Australia has no shortage of female musicians. But we don't like listening to them.

Listeners of ABC’s Triple J have voted for the best albums of 2016.

Frank Ocean, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Radiohead, DMAs, Sticky Fingers, Ball Park Music, RUFUS, The Avalanches and Flume are all in there. Violent Soho took the number-one spot.

The list shows variety in genres. Variety in the backgrounds and ages of the artists. No variety in gender.

All the artists are men.

As well as voting for the top albums, Triple J listeners also voted for the 100 best tracks of 2016.

The winners will be announced come January 26. As we gather around our barbecues, with our smelly zinc and blaring stereos and the condensation of cold drinks slipping down our fingers, we will throw around guesses for the number one spot.

Chances are, it won't be occupied by a female artist.

Last year, only 24 songs in the 2015 Hottest 100 were by women. Four of them were by the same woman, Courtney Barnett.

Over the course of Hottest 100 history, the average number of women in the countdown has been 23. No all-female act has ever taken the top spot.

It might be about air-time.

In the 12 months leading up to March this year, Triple J featured one album each month. 67 per cent of these albums were from male artists, while 33 per cent of these were from artists with at least one woman included.

The list of featured artists from Triple J "Unearthed" (or people 'discovered' by Triple J) was more balanced. 23 out of the 52 were female artists.

Listen: Aussie country music star Beccy Cole on finding love. (Post continues after audio.)

But it likely has a lot less to do with Triple J, than it does to do with the industry as a whole: 

Of the 120 record labels registered with Australian Independent Record Labels Association, 80 per cent are managed by men.

Only one in five of the 89,000 artists registered at APRA - an Australian organisation that manages the royalties of music - are women, a figure sourced by Triple J.

APRA's Board is made up of 12 non-executive directors, only one of which is a woman.

The trend is confirmed and re-confirmed by music festivals and awards.

In 2015, one in three ARIA nominations were for solo female artists or groups with at least one woman, according to Triple J.

(I find this "groups with at least one woman" distinction worrying - you don't read the same about "groups with at least one man".)

In 2016, Sia was the only woman in the ARIA Album of The Year category. In 30 years of ARIA history, only seven female acts have ever won that award. This year, Sia lost out to Flume. She was also up against Troye Sivan, The Avalanches and RUFUS.

Listen: Musician Katie Noonan on the I Don't Know How She Does It podcast. (Post continues after audio.)

In 2015, 32 per cent of the line up at music festival Splendour in the Grass included women. The rest was men-only acts.

Only 10 per cent of the 2015 Stereosonic line up featured women.

When the line up for Canberra music festival Spilt Milk was released in June this year, there was only one woman in the list of 16 artists.

Mostly, it's to do with us:

The problem is big and ugly and prevailing, and - if our votes in the Triple J Hottest 100 are anything to go by - we are falling for it.

Australia has no shortage of female music artists. These women do receive air time. We do hear them on our radios - particularly on Triple J, one of the "good guys". A station that celebrates women and diversity and equality. A station who's staff is more women than it is men. A station dedicated to delivering its listeners with all types of music for all types of people

But we don't vote for women music artists. And perhaps music festival organisers are afraid we won't turn up for them, either.

In 2017, we need to do better. We need to vote for women in competitions like the Hottest 100. We need to push to see women on stage. We need to turn up to concerts, big and small, to help women get noticed in the industry.

The problem is not the Hottest 100 - it is, after all, the world's biggest music democracy. The problem is with our own expectations.

*Feature image is Australian artist Courtney Barnett. Image via Facebook.