2016 THREE-MONTH MARKETSHARE SCORECARD

Can the sales success of a single album carry a label to sustained marketshare dominance? If that album is Adele’s 25, the answer is a resounding yes. Continuing sales on that mega-smash have enabled Rob Stringer’s Columbia to increase its already sizable lead as the #1 label in Q1 marketshare.

Columbia’s David Bowie and RCA’s G-Eazy have helped Doug Morris’ Sony Music gain ground on the #1 music group, Lucian Grainge’s Universal; they’re separated by 6.2% in TEA—35.6% to 29.4%. But the big gainer for the first quarter is Len Blavatnik’s Warner Music Group, up 2.8% to 17.5% thanks in part to a pair of Fueled by Ramen releases—label founder John Janick left the company in excellent shape when he made the move to Interscope in 2012—and the latest from former EMI mainstay Coldplay.

Justin Bieber is delivering impressive numbers for Steve Bartels’ Def Jam, with the #2 album and #1 and #6 best-selling singles in the quarter, making him the only artist with two entries on the Q1 singles chart. Roc Nation’s Rihanna, Adele, Fueled by Ramen’s twenty one pilots and G-Eazy are the only other artists appearing in the Top 12 on both lists.