Billboard + THR to End Rankings of Entertainment’s Powerful Women

After 23 years of ranking the entertainment industry's most powerful women, The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard will abolish the Women in Entertainment Power 100 and 50 Most Powerful Women in Music, respectively, in an act the publications' president hopes will foster a more inclusive, less competitive environment.

In a letter addressed to readers this morning (November 11), Janice Min noted that, instead, the publications will honor groups of women as peers—still 100 for THR and still 50 for Billboard—with occasional mentions of exceptional standouts. Keeping things as they are, she wrote, will only serve to pit women against each other in what she has come to regard as a "female cage match."

"I've come to believe that something as simple as our ranked women's lists contributes to keeping that sense alive, that we accidentally created a beauty pageant of brains where only one woman gets crowned," she wrote. "Some women have publicly cried upon seeing their rankings. That is funny to some people. But it's depressing as hell to me."

Min also lamented the fact that since the lists debuted, little has changed in the field's treatment of women—they're still paid less and have fewer opportunities as executives. So, she's hoping a stronger sense of belonging might help to narrow gender gaps.

"...the acceptance of women as 'lesser' in Hollywood is so commonplace, it's as if we've grown comfortable living with our own ugly furniture," she wrote. "We don't even know it looks bad."

Min added THR will also soon debut a most-powerful list (this one will be ranked) that includes both men and women, to which she said "game on."

Check out the full letter here, and be sure to catch Billboard's (very inclusive) Women in Music event on December 18 on Lifetime!

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