Much as NIL and the transfer portal have brought a newfound dynamism to college football, sweeping reorganizations transformed two of the Big 3 major-label franchises in 2024. As a result,
UMG is looking more dynastic than ever, while
WMG has set itself up to better compete with its two bigger rivals.
Sir Lucian Grainge’s 38.6% slice of the U.S. overall market-share pie was largely attributable to the bicoastal behemoths he created in March,
John Janick’s league-leading
Interscope Capitol and the
Lipman brothers’
REPUBLIC Collective, which finished second in the overall pecking order while once again running away with current share.
Interscope Capitol’s championship roster includes superstars
Billie Eilish,
Olivia Rodrigo,
Kendrick Lamar and
Eminem, along with scintillating sophomore
Gracie Abrams, who finished 2024 on a roll. Janick, with the help of savvy top execs including redoubtable Vice Chairman
Steve Berman, A&R Co-Heads
Nicole Wyskoarko and
Sam Riback, Head of Creative Content
Michelle An, promo domo
Greg Marella, Chief Revenue Officer
Gary Kelly and Capitol topper
Tom March, built on his years of market-share dominance prior to adding Capitol,
Motown/Quality Control,
CCMG,
Astralwerks and
Blue Note to his arsenal.
REPUBLIC Collective, captained by
Jim Roppo, with EVP
Gary Spangler running promo, posted a 12.3 overall and a whopping 16.7 in current behind market-share monsters
Taylor Swift and
Morgan Wallen (in partnership with
Seth England’s
Big Loud), while
Island co-heads
Justin Eshak and
Imran Majid broke
Sabrina Carpenter and
Chappell Roan wide open, and
Post Malone and
Noah Kahan led
Tyler Arnold and
Ben Adelson’s
Mercury. These acts, along with
Boominati/Freebandz’s
Metro Boomin,
Ariana Grande,
OVO’s
Drake and Island’s
Elton John, collectively landed the top three albums of 2024, seven of the Top 10 and 17 of the Top 50. Not only that, but REPUBLIC has become the biggest country-music marketing machine in memory—despite the fact that
UMG Nashville isn’t part of its percentage.
Also contributing to Uni’s ginormous slice of the pie were
Cindy Mabe’s UMG Nashville,
Jesús López’s
UMLE and
Nat Pastor and
JT Myers’ #2 distribbery,
Virgin Music Group—which is expected to get a nearly two-point market-share boost from the recently acquired
Downtown.
At
Rob Stringer’s
Sony Music, (27.4 overall, 26 current), it was business as usual, thanks to the efforts of the music group’s established executive leadership. While
Ron Perry was developing a slew of potential breakouts, Columbia rode
Parkwood star
Beyoncé’s
COWBOY CARTER (#17, 1.4m+), which has scored a passel of
Grammy noms, and
Tyler, the Creator, who released one of the strongest hip-hop albums in some time (#42, 939k), cementing his status as a cornerstone act for Big Red. Likewise for veteran act
Hozier, whose “Too Sweet” finished Top 10 in audio streams.
Peter Edge,
John Fleckenstein and Team
RCA were powered by
TDE’s
SZA (#4, 2.5m on the year and 6.2m ATD) and consistent shot-maker
Doja Cat, while rising star
Tate McRae scored a streaming hit with “Greedy.” And
Sylvia Rhone’s
Epic continued its run as a hip-hop powerhouse behind
Travis Scott,
21 Savage and
Future, whose
WE DON'T TRUST YOU collab with Metro Boomin finished #10.
Columbia, RCA, Epic,
Todd Moscowitz’s
Alamo,
Afo Verde’s
Sony Latin and
Sony Nashville, now helmed by
Taylor Lindsey, gave Stringer’s legion the 5-10 entries in the final current-share standings. Top distributor
The Orchard was paced by Latin indies
Rimas and
Double P (
Prajin).
At third-place WMG (18.4 overall, 16.7 current), proactive ruler
Robert Kyncl tapped
Elliot Grainge and a crew of young bloods led by fellow
10K alumni
Zach Friedman and
Tony Talamo to inject new energy into moribund
Atlantic. The leadership change went down as
Charli xcx’s
BRAT was selling like hotcakes and becoming a pop-cultural phenomenon. Core artist
Bruno Mars subsequently had a pair of smashes on collabs with Interscope’s
Lady Gaga and
BLACKPINK’s
ROSÉ. These modern-day scorers, combined with Atlantic’s deep catalog, will give Grainge a viable recipe for success moving forward.
Maverick country superstar
Zach Bryan (with the #9, 14 and 24 albums), Top 5 streamers and Best New Artist contenders
Benson Boone and
Teddy Swims and reunited rock stalwarts
Linkin Park (#26, 1.1m) all lit up the scoreboard for
Aaron Bay-Schuck and
Tom Corson’s
Warner (#3 in current, 4 in overall). Their burgeoning empire grew late in the year when they gained oversight of
Cris Lacy and
Gregg Nadel’s
Warner Music Nashville.
Speaking of big changes, while Kendrick’s “Not Like Us” is #1 in total streaming (including video),
Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” on
EMPIRE, is #1 in audio-only streaming, making it the first independently released song to finish #1. Will the status quo continue to shift in 2025? We’re about to find out.
