2019 YEAR-TO-DATE MARKETSHARE

At this point in the modern-day industry, UMG’s marketshare dominance under Sir Lucian Grainge is a fact of life. Two months into the year, Uni labels hold onto three of the top four slots while the parent company approaches 39% in audio streams, the most telling metric these days.

John Janick’s Interscope Geffen A&M has come out of the gate at full gallop, seizing the #2 slot behind Atlantic, as Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born ST continues its extended run, while “Shallow” is the top-selling song YTD with another 340k, just missing the Top 10 with 796k in total activity. Monte Lipman’s Republic, at #3, is breaking new ground with the ascendant Ariana Grande, who tops both the albums and songs charts YTD. Lipman has three of the Top 5 streaming songs and four of the Top 10—two apiece from Ari and Post Malone, who also has the #6 album. Steve Barnett’s Capitol Music Group maintains its #4 position while hitting 8% in streaming share and nearing that milestone in total activity. Halsey, meanwhile, scores the #3 song, with QC/Motown/Capitol’s Lil Baby & Gunna at #9.

While Columbia has the highest percentage at Rob Stringer’s Sony Music, the hottest label is Sylvia Rhone’s Epic, which has increased its marketshare this year, thanks primarily to Future, 21 Savage and Travis Scott, who have the #4, 5 and 10 albums, respectively. The biggest album at Peter Edge’s RCA is #9 Backstreet Boys.

At Max Lousada’s WMG, Chairman/CEO Aaron Bay-Schuck nears his first six months running the revitalized Warner Bros. Records alongside Chairman/COO Tom Corson.

In Nashville, Randy Goodman’s Sony maintains a slight lead over Mike Dungan’s UMG.

While the sample size isn’t yet big enough to draw any macro conclusions, what these early stats show is that 2018’s highest-scoring labels are generating even greater momentum so far in 2019. In particular, watch out for Interscope, which is riding Joie Manda’s hot hand, is doing a volume business in the streaming sector and has several jumbo jets taxiing for takeoff, including Gaga, J. Cole, Juice WRLD and Billie Eilish.