Who are the ten most prominent women in music right now?

Before I start this post, I know there are plenty of great female indie musicians. Karen O, Victoria Legrand, Sarah Martin, Régine Chassagne, Lana Del Rey, and the Dum Dum Girls are all immensely talented and I feel that they are much more musically significant than most of the artists I'm listing below. However in the book, "Where the Girls Are" by Susan J. Douglas which I'm reading for my Media Theory class discusses the cultural impact of girl groups like The Supremes and The Ronettes, groups who were very much in the spotlight, who the public was very much aware of. This two groups pushed cultural boundaries and beyond that, they were immensely talented. Looking at the ten most prominent women in music today, based mostly on billboard chart numbers, the group seems to be lacking in terms of subject matter and in terms of the quality of the music:

Rihanna
Adele
Katy Perry
Britney Spears
Lady Gaga
Beyonce
Taylor Swift
Nicki Minaj
Kesha
Fergie

It would appear that this group of women have a few things in common (with exceptions). They are marketed as sex symbols, they do not write their own songs, and what they sing and rap about is generally not very emotionally or culturally meaningful. I also don't like most of their songs.

Exceptions: As I've stated in the past, I think Rihanna makes some great music. I also like some songs by Nicki Minaj and Beyonce and I think that it's awesome that Adele is as popular as she is right now. She has one of the best voices in music and her songs have serious emotional significance.

For the most part though, I feel that the problems with female pop music are the same problems that male pop music has, although female pop musicians are definitely portrayed as sex symbols in a much more exploitative way.