YTD MARKET SHARE

We’re eight months into 2024, but the major storylines haven’t changed since early March, when UMG unveiled its Big 10-SEC-style realignment. That bold move unleashed a pair of titans in Interscope Capitol Labels Group—the runaway leader in overall market share this year behind all-pros including Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem and KAROL G—and current-share-dominating REPUBLIC CORPS, as proven winners John Janick and Monte and Avery Lipman embrace the expanded responsibilities Sir Lucian Grainge has bestowed upon them.

While the market-share gods still haven’t made these sweeping changes official, we’ve got you covered—the post-reorg breakdown on the adjacent page provides a detailed look at the actual standings in the new world order.

Along with Taylor Swift (ably assisted by her 13 team and the label's indefatigable Jim Roppo) and Morgan Wallen, the latter in partnership with Seth England’s Big Loud, Uni’s Beast of the East can claim an energized Island, which has simultaneously broken Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, two of the year’s biggest artist-development stories, a pair of feathers in the caps of co-heads Justin Eshak and Imran Majid. They’re lighting up the scoreboard in parallel with Mercury’s Tyler Arnold and Ben Adelson, the former responsible for Post Malone, the latter having inked outlier turned superstar Noah Kahan.

The aforementioned duos and others across the industry playing field are making the case that two heads—label co-heads in this context—are sometimes better than one, and the partnership frequently but not exclusively (Island and Mercury’s co-leaders are engaged in both disciplines) involves complementary A&R and marketing expertise.

That’s very much the case at Warner Records, where A&R specialist Aaron Bay-Schuck and marketing expert Tom Corson are leading the league in developing and breaking new acts. Just a few months ago, Benson Boone and Teddy Swims were little-known aspiring artists; now they’re newly minted stars with massive hits and viable careers, mirroring the ascent of Bay-Schuck signing Zach Bryan, a grass-roots maverick who’s now the poster boy for the Bunny’s new-model army. In a related note, although the share of Ben Kline and Cris Lacy’s Warner Nashville has never been broken out within parent company WMG, L.A.-based Bay-Schuck and Corson will now have oversight over the Nashville division in acknowledgment of their ongoing hot streak and its roots in authenticity.

As Atlantic’s current market share drops to a five-year low—putting it more than a percentage point below Warner, Robert Kyncl is making an attempt to stop the hemorrhaging by replacing the company’s leadership team, notably including longtime CEO Julie Greenwald. In the coming months, industry eyes will be locked on new CEO Elliot Grainge as he takes on the challenge of reinvigorating the moribund label.

At RCA, Peter Edge is on a two-album roll with SZA in collaboration with Top Dawg’s TDE, while Nipper’s team adds Tate McRae’s name to its list of breakthroughs. Epic, led by the estimable Sylvia Rhone, continues to stand tall in the hip-hop world, thanks primarily to the trifecta of Travis Scott, Future and 21 Savage. Sony sister label Columbia, #5 overall and #6 in current—the reverse of RCA—has had a big year behind flagship artist Beyoncé, but Big Red has simultaneously reentered the artist-development sweepstakes with gusto, as Ron Perry and Jen Mallory fast-track Megan Moroney (in partnership with Sony Nashville), Koe Wetzel and Central Cee while reigniting the careers of Hozier, The Kid LAROI and Dominic Fike.

Another twosome—Virgin Music Group’s Nat Pastor and JT Myers—compete in the distro sector, which is delivering at an unprecedented rate as Sony’s The Orchard, WMG’s ADA and Larry Jackson’s gamma. (don’t call it a label) slice off a combined 13.5% of current market share.

Will any of these dynamic duos maintain their momentum and rise to the rarefied level of Belichick and Brady or Reid and Mahomes? We have no clue, as usual, but it’ll be fascinating to watch it all unfold, this season and beyond. Because that’s why they play the games—to see who’ll win.