‘Tomatogate:’ Female Country Artists Band Together

The topic of women in country music has been a hot-button issue since 2015 when radio consultant Keith Hill compared women on country radio to the “tomatoes of our salad,” alluding to the fact that men make up the bulk of what was being played on air (à la the lettuce in the metaphorical salad). His comments caused quite the uproar within the format and the situation became widely known as “Tomatogate.”

According to soundslikenashville.com, little has changed in the two years since “Tomatogate,” even though the topic of women on country radio has been discussed time and time again. Although male artists have continued to reign over the charts, we have seen a number of female artists, such as Kelsea Ballerini, Lauren Alaina, RaeLynn, and Maren Morris, blaze their own paths at country radio.

Currently, however, there are only two women in the top 40, which proves that even though there has been some progression since 2015, we still have a long way to go for female voices to be heard.

The lack of women on the charts recently prompted superstar Miranda Lambert to speak out about the issue once again.

“It sucks. It makes me mad,” she expressed to Billboard. “You can print out any top chart, and you’ll see maybe a couple females, or not even one.”

Lambert believes the male chart domination “is just a phase” and that the ladies will once again rule as they did in the 1990s when Country queens like Shania Twain, Trisha Yearwood, and Faith Hill were cranking out the hits.

“I think there was a time [for women] before, and there will be again, and that doesn’t stop any of us,” she attests.

FLASHBACK: After his original comments were reported in June 2015, Country radio consultant Keith Hill spent about an hour with Radio Stuff host Larry Gifford explaining the intention and the origin of his comments that sparked ‪#‎saladgate. He defends the recommendation he made to country programmers to increase ratings by limiting female artists to 15% of the song rotation, but insists it’s not sexist.


“Trust me, if playing 80% of females got me the highest ratings, I’d run over you in the hallway to put a female record on the air. I would walk over broken glass and chew razor blades to get to the studio to deliver what the audience will line up for.”