RUMOR MILL
On the label side, Rob Stringer and Steve Barnett’s Columbia has run away from the competition with an impressive 9.6%, thanks in large part to Adele’s landmark 21.
Friday, December 16, 2011
SCORECARD: 2011 MARKETSHARE, ALBUMS & SINGLES
As We Near the End of a Fascinating Year
in Music, It’s Good to Be Columbia…and
It’s Especially Good to Be Adele
in Music, It’s Good to Be Columbia…and
It’s Especially Good to Be Adele
MARKETSHARE: With the first two weeks of December in the books, UMG and Sony Music remain locked in a virtual deadlock for the lead in overall marketshare, Universal, with 29.6% and SME with 29.4%. Each is loaded with active albums going into the homestretch, Justin Bieber, Drake, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Andrea Bocelli and Scotty McCreery pacing UMG, while Adele, the Glee Cast, Daughtry, Jackie Evancho and Susan Boyle lead the way for Sony. Warner Music has a pair of hot tickets in WB’s Michael Buble and the Black Keys—but Atlantic’s slow year continues into Q4, so WMG isn’t likely to improve on its 14.7% year to date in the last three weeks of 2011. Looking at these percentages in hypothetical post-merger terms, the addition of EMI’s 9.6% to Universal’s tally puts the combined share at a towering 39.2% in the U.S.
On the label side, Rob Stringer and Steve Barnett’s Columbia has run away from the competition with an impressive 9.6%, thanks in large part to Adele’s landmark 21. Monte Lipman’s Universal Records is #2 with 7.4%, a split-hair ahead of its in-house rival, Jimmy Iovine’s IGA, at 7.3%. Next is Peter Edge and Tom Corson’s RCA at 6.8%, with Craig Kallman and Julie Greenwald’s Atlantic rounding out the Top 5. The second five consists of Steve Bartels’ IGA (5.6%), Rob Cavallo and Todd Moscovitz’s Warner/Reprise (5%), the Greg Thompson-led Capitol Music Group (3.6%), Gary Overton’s Sony Nashville (2.7%) and Mike Dungan’s Capitol Nashville. The label most in need of revitalization was Epic, which managed an anemic 1.3%; it’ll be interesting to see what Epic’s share is at this point in 2012, after L.A. Reid and his now-complete brain trust have a full year under their belts. On the indie side, Daniel Glass’ relatively tiny Glassnote accounts for a stunning 1% of the entire market, behind only label groups E1 Entertainment (1.85%) and Concord (1.3%).
ALBUMS: Adele’s 21 (XL/Columbia) is far out in front of the pack with a mind-boggling 5.6m in the U.S. alone, according to our year-end projections. She’s trailed by Michael Buble’s fast-moving Christmas (2.5m), pushing back Lady Gaga’s Born This Way (2.1m), Interscope’s top seller, one position to #3. Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV (1.9m) is one of four Universal Republic releases in the Top 20, three on Cash Money—Wayne, #9 Drake (890k) and #17 Nicki Minaj (820k)—the another on Big Machine, #15 Taylor Swift (840k this year on 2010’s Speak Now). The next two, improbably enough, are 2010 indie releases: #4 Jason Aldean (1.5m on the year) on Broken Bow/RED, and #5 Mumford & Sons (1.4m in 2011) in another astounding coup for Daniel Glass and Glassnote. At #7, Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne (1.2m) is the first of five IDJ titles in the Top 25, one slot ahead of Justin Bieber’s Under the Mistletoe (1.2m), with Rihanna (830k) at #18 and Bieber’s Never Say Never Remixes (817k) at #19. Rounding out the Top 10 is Lady Antebellum’s Own the Night (910k), on Capitol Nashville, EMI’s best-seller, In the #11 slot is Beyonce’s 4 (1m), the second of three Columbia LPs in the Top 20; the third is Adele’s resurgent 2009 debut 19 (803k on the year). Katy Perry’s 2010 Teenage Dream (another 980k), is #12, two slots ahead of Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto (950k). The highest-ranking release from the Atlantic family is #13 Bruno Mars (adding 95k to last year’s Doo-Wops & Hooligans), with the label’s Zac Brown Band (740k) finishing #23. Idol champ Scotty McCreery makes the leader board with his Mercury Nashville/19/Interscope debut (875k), good for at #16, while #21 Chris Brown (800k) leads RCA, with Britney Spears (725k) at #25. Eminem’s Recovery (730k), 2010’s biggest record with 3.1m, is the second Interscope entry at #24. Overall, 11 albums have sold more than 1m on the year—but then, this is a singles-driven business.
TRACKS: Here again, Adele was the runaway winner, with “Rolling in the Deep” racking up 5.6m to become by far the year’s biggest seller over LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” (4.8m) and Katy Perry’s “E.T.” (4.7m). Adele also had the #11 track with follow-up single “Someone Like You” (3.2m), while Perry was the only artist to have three tracks in the Top 20, with “Firework” (2.8m) at #15 and “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” (2.6m) at #19. Five more female artists placed songs in the Top 20: #8 Lady Gaga with “Born This Way” (3.4m), #9 Nicki Minaj with “Super Bass” (3.3m), #10 Jennifer Lopez with “On the Floor” (3.2m), #13 Rihanna with “S&M” (3m) and #18 Ke$ha with “Blow” (2.6m), while Christina Aguilera was featured on #6 Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger” (3.6m). One spot ahead was “Fuck You” (3.65m) by Cee Lo Green, like Aguilera and M5’s Adam Levine a coach on The Voice. Pitbull had the #4 track with “Give Me Everything” (3.7m), as well as being featured on the J.Lo hit. Foster the People are the biggest-selling rookies with #7 “Pumped Up Kicks” (3.45m), while 2010 rookie Bruno Mars had a pair of hits from his debut album in #16 “Lazy Song” (2.7m) and #17 “Grenade” (2.65m). Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now” (3.05m) holds down the #12 position, and the Black Eyed Peas’ “Just Can’t Get Enough” (2.9m) is #14, while Lupe Fiasco had his first big hit with the #20 “Show Goes On” (2.55m). In all, 35 tracks have sold north of 2m this year, with track sales as a whole up 9% over 2010.
