Halfway through 2024, it's Taylor Swift's world again and we're all just living in it. In the middle of the year, this one Department of Tormented Poets The album is the biggest release of 2024 so far by a huge margin, having spent nine of the 13 weeks of the second quarter atop the Billboard 200. That helped her label, Republic Records, achieve the best market share of all of Warner Music Group for the year to June 27, contributing 15.72% to Republic — by far the best among individual labels.
However, Swift is far from the only factor. Republic's market share also includes Mercury Records, Big Loud Records and Island Records (as well as indie distributor Imperial and Cash Money), and each of those labels has also been on fire in the first half: Mercury's Post Malone has collaborated with Swift, Beyoncé, Blake Shelton and Big Loud's Morgan Wallen on major singles (the latest of which, “I Had Some Help,” spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100), while Sabrina Island's Carpenter dominated the latter's singles charts and the same label's Chappell Roan has emerged as one of the artist stories of the year. Each of the three labels, if they broke out on their own, would have made the top 15 of the current mid-year market share chart, with Island in particular recording a mid-year mark (1.29%) that was more than double its share of the same point last year and represents the highest median share since 2018.
That rise from Republic, which is up more than 3% from the current 12.42% share it held in mid-2023, helped boost industry leader Universal Music Group's market share to 36.37% at the halfway point , from 34.48% in the same period last year. In turn, Sony Music Entertainment's current stake reached 26.07%, down from 27.54% at mid-2023. While Warner Music Group's 15.68% was down from 17.26% in mid-2023 of last year. The independent sector, by distribution ownership, rose more than a percentage point to 21.88%, from 20.72%. As a label property, the independent community remained the largest segment of the business, with a 39.12% current share and 37.35% total share, which are down slightly year-over-year but relatively static.
Among individual labels, in addition to Republic, Interscope Geffen A&M (whose market share also includes Verve Label Group) also had a strong quarter. The label has reached a 9.51% current share, also a big margin from the 8.08% it posted in mid-2023, with Billie Eilish's Hit with hard and soft guiding. Given the realignment of UMG's label structure under Interscope Capitol Labels Group on the West Coast, within which Capitol now reports to the head of ICLG John Janickand Republic Recording Company on the East Coast, which includes Def Jam among the additional labels listed on Monte LipmanICLG's current market share will rise to 13.54% by mid-year, with Republic Recording Company at 16.36%.
In addition to those two labels, Warner Records – which includes Warner Latin, the Rhino label and a stake in Warner Nashville – continued its hot streak from the first quarter, as singles from Benson Boone (“Beautiful Things” ), Teddy Swims (“Lose Control”) and Zach Bryan (last year's “I Remember Everything” with Kacey Musgraves) remain among the biggest songs of 2024. Notably, Warner's current 6.30% stake — which holds in third place among the labels — coming even before the impact of Bryan's last album, The Great American Bar Scene, since it was released after the six-month follow-up period. That's easily Warner's best mid-year rate in years and an improvement on 5.62% in 2023, when it ranked fifth.
In fourth place is Atlantic, with a 5.24% current share, which is both significantly down from the 7.34% it posted at mid-2023 and slightly up from the 5.14% current share it had in the first quarter, as Jack Harlow's former No. 1 “Lovin On Me” remains among the top songs of the year. (Atlantic's stake includes 300 Elektra Music Group.) In fifth place, with a current share of 4.59%, is RCA Records, representing a drop in share from last year's 4.98% at mid-year, but an increase in the position, as she came seventh at this point last year.
In the sixth, Columbia's current share has improved, up to 4.35% from 3.71% in Q1, as Beyoncé Cowboy Carter and Hozier's No. 1 single “Too Sweet” is making an impact, though it's still down from the 5.16% it had midway through last year. (Columbia's stake includes some labels from independent distributor RED.) Meanwhile, Capitol Music Group — which includes Virgin Music, Motown/Quality Control, Capitol Christian, Blue Note and Astralwerks — has fallen to seventh position with a current share of 4.03%. , down from 6.00% in 2023 and 4.71% in the first quarter of 2024.
A trio of Sony labels round out the top 10, albeit in a different order than in the same period in 2023. At eighth, Epic Records capitalized on a string of major hip-hop albums in the first half of the year from 21 Savage, Future and Metro Boomin to increase its current share to 2.78%, up significantly from the 1.82% share it held last year when it ranked 10th. Also pushing higher is Sony Latin, which came in ninth with 2.17%, up from 1.99% last year. It comes ahead of Sony Nashville, which fell from a 2.55% share in mid-2023 to a 1.96% share in mid-2024.
Another big mid-year climber is Alamo, which is up 1.78% so far this year, good for 11th place and a jump from the 0.96% current share it held this time last year. (Alamo also launched indie distributor Santa Anna last year, which signed a deal with Drake's OVO Sound label in January.) Universal's Nashville (1.35%) and Latin (1.12%) follow in 12th and 13th, respectively, while BMG (0.93%) and Concord (0.75%) – the latter of which scored a big hit with Tommy Richman's “Million Dollar Baby” released by Pulse Music – round out the top 15 among the current market share.
In total market share — which combines current releases (past 18 months) with catalog — UMG extended its lead at the top to 38.52% from 37.98% last year, while Sony (27.21% ) and WMG (18.22%) both fell slightly, and the independent community per distribution property rose to 16.05% from 15.93% last year.
Among the individual labels, the race is much tighter at the top in overall share, with Republic's 10.61% edging out Interscope's 9.88%, although both saw their share increase year-on-year . (The ranking for the UMG umbrella groups in terms of total share: ICLG at 15.78% and Republic Recording Company at 12.45%). The listings of Capitol (in fifth) and Columbia (in sixth) allowed their shares to rise to a virtual tie at 5.90%, with Capitol outpacing Columbia by five-tenths of a point. Rounding out the top ten are RCA (5.05%), Epic (2.75%), Sony Nashville (2.02%) and UMG Nashville (1.86%).
By catalog share, both UMG (39.25%) and Sony (27.60%) grew year-over-year, while Warner (19.07%) and Indies (14.08%) in distribution ownership ) declined slightly. Among individual labels, Interscope holds the top spot, still with 10.00%, ahead of Republic's 8.88%, both up slightly from last year. Republic just edges out Atlantic, which falls to No. 3 with an 8.41% share, while Warner Records (6.88%), Capitol Music Group (6.53%) and Columbia Records (6 .42%) are far behind, with Warner leapfrogging Capitol Hill year after year. RCA comes in at a solid seventh place with a 5.21% share, while Epic (2.75%), Def Jam Recordings (2.25%) and Sony Nashville (2.04%) round out the top 10.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/midyear-label-market-share-2024-republic-rules-taylor-swift/
