2021 YTD MARKETSHARE:
ONE DOWN, 11 TO GO

Continuing their blistering, record-setting run from 2020, John Janick and his Interscope team remain at the top of the overall marketshare leaderboard for the first month of the new year—and this despite Republic exploding off the line of scrimmage like Tyreek Hill going deep.

Can Monte Lipman and company continue throwing off the huge current numbers that have enabled the label to seize ownership of our Top 100 Weekly Marketshare chart throughout the month of January and challenge for the top spot?

Mathematicians are furiously at work trying to calculate how many more weeks of running amok in the Top 5 it would take for #3 Republic to blow past #2 Atlantic and #1 Interscope, as this spirited three-way rivalry keeps all involved competing with playoff intensity. You can take all your power lists and stick them where the sun don't shine—the battle for overall marketshare leadership is the Super Bowl for the major labels every year.

Winning the biggest prize brings the championship team real swagger and boasting rights—especially when it comes time to renegotiate those key executive-compensation packages, which some say are becoming more complicated during this new era of increased valuations brought about by the public offerings of UMG and WMG.

In related action, is there a surprise superstar player from across the pond about to enter the game? That scenario could put some big points on the board for a certain major player and potentially shift the balance of power of the business as a whole. Or will Taylor Swift stay on her current career roll and gift Republic with a dozen new songs every month as the year unfolds?

Stay tuned, because the battle for the 2021 marketshare trophy is shaping up to be the most fascinating music-biz storyline in recent memory.