Record-breaking Women in Music History

Groove into your weekend with our Women First mix, celebrating the Best, First, and Most among women artists in music. Here’s to being more best, first, and most in our own lives.

Track List (with corresponding record set/broken):

1. Cardi B - Bodack Yellow (First rap single by a solo woman to reach #1 since 1998)

2. Mariah Carey ft Boyz II Men - One Sweet Day (Longest at #1- 16 weeks!!)(Carey also has the most cumulative weeks at #1, 79, AND the most consecutive years with a #1 single, with 11)

3. Adele - Water Under the Bridge (Highest record sales on release week, 3.3 million copies)

4. Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You (Biggest jump to #1 in a single week, from #97)

5. Cher - Believe (Longest span of #1s, 33 years.)

6. Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Most consecutive singles at #1, with 7)(Houston also has the most weeks topping both the album AND singles chart simultaneously)

7. Madonna - Ray of Light (Most Top 10 singles, with 38!!)

8. Janet Jackson - Escapade (Most Top 5 singles from one album, with 7)(Jackson also has the most albums with 5 or more top 10 singles)

9. Rihanna - What’s My Name (Only time in history an album’s first single reached #1 AFTER its second single)

10. Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Sit Down (Inventor of rock n roll)

11. Sylvia Robinson - Pillow Talk (Not this song, but Robinson is responsible for the first rap single of all time, both putting together Sugar Hill Gang and running the record company that put their music out, Sugar Hill Records.)(She wrote this song for Al Green, who turned it down because it was too hot. So she recorded it, and had a Top 5 hit.)

12. Aretha Franklin - Sisters are Doin it for Themselves (First woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

by Katie Presley

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Katie Presley is a writer and editor currently based on the East Coast (help, how did this happen??). She's been with Bitch in one form or another since 2010, when she started as a New Media Intern, and most recently served as Bitch's first and only Music Editor, from 2016-2017. Past resume lines include Assistant Producer for All Songs Considered at NPR Music, panelist on Pop Culture Happy Hour, and bylines at NPR and Ms. Katie is also a doula and herbalist, and writes a blog on herbal medicine, "The Herbal Apprentice." She also co-founded the first full-spectrum doula organization in Texas, The Bridge Collective. She is also a late-comer to being a Dog Person, but currently lives with four cats.