I don't understand the logic that if someone doesn't write their own songs, then it doesn't count. Most recording artists didn't write songs in the entire history of the record business. Frank Sinatra & Johnny Mathis didn't. It was the hippy era rock press like Rolling Stone that promoted the idea of self writing as being important. That's why Bob Dylan & Lennon/McCartney are considered big deals. Before that, most pop music was by non-performing songwriters who wrote the songs, singers who sang the songs, and producers that produced. That's where the "standards" & "American Songbook" came from. Many artists had recorded the same songs. Very few popular singers/bands pre-Bob Dylan/British invasion self-wrote, especially in mainstream Top 40 pop.
The idea that self-writing makes the songs about important personal feelings isn't necessarily true either. KC from KC & The Sunshine Band wrote most of their stuff, but their songs were mainly about partying & having fun. Rock Lobster & Love Shack by the B-52s are not about any of the band members lives. Same with Weird Al. He makes comedy songs. Many prog rock & metal songs are about Dungeons & Dragons style topics. Self-writing mostly matters in getting paid more money if the song becomes popular, others remaking/sampling the song, or the song being used in commercials/TV/movies/video games. That is if they didn't sign their publishing away. That's how The Beatles lost their publishing to Lew Grade, and the Rolling Stones early songs to Allen Klein by signing bad record contracts. But someone who doesn't write and sells a lot like Whitney Houston can make more money from record sales than someone who self-writes but doesn't sell much like a local bar band.
There's also the case that just because someone has a songwriting credits, doesn't mean they had anything to do with the creation of a song. Anybody can get a songwriting credit if they get registered at the copyright office. Some bands give everyone in the group credit, whether an individual member helped to write or not. A lot of Lennon/McCartney songs were written separately, but they made a deal to give each other credit. Elvis Presley didn't write anything at all, but Colonel Parker had it set up that Elvis got a writing credit or the song went into Elvis' publishing company. Dolly Parton was one who refused to do this. Some record label heads, managers, mafia guys, radio disc jockeys, etc. put their names on songs to get royalties. Some songwriters gave family members or friends credits to help them out financially.
The rock press also promoted the idea of an album as being a thing in itself like a story or something, rather than just a collection of songs, such as The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper (which almost always ranks at the top of best albums lists), Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd and Tommy by The Who.