2016 (NEARLY) SIX-MONTH MARKETSHARE SCORECARD

The growing emphasis on Sales Plus Streaming across the music biz that provides the overarching theme of our latest print issue doesn’t mean that the traditional metrics have been discarded altogether. Sales-based marketshare is still a big deal for the major labels, and the heads of those operations continue to study weekly and year-to-date percentages as the standard measure of their companies’ performances—as do their overlords. The ritual is ingrained and still important. Indeed, it’s crucial that the sales-based business holds its own until the streaming-based business makes up for the declines in downloads and physical product.

Rob Stringer’s Columbia has a possibly insurmountable lead in albums-plus-TEA marketshare this year thanks primarily to traditional sales, dominated by Adele’s astonishingly massive 25, along with a proliferation of hit singles. The jump by Cameron Strang’s WBR was buoyed by the untimely deaths of Prince and David Bowie, whose Best of is #39. Monte Lipman’s Republic, Columbia’s chief rival—and seemingly the only major with a legitimate shot at the brass ring by year’s end—is paced by streaming king Drake, making for a battle royal of old-school and new-school accomplishment. In reality, the marketshare competition isn’t that simplistic; plenty of factors will come into play before the final buzzer sounds. But, as with the NBA Finals, we’re all captivated by a fierce battle of contrasting styles. Let the games continue.