Spotify celebrates International Women’s Day in the UK and Ireland with all-new woman powered content on the platform as it launches new year-round EQUAL programme for women creators

In honour of International Women’s Day, Spotify is making it easier than ever for listeners to support and celebrate women creators through their headphones with all-new woman powered content on the platform, as it launches its EQUAL programme and always-on commitment to women creators. 

See below for the full round-up of all the new ways to power your IWD listening, including new data on the top-streamed women artists and podcast creators here in the UK. 

The launch of the EQUAL 

Today, Spotify is proud to launch EQUAL - Spotify’s new global commitment dedicated to fostering equity for women in audio and celebrating their contributions.Spotify EQUAL will shine a spotlight on women creators locally, regionally, and internationally through global partnerships, activations, new content experiences, and on and off platform support. To hear more, check out this video manifesto. Highlights include: 

• Celebrating women creators around the world, with the launch of EQUAL Hub, a dedicated space on-platform to highlight women creators that will extend beyond the month of March and is programmed around the world.
• Partner Playlists: As part of the EQUAL Hub, some of Spotify’s global nonprofit partners, including Girls Make Beats, She’s The Music, Sound Girls, GLAAD, Color of Change, Women in Music and Women’s Audio Mission will create their own unique Spotify playlists highlighting artists who are leading and shaping the future of music. 
• WOMEN, a new music + talk show with on-hour episodes released throughout the day on March 8. A diverse group of 24 women creators and cultural figures from around the world who discuss women-centred content and share their personal reflections. Dynamic voices include DJ and producer Tokimonsta,  Spotify’s Dope Labs hosts, Titi Shodiya and Zakiya and more. 

• Supporting women voices with our new invite-only EQUAL Board. Made up of 15 organisations from around the world, Spotify’s EQUAL Board will provide each organisation a one-time grant and work together on tangible ways to make the audio industry more equitable for women creators.
• Engaging fans by encouraging them to ‘Flex Their Power to Listen’ and to play more women, no matter the day.  With data driven social videos, highlighting the breath of content on Spotify created by women. And also with social share cards, empowering fans to share their own personal recommendations of women creators.
• Extending our commitment to women creators beyond March. In April, Spotify is launching the EQUAL music program, fostering equity for women, in 50 countries from Japan to Argentina and from Malaysia to the UK. We’ll also continue to build on the success of programs like Sound Up and EQL that provide new opportunities for women creators in audio. 

New playlist collections and takeovers in the UK and Ireland 

In addition to EQUAL, Spotify’s most popular original playlists in the UK and Ireland will get an all-women makeover on 08 March, with the likes of Hot Hits UK, Who We Be,Massive Dance Hits,  Altar, and The Indie List, featuring special cover takeovers from Olivia Rodrigo, Ray BLK, Karen Harding, Octo Octa and Girl in Red, to name a few. As well as featuring a whole host of famous faces throughout the week, these playlists will be curated by Spotify’s expert editorial teams to feature all voices from women.

New playlist collections will also be spotlighted on the Spotify homepage from 05 - 31 March  including ‘Celebrating IWD 2021’, a selection of flagship playlists honouring women’s voices;  ‘Celebrating British Women’, a round-up of playlists and albums from iconic British women such as Adele and Amy Winehouse; and Game Changers in Music, a fresh collection of emerging British & Irish talent. 

In celebration of International Women’ Day, Spotify are also excited to celebrate the top-streamed women creators here in the UK (based on streaming data from January 1-February 22, 2021). Taylor Swift takes the top spot with more than 160 million streams in the UK alone. Ariana Grande is up next, followed by Dua Lipa and Little Mix. Additional top streamed women music artists include Billie Eilish, Rihanna, and Beyoncé. Master Clinical Counselling Hypnotherapist, Audice Nasser, host of the Audice Wellness Services is the most streamed woman podcast creator in the UK, followed by Happy Place’s Fearne Cotton. Additional top streamed women podcast creators include: Alex Cooper, Host of Call Her Daddy; Sophia Tuxford and Cinzia Baylis-Zullo, Hosts of The Girls Bathroom; and comedian Katherine Ryan, Host of Katherine Ryan: Telling Everybody Everything. 

To hear more about EQUAL, check out Spotify’s For The Record.