Republic Records’ industry-leading current market share of 13.47% as of the end of 2023 is the record label’s best full-year result since at least 2015, encompassing the streaming era of the music industry.
But in 2024, Republic surpassed that goal: powered by major albums from Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen and Sabrina Carpenter (the latter’s label Island Records and Cash Money, Wallen’s labels Mercury and Big Loud, and indie publisher Imperial Included in Republic’s market share), Republic’s current share is 14.90%, leading all record labels by more than 4% for the second consecutive year.
This is largely due to Swift’s unparalleled success. Tormented Poets Department The album will sell more than twice as much in the U.S. in 2024 as Warren’s second-biggest album of 2023 do one thing at a time. But it also has to do with the remarkable rise of the one-two punch of Island’s Carpenter and Chappell Roan, who each put out an album this year that will be among the 10 best by the end of 2024: Carpenter’s short and sweet and ron The Rise and Fall of the Midwestern Princess. Island’s current market share has quadrupled from 0.62% in 2023 to 2.49% in 2024 compared to the same period last year, helping Republic reach new heights.
But Republic isn’t the only record label to have a strong year: In second place is Interscope Geffen A&M, which is currently seeing a share increase of nearly two percentage points year-over-year and will reach 10.72% in 2024, a share of 10.72% per Quarters are growing steadily over time. (Interscope’s market share also includes Verve Music Group.) Billie Eilish’s banner album Hit me hard, hit me weakly IGA leads the way, but Kendrick Lamar’s cultural masterpiece “Not Like Us” ranks among the biggest songs of the year, and his November album tops the Billboard 200 GNX helped capitalize on the momentum. Interscope’s market share is also more than 4% higher than that of its next closest competitor, Warner Music Group.
(Note: The market share rankings do not reflect Universal Music Group’s February reorganization, which brought Def Jam under Republic and Capitol under Interscope; if that were the case, REPUBLIC’s current share would be Reaching 15.46%, Interscope Capitol’s share will reach 14.70%.)
That’s not to say Warner Records had a bad year: After taking a massive 5.96% share in 2023, Warner Music had an even bigger year in 2024, beating out sister label Atlantic Records for the first time in years company. Warner (whose share includes Warner Nashville, Warner Latina and Rhino) reached 6.55%, with breakout hits from Grammy nominees Benson Boone (“Beautiful Things”) and Teddy Swims (“Lose Control”) song and Teddy Swims (“Lose Control”). the great american bar scene Another major release for the label.
That means Atlantic Records (which includes 300 Entertainment and Elektra) is in fourth place, down 1.21% from 2023, with a current share of 5.64%, in a year marked by a major shift in leadership. In fifth place is Columbia Records, whose share includes a handful of independent labels from publisher RED, which released one of Beyoncé’s major albums. Cowboy Carter (Later this year, Tyler, the Creator color blindness) and a song from Hozier’s “Too Sweet,” but fell slightly year over year to 4.59%. RCA Records, ranked sixth, also fell from the same period last year, ranking 4.11%, down from 4.67% in 2023.
Capitol Music Group, another record label that has undergone an executive reshuffle (including Motown/Quality Control, Blue Note, Astralwerks and parts of Virgin Music), has also seen a significant decline, from 5.91% currently in 2023 to 3.98% in 2024 , dropped them to seventh place overall. But labels Eight and Nine — Epic Records and Alamo Records, respectively — have seen significant growth, with Epic jumping to 2.59% from 2.31% last year and Alamo nearly doubling its share from 1.13% in 2023 2.11% by 2024, a lot of growth. 1.94% in 2023 to 2.04% in 2024.
Within the label group, two industries saw significant growth, offsetting the impact of other industries. Driven by the huge success of Republic and Interscope, Universal Music Group grew 1.09% year-on-year and currently has a market share of 36.90%. On the other hand, Sony Music’s current share decreased by 1.13% year-on-year to 25.96%. Warner Music Group’s current share also declined, from 16.96% in 2023 to 16.33% in 2024, while the independent music sector’s current share increased by 0.67% year-on-year, from 20.14% to 20.81%. By record company ownership, the independent industry accounts for 38.91% of the current share.
At the label level, overall share (including catalog and first-tier releases) tells a different story. Sony Music actually grew the fastest year-over-year, with overall share increasing by 0.22% to 27.39% in 2024, while Universal Music grew by 0.17% to 38.61%. Warner Music Group declined from 18.63% to 18.39%, while Indian Music Group also declined slightly in terms of distribution ownership, from 15.77% to 15.62%. In terms of brand ownership, independent industries accounted for 36.19% of the overall share.
In terms of overall record share, Republic and Interscope remain in the top two spots, at 10.39% and 10.17%, respectively, although Interscope’s deeper catalog puts it closer than its current share. Likewise, Atlantic Records’ deeper catalog means it ranks third in overall share, ahead of fourth-placed Warner Music Group, with 7.63% and 6.88% respectively. Columbia Records (5.97%) remains in fifth place, beating out only Capitol Music Group (5.95%) in sixth, while RCA, Epic, Sony Nashville and Universal Music Nashville also round out the top 10.
In catalog share (those releases older than 18 months), Interscope’s deeper base gave it an industry-leading 9.98% share, ahead of Republic’s 8.84% and Atlantic’s 8.31%. Warner Records (7.00%) ranked fourth, and Capitol Music Group (6.62%) jumped to fifth, ahead of Columbia Records (6.44%) and RCA (5.31%), which ranked sixth and seventh respectively. Epic (2.70) ranked eighth, while Def Jam, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2024, ranked ninth with a 2.19% share.
Among record labels, UMG’s catalog share is an industry-leading 39.19%, compared with Sony’s 27.87%, Warner Music Group’s 19.09%, and independent labels’ 13.85%. Sony’s share increased from 27.21% in 2023, while the other three all declined slightly from the same period last year.
