Many women have one thing in common, being for female empowerment and finding the perfect beat of a song. Two things plenty of girl groups have provided over several decades.

    Girl groups were first introduced in the 1960s, when American group formerly known as Diana Ross and the Supremes signed to Motown Records in 1961. The group consisted of Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, and the legendary Diana Ross. The years 1961-1963 was only a rough start for these three ladies who struggled to earn a Top 40 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart after releasing six singles at the time. Soul was a big part of the group’s music influences along with doo-wop, pop, and disco. Mainstream fame finally rose for these three ladies in 1964, when they released “Where Did Our Love Go”. The song went straight to number one in the U.S. and also charted in the UK, reaching at number three. Not only did this song become their very first hit but the group was followed by four number one hits. In 1965 the group’s song “Baby Love” was nominated for a Grammy. Diana Ross and the Supremes became one of Motown’s most successful groups outdoing the likes of the records biggest artists, Marvin Gaye and The Temptations.

   Moving on from the era of soul and doo-wop to an era thirty years later known as “Dance Pop and American R&B”. The 90s created a new culture for girl groups allowing these powerful women to change the game in the music industry. Music genres quickly changed from soul to R&B when acts like En Vogue, Destiny’s Child, and TLC became the main influence. American group Destiny’s Child has seen the great years of success following the releases of hit after hit. They groups is well known for singles like Survivor and Bootylicious which encourages female empowerment and confidence. TLC has also had their fair share of fame with tracks such as No Scrubs and Creep. The electro-hop track, No Scrubs scored the group a multi platinum record. The 90s were also known as the “British Invasion” after the Spice Girls took over America’s mainstream radio stations across the nation. With a total of 80 million singles sold worldwide, the group has defiantly won over the world. At the time, the Spice Girls became “commercially successful”, following in the British boyband footsteps, The Beatles. In 1996, their single, Wannabe became number one in thirty seven countries.  

    These women definitely paved the path of today’s millennial girls groups. If you have the lyrics “Give it to me, I’m worth it.” engraved in your mind, you can thank American act, Fifth Harmony for that. Fifth Harmony were formed back in 2012 on the American version of X Factor. The group struggled to produce a hit until recently when they release Worth it featuring Kid Ink earlier this year. Although the sound of the group focuses on Dance pop, the tune sure is catchy. Their song has trended on Billboard’s Hot 100 plus, it has become multi platinum. Another up and coming girl group is also a UK native, well known as Little Mix. Little Mix originated on the UK version of X Factor in 2011, also being the first group to ever win the show, surpassing the record of boyband One Direction who placed third in 2010. Although Little Mix have yet to break the U.S. barrier in charting at number one, they have broken the Spice Girls previous record in the U.S. after their debut album DNA charted at number four on Billboard’s 200 Chart. The Spice Girls charted at number six. Their debut single Wings is also certified 3x’s platinum in Australia and gold in the UK and U.S. They are currently promoting their newest single Black Magic.

  From doo-wop to pop, generations sure do change and these strong women of the industry have shown just how far they’ve come as artists. In twenty years, could there be a new generation of groups changing the industry once again? Guessing we will just have to wait and see.