Q1 SHOWS SOME SIGNS OF LIFE

For the first time since 2004, the record industry showed positive momentum for six consecutive weeks, and to date, we’re only down 5% over 2010, after a half decade of double-digit declines.

In another dramatic switch, Sony Music Entertainment finally bested perennial marketshare leader UMG in total sales, including catalog, with almost 30% compared to the latter’s 28.4%. And imagine, all it took was Doug Morris changing label affiliations.

SME was up 1.2 percentage points over last year, while UMG was down .3, with WMG up .5 and EMI down 2.5. Leading the way for Sony was Adele’s 21, the year’s top-seller so far, with 940k albums sold.

The big story on the label side was the emergence of RCA/Jive Label Group, which forged into the #1 spot in new releases at 9.8, surviving the loss of Barry Weiss while leapfrogging Rob Stringer and Steve Barnett’s Columbia/Epic Records Group, which finished second with 8.3. Thanks to the tireless efforts of promo domo Joe Riccitelli, RCA/Jive had a number of hits, the biggest being Pink (#10), along with Chris Brown, R. Kelly, the 2011 Grammy Nominees album, Jamie Foxx and Marsha Ambrosius.

Ironically, it was another label, Island Def Jam, which survived the exit of Antonio “L.A.” Reid to show the biggest gain, moving 3.3 to 7.2, thanks to such hits as Justin Bieber (#4) and Rihanna (#7). In effect, Weiss and Reid, once he ends up in an expected role at Sony Music under Morris, will have traded places.

Mel Lewinter’s Universal Records Group (6.9, thanks to #5 Nicki Minaj and #9 Taylor Swift) and Atlantic Records (6.8, with #6 Bruno Mars) were both up almost a full percentage point.

Jimmy Iovine’s IGA was off almost 3.1 at 5.7, though it did have last year’s top-selling album in the still-potent Eminem (#8), while Warner Bros. (4.8) was also down .4 from Q1 2010.

Capitol Music Group had the third best-selling album of the year in Now 37, which helped it to a 3.2 marketshare, .1 better than last year, while SME Nashville at 2.7 was up .4 over 2010. Capitol Nashville was down 3.8 to 1.7, but then again, they were in the midst of Lady Antebellum mania at this time last year, with the album up to 1.5 million.

This year, Adele is #1, followed by Glassnote’s surging Mumford & Sons, which has sold 610k since the beginning of 2011 for a total of 1.2 million to date.

For a full graphic of the results, click here.