By mid-2023, Republic Records had achieved a 12.46% current market share – defined as albums released in the last 18 months – which was a remarkable figure and more than 4.5% higher than the second largest label. Now, as 2023 draws to a close, Republic has finished the year even higher, reaching an impressive 13.47% market share for the year. That's the highest full-year mark since at least 2015, when streaming began to pull the industry out of post-CD fatigue, and more than 3% higher than its current share in 2022, which was 10.38% that it was then industry leading. .
Republic's remarkable label comes from a combination of sustained releases dating back to the end of 2022 and massive albums from two of the biggest stars on the planet this year: Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen. For the full year of 2023, Swift and Wallen (signed through Republic's deal with Big Loud, which itself held a current 2.33% share) combined for seven of the top 10 albums in US consumption units, according to with Luminate, including four of the top five. With Metro Boomin's Heroes & Villains ranking at No. 10, Republic surprisingly had eight of the 10 biggest albums in the United States in 2023. And Republic's fourth quarter was even more dominant: In the last three months of the year, the label's current market share jumped to 16, 79% , boosted by new albums from Drake, Nicki Minaj and Stray Kids. This is higher than the current share of the entire Warner Music Group this quarter, which was 15.50%.
After Republic — which includes Island, Big Loud, Mercury Records, Cash Money and indie distributor Imperial in its market share — Interscope Geffen A&M ( IGA ) came in second in current share, with 8.80%, from 8 .72% it collected in 2022 The label — which also includes the Verve Label Group — scored another big hit with Olivia Rodrigo's sophomore album OFFAL. It also drew critical acclaim for Verve's Jon Batiste, once again a Grammy darling, and continued his extremely strong recent record-breaking record for new artists, with Gracie Abrams being named Best New Artist at this year's Grammys — a category the label won in three of the last four years.
The success of Republic and IGA helped parent company Universal Music Group climb back to 35.84% of the current market share for 2023, up two points year-over-year from 33.57 in 2022. In second, Sony Music Entertainment also rose year-on-year, up to 27.08% from 26.99% in 2022, while Warner Music Group fell to 16.95%, from 18.30% last year. India, by distribution ownership, accounted for 20.13% of the current market share, up from 21.14% in 2022.
In third and fourth place in current share among top-tier labels are a pair of Warner Music Group labels, Atlantic Records (6.83%, up from 9.15% in 2022) and Warner Records (5.96%, up from 4 .86% in 2022). Atlantic (which includes 300 Elektra Entertainment), which dropped from second to third each year, scored a big win with Barbie soundtrack as well as No. 1s from Lil Uzi Vert and Jack Harlow, despite falling two-plus points in the current share. Meanwhile, Warner Records — which includes Warner Latin, catalog label Rhino and parts of Warner Nashville in its stake — jumped from sixth last year to fourth this year, up more than 1 percent. Zach Bryan's self-titled album and No. 1 Hot 100 single 'I Remember Everything' led the way, with Bryan reaching No. 4 Advertising signArtist 100 year-end ranking and his “Something in the Orange” is the third most streamed song of 2023.
In fifth, Capitol Music Group also posted a big year-over-year increase in current share, from 4.97% in 2022 to 5.90% in 2023. The company — which remains in fifth place despite the jump in share and includes Motown /Quality Control , Blue Note, Astralwerks, Capitol Christian and indie distributor Virgin Music — enjoyed the success of Ice Spice (co-signed with 10K Projects) last year as well as a Top 10 Hot 100 single from Toosii.
Sixth place in the current share belongs to RCA Records with 4.70%, a jump of one place from last year when it came in with 4.65%. The label, whose market share does not include other labels or distributors, has benefited from the continued success of multi-Grammy nominee SZA warning sign album, the third biggest project of 2023, as well as massive hits from Doja Cat, Tate McCrae and Ateez, the latter of whom scored a No. 1 album in the fourth quarter. Columbia falls to seventh place with 4.67% of the current share, from fourth in 2022 when it had a 6.67% share. Columbia, which includes some labels from independent distributor RED in its market share, continued to have big success with Miley Cyrus' “Flowers,” which spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 this year on its way to becoming the fourth-most streamed song of 2023 and the most played song at radio in the United States, according to Luminate.
In eighth place, Sony Nashville jumped half a percentage point year-over-year to 2.32% from 1.89% last year, with a major album from Luke Combs helping it climb one spot from last year's ranking. Meanwhile, Sony's Epic Records fell for a ninth straight year despite increasing its current share from 2.23% in 2022 to 2.30% in 2023 and scoring a pair of major projects from Travis Scott – whose Utopia The album was the seventh-biggest of 2023, according to Luminate — and Tyla's “Water,” which roared into the Hot 100's year-end top 10. Rounding out the top 10 is another Sony company, Sony Latin, which also had a huge year, increasing its current share from 1.24% in 2022 to an impressive 1.95% in 2023.
In overall market share, Republic's dominance of newer releases pushed it to No. 1 over IGA, 9.83% to 9.65%, despite the latter's 9.93% catalog market share leading the industry. Atlantic, with 8.09%, is comfortably in third place, while Warner Records and Capitol Music Group are in fourth and fifth place, with 6.68% and 6.66% of the total share, respectively, with shares of their catalog to be connected at 6.92%. Columbia's 6.65% catalog share is enough to put it in sixth place in overall share, ahead of RCA, with the two separated at 6.14% and 5.16%, respectively, in overall share. Epic (2.61%), Sony Nashville (2.05%) and Def Jam (1.84%) round out the top 10 overall.
Among label groups, catalog weight once again raises all ships, with UMG jumping to 38.46% of the total market share, up from 37.54% in 2022. Sony also posted a year-over-year increase , closing 2023 at 27.18% , from 26.87% in 2022, while Warner slipped slightly year-on-year to 18.62% overall share in 2023 compared to 19.05% in 2022. The Indies based on distribution ownership also decreased, to 15.74% from 16.54% in 2022.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/taylor-swift-republic-records-label-market-share-2023/
