2018 in Review: 10 Country and Americana Albums By Women That Should’ve Hit No. 1
Barring any last-minute moves, the top of Billboard's Country Albums and Americana / Folk Albums charts were almost completely dominated by men in 2018. In fact, women have spent only four weeks at No. 1 on the country chart this year to date: Carrie Underwood's Cry Pretty spent two weeks atop the chart, while Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour and the Pistol Annies' Interstate Gospel spent one week apiece at No. 1.
Women fared only slightly better on the Americana / folk chart, with four women -- Brandi Carlile, Musgraves, Courtney Barnett and the Pistol Annies -- ruling that chart throughout 2018. Each of their albums sat at No. 1 for one week, except for Musgraves' Golden Hour, which spent two weeks in the top spot.
Pointing this gender imbalance out isn't meant to denigrate any of the men who had albums hit No. 1 in 2018; after all, no matter which way you slice it, landing a chart-topping album is a major achievement. However, country and Americana women released an abundance of great albums in 2018 that certainly deserved to hit that milestone.
In alphabetical order, here are 10 albums by country and Americana women that deserved to top the charts in 2018.