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Not surprisingly, for anyone who has been following Universal Music Group’s exploits, Doug Morris and crew wound up a historic, 30%-plus marketshare by finishing with a whopping 31.3%.

2002 MARKETSHARE: THE RECKONING

Year’s Big Winners Include UMG’s Morris, IGA’s Iovine, Columbia’s Ienner
’Aught-two was a moving year. We laughed, we cried—well, mostly we just bored ourselves to tears, but that’s another story better suited for Untreatable Dementia Weekly than this space. Anyway, as the many challenges confronting the industry have contributed to a somewhat smaller sales pie overall, getting the biggest slice possible has become more important than ever for many a music exec.

Not surprisingly, for anyone who has been following Universal Music Group’s exploits, Doug Morris and crew wound up a historic, 30%-plus marketshare by finishing with a whopping 31.3%. UMG’s top sellers for the year were also the #1 and #2 albums industrywide: Eminem’s The Eminem Show (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope) and Nelly’s Nellyville (Fo’ Reel/Universal). In a field of five major music groups, UMG is edging closer to owning a full one-third of the market.

Coming in second among music groups was BMG with 17.4%. The Germans have just undertaken another in a series of major changes with their acquisition of Jive/Zomba and reconfiguration of the RCA Music Group, with Clive Davis in the driver’s seat. The highlight of BMG’s year was breakout artist Avril Lavigne, whose debut disc for L.A. Reid’s Arista was the #3 album of the year.

In third was Sony, boosted by big albums by the Dixie Chicks, Celine Dion and Shakira, among others. Warner Music Group came in fourth, buoyed by Linkin Park and Faith Hill, while EMI, still in transition, brought up the rear, aided by a strong showing by Blue Note sensation Norah Jones and the Rolling StonesForty Licks compilation.

On the label front, Jimmy Iovine’s Interscope Geffen A&M took first with just under a 10% share of current (non-catalog) albums. For overall marketshare (including catalog), Don Ienner’s Columbia ruled with 8.2%, though current-wise, Columbia was edged out of #2 by Lyor Cohen’s Island Def Jam. The rest of the Top 10 are listed below, as they will be when we reprint this story next month, but with different numbers.

2002 CURRENT MARKETSHARE
MUSIC GROUPS
UMG 31.3%
BMG 17.4%
SONY 16.2%
WMG 15.4%
EMI 8.2%

LABELS
1. IGA 9.7%
2. IDJ 8.4%
3. Columbia 8.1%
4. Warner Bros. 6.0%
5. Epic 6.0%
6. Arista 4.7%
7. Universal 4.7%
8. Atlantic 3.3%
9. RCA 2.4%
10. MCA 2.4%

NEAR TRUTHS: SPRING BLOOMS
Here come the big guns. (3/28a)
THE COUNT: COLDPLAY IS HOT, COUNTRY'S COOKIN' IN THE U.K.
The latest tidbits from the bustling live sector (3/28a)
CITY OF HOPE TAPS MARCIANO FOR TOP HONOR
This year's philanthropic model (3/28a)
TRUST IN THE TOP 20
Hip-hop is no longer hibernating. (3/28a)
UMG BROADENS SPOTIFY OFFERINGS
Sir Lucian and Daniel are in harmony. (3/28a)
THE NEW UMG
Gosh, we hope there are more press releases.
TIKTOK BANNED!
Unless the Senate manages to make this whole thing go away, that is.
THE NEW HUGE COUNTRY ACT
No, not that one.
TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PLAYLIST
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