Sia made history this week by becoming the first artist over 40, since Madonna in 2000, to score a number one hit on Billboard’s Music Chart.
I am a big Sia fan, love her latest album and I am truly happy with the enormous success of her latest single. Cheap thrills is an amazing track and Sia has definitely earned her success.
What surprises me and annoys me, as a man and most of all, as a father to a 6 years old girl, is the fact that Sia is the first female artist over 40 to chart a number one hit in over 16 years! Don’t you find this a little bit disappointing?
Not just that.
The main focus of all news surrounding Sia’s success with Cheap Thrills is not about her artistic and song writing talents but about how a woman over 40 has made it to the top of Billboard’s music charts. I don’t remember the world media mentioning Taylor Swift’s or Ariana Grande’s age when they reach number one on the Billboard’s chart?
A recent Billboard article also says that “noticeably, until the 1990s, it appears that veteran acts more commonly topped the Hot 100 than today”.
Before Madonna in 2000 with her single Music and Cher in 1999 with her single Believe, the last woman over 40 to hit number one on Billboard’s chart was Bette Middler in 1989. And believe it or not, the oldest woman to ever hit number one was Cher in 1999 at age 52. 52!
The way our society progresses, I think Cher will also be the last woman at age 52 to hit number one.
Let’s face it! We live in an ageist society where people, especially women over 40 are totally ignored by the world media and are expected to disappear from the face of the earth just because they have reached an age that is not considered “sexy” enough in our social media era.
Not just that. Women over 40 are also being constantly bullied.
Just look at the way the world media has treated Madonna? Remember her fall at the British Music Awards? She was trending on Twitter, not just because after such a terrible fall she continued singing and dancing but because, for some, her fall was a sign that it was her time to retire. I mean, retirement homes were using her fall to promote their services! Real marketing gone wrong!
So how do we end this? How do we make our society more age tolerant?
The world media needs to stop supporting ageism. One of the main reasons why the whole world has become so ageist is because world media is only focusing on young, hip artists and totally ignoring women over 40! (You know guys, Taylor and Ariana will also become 40 one day).
Finally, we ourselves have to be the driving force of this change. We need to stop judging people based on their age and need to accept the fact that life, especially for women, does not end when they hit 40.
We need to do this for our daughters, mothers, sisters and friends!
For a society that claims to be in its most advanced stage, it is truly disappointing that ageism is event a topic of discussion!