On the label side, Rob Stringer and Steve Barnett’s Columbia has run away from the competition with an impressive 9.6%, thanks in large part to Adele’s landmark 21. Monte Lipman’s Universal Records is #2 with 7.4%, a split-hair ahead of its in-house rival, Jimmy Iovine’s IGA, at 7.3%. Next is Peter Edge and Tom Corson’s RCA at 6.8%, with Craig Kallman and Julie Greenwald’s Atlantic rounding out the Top 5. The second five consists of Steve Bartels’ IGA (5.6%), Rob Cavallo and Todd Moscovitz’s Warner/Reprise (5%), the Greg Thompson-led Capitol Music Group (3.6%), Gary Overton’s Sony Nashville (2.7%) and Mike Dungan’s Capitol Nashville. The label most in need of revitalization was Epic, which managed an anemic 1.3%; it’ll be interesting to see what Epic’s share is at this point in 2012, after L.A. Reid and his now-complete brain trust have a full year under their belts. On the indie side, Daniel Glass’ relatively tiny Glassnote accounts for a stunning 1% of the entire market, behind only label groups E1 Entertainment (1.85%) and Concord (1.3%).
ALBUMS: Adele’s 21 (XL/Columbia) is far out in front of the pack with a mind-boggling 5.6m in the U.S. alone, according to our year-end projections. She’s trailed by Michael Buble’s fast-moving Christmas (2.5m), pushing back Lady Gaga’s Born This Way (2.1m), Interscope’s top seller, one position to #3. Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV (1.9m) is one of four Universal Republic releases in the Top 20, three on Cash Money—Wayne, #9 Drake (890k) and #17 Nicki Minaj (820k)—the another on Big Machine, #15 Taylor Swift (840k this year on 2010’s Speak Now). The next two, improbably enough, are 2010 indie releases: #4 Jason Aldean (1.5m on the year) on Broken Bow/RED, and #5 Mumford & Sons (1.4m in 2011) in another astounding coup for Daniel Glass and Glassnote. At #7, Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne (1.2m) is the first of five IDJ titles in the Top 25, one slot ahead of Justin Bieber’s Under the Mistletoe (1.2m), with Rihanna (830k) at #18 and Bieber’s Never Say Never Remixes (817k) at #19. Rounding out the Top 10 is Lady Antebellum’s Own the Night (910k), on Capitol Nashville, EMI’s best-seller, In the #11 slot is Beyonce’s 4 (1m), the second of three Columbia LPs in the Top 20; the third is Adele’s resurgent 2009 debut 19 (803k on the year). Katy Perry’s 2010 Teenage Dream (another 980k), is #12, two slots ahead of Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto (950k). The highest-ranking release from the Atlantic family is #13 Bruno Mars (adding 95k to last year’s Doo-Wops & Hooligans), with the label’s Zac Brown Band (740k) finishing #23. Idol champ Scotty McCreery makes the leader board with his Mercury Nashville/19/Interscope debut (875k), good for at #16, while #21 Chris Brown (800k) leads RCA, with Britney Spears (725k) at #25. Eminem’s Recovery (730k), 2010’s biggest record with 3.1m, is the second Interscope entry at #24. Overall, 11 albums have sold more than 1m on the year—but then, this is a singles-driven business.
TRACKS: Here again, Adele was the runaway winner, with “Rolling in the Deep” racking up 5.6m to become by far the year’s biggest seller over LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” (4.8m) and Katy Perry’s “E.T.” (4.7m). Adele also had the #11 track with follow-up single “Someone Like You” (3.2m), while Perry was the only artist to have three tracks in the Top 20, with “Firework” (2.8m) at #15 and “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” (2.6m) at #19. Five more female artists placed songs in the Top 20: #8 Lady Gaga with “Born This Way” (3.4m), #9 Nicki Minaj with “Super Bass” (3.3m), #10 Jennifer Lopez with “On the Floor” (3.2m), #13 Rihanna with “S&M” (3m) and #18 Ke$ha with “Blow” (2.6m), while Christina Aguilera was featured on #6 Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger” (3.6m). One spot ahead was “Fuck You” (3.65m) by Cee Lo Green, like Aguilera and M5’s Adam Levine a coach on The Voice. Pitbull had the #4 track with “Give Me Everything” (3.7m), as well as being featured on the J.Lo hit. Foster the People are the biggest-selling rookies with #7 “Pumped Up Kicks” (3.45m), while 2010 rookie Bruno Mars had a pair of hits from his debut album in #16 “Lazy Song” (2.7m) and #17 “Grenade” (2.65m). Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now” (3.05m) holds down the #12 position, and the Black Eyed Peas’ “Just Can’t Get Enough” (2.9m) is #14, while Lupe Fiasco had his first big hit with the #20 “Show Goes On” (2.55m). In all, 35 tracks have sold north of 2m this year, with track sales as a whole up 9% over 2010.
