in 2008 when Promusicae published its first top 50 singles chart, which was later expanded to a top 100 format in 2015. Since Promusicae has published the singles chart since 2008, this year marks the beginning of the analysis period, ending in 2020.

Both charts were downloaded in Excel format from the Promusicae website. All albums and singles are coded to feature the following variables: artist, title, year of chart appearance, gender (soloist or band), position on the chart, and success achieved. The gender of the featured position is also coded in the single chart.

This code has its limitations. First, the use of binary gender coding fails to capture the diversity of sexual identities (de Boise, 2019). Furthermore, several methods for categorising mixed bands were identified based on the roles of men and women (including composers, singers, or instrumentalists). However, to facilitate discussion, we chose the categories proposed by Lafrance et al. (2011). Consequently, the final coding includes five distinct categories: male artists, male bands (entirely composed of men), female artists, female bands (consisting solely of women), and male–female groups (mixed duos, trios, or bands featuring both women and men).