Late starting doesn't work in the pop industry

The i has a piece today headlined:

Women: If you are over 26, you'll probably never make it as a pop star

This is based on a data analysis of 'age at time of first number one single', and - to be honest - if you strip out Carly Rae Jepsen, who is something of an outlier, you're looking at 23 being the latest to get your career started.

But... surely the idea that the pop industry is a harsh place to late starters doesn't require a graph? Or one to show that the levels of investment in older women in the entertainment industry scuppers the chance of a launch (and we're calling 27 'older' here which shows the extent of the problem)?

In fact, given there can only be at most 520 number one artists in a ten year period, and generously, only 100 of those are liable to be debut number ones, and the population of the three countries which supply most US number ones (US, UK & Canada) is about 421 million, the headline should be:

People, you'll probably never make it as a pop star