The 10 Greatest Female Songwriters of All Time, Period

Women in the music business have had a steeper climb than the men. To say the very least. Stereotypes persist in the music business, but the female songwriters below have redrawn the boundaries. Putting truth behind the idea that great art requires hardship, female songwriters are responsible for (at least) half the greatest songs ever written. This is far from a complete list with only 10. But if we had to pick the 10 greatest female songwriters of all time…here they are—and they’re from all different genres and eras.

10. Taylor Swift

Living in fractured times, Taylor Swift still dominates culture. She’s written a lot of hit records. A lot. Swift is a prolific songwriter who’s singular power is in the way she convinces millions of people she’s speaking directly to them. She speaks to fans like friends in a group chat. This Swift-speak shows up in the lyrics. Songs like “All Too Well” and “Blank Space” are reasons why she can pack stadiums in an age of diminishing attention spans. 

9. Chrissie Hynde

Chrissie Hynde is a rock traditionalist. She was born in Akron but has lived most of her life in London. Hynde is inspired by ’60s rock ’n’ roll, and her life in the Pretenders has been one long sneer against the very idea of rock star. She didn’t reinvent the genre, but she did pull back the curtain on fame. Hynde ditched poetry for raw honesty on songs like “Middle of the Road.”

8. Lucinda Williams

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is Lucinda Williams’s greatest commercial achievement. But for nearly 50 years Williams has been writing American poetry in music regardless of radio or commercial trends. Her work is sometimes political but even when it is not, she’s addressing the human condition through the state of the world. 

7. Brandi Carlile

Brandi Carlile exists for the misfits. She grew up poor, dropped out of high school, and tended to the challenges of being gay and Christian. Her songs “The Story” and “The Joke” are so powerful they seem designed to bring even the toughest cynics to their knees. She sounds like the past and the present. Carlile writes with the natural ease of a smile. Just when her voice reaches an unknowable, cosmic peak, it cracks to reinforce the humility of a brilliant, empathic songwriter. 

6. Ellie Greenwich

One of the Brill Building’s most prolific writers, Ellie Greenwich and her partner Jeff Barry wrote a string of Phil Spector-produced classics like “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Be My Baby,” “Chapel of Love,” and “River Deep – Mountain High.” Greenwich’s songs were the framework of Spector’s Wall of Sound in the 1960s. 

5. Memphis Minnie

In the early ’20s, on Beale Street in Memphis, Minnie developed her signature sound among the jug bands and gamblers. Beginning with her first recordings in 1929, she developed blues guitar playing using her signature finger-style approach. Minnie was a prolific writer and her songs became standards like “When the Levee Breaks.” 

4. Loretta Lynn

Loretta Lynn defined rural resistance. She was married at 15 and a mother at 16. Lynn overcame hardship and challenged existing norms with songs like “Rated X” and “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind).” She took the Appalachian songs she was raised on and created a new standard of country songwriting for future generations. 

3. Carole King

Even without Tapestry Carole King makes the list. The Shirelles’ hit “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” are now standards. For years in New York, King wrote the songs that changed pop music. Then came her second album Tapestry, the defining spirit of the 1970s. 

2. Dolly Parton

Breaking glass ceilings is hard work. But coming from the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains to shatter norms in country music is Sisyphean. Dolly Parton, with verve and swagger, has spent a lifetime pushing past the fences attempting to hold her in. With all the honors, Parton has said if she could only choose to be one thing, she’d choose songwriter. The core of her supernova success is the song. Jolenes should think twice before crossing the enigma that is Dolly Parton. 

1. Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell’s Blue was a confessional masterpiece. Mitchell was a part of the ’60s folk scene but expanded well beyond it with jazz and experimental compositions. Mitchell’s deeply personal lyrics provided enough force to shoot Taylor Swift and Brandi Carlile, like confessional rockets, into musical existence. At a recent concert Carlile said, “We didn’t live in the time of Shakespeare, Rembrandt or Beethoven. But we live in the time of Joni Mitchell.”

It’s impossible to truly pick 10 greatest female songwriters, of all time, period. But let’s sit with these masters of their craft for now—and feel free to write in if you feel some juggling is in order.

Photo by David Redfern/Redferns