SONY'S BIG WEEK

Sony Music had itself a memorable week, lighting up the scoreboard with awards-show wins, chart-toppers and the inking of highly sought-after talent, all in the space of a few days in mid-November

For starters, Luke Combs delivered the biggest country debut of the year last week with his sophomore release, What You See Is What You Get (River House/Columbia Nashville).

The momentum of Randy Goodman’s Sony Music Nashville carried into the CMAs, as Combs took home Song of the Year for “Beautiful/Crazy,” while labelmate Maren Morris earned a biggie, winning Album of the Year.

The day after the CMAs, Sony’s Rosalía won big at the Latin Grammy Awards, taking home four trophies, including Album of the Year. Meanwhile, Afo Verde’s (above left) Sony Music Latin made a big score, inking Ozuna in conjunction with Brad Navin's (above right) The Orchard. Sony Latin leads the U.S. with a commanding 48% share of the Latin market.

Two major new pop signings also went down, as the race to ink a pair of indie chart-climbers resulted in a double win. Ron Perry’s Columbia inked Arizona Zervas, and David Massey’s Arista signed Ant Saunders. Both breakthrough acts are already impacting the marketplace.

Looking forward, Sony is setting up Harry Styles’ eagerly anticipated sophomore LP, Fine Line (Columbia), which drops on 12/13, set up by his marquee SNL appearance over the weekend.

Epic also has a big December release booked, with Camila Cabello’s Romance dropping 12/6.

And this week, Sony is looking at another #1, with Celine Dion’s Courage (Columbia) heading for a bow north of 120k units.