Sony/ATV hold strong at top of U.S. radio market share for fifth consecutive year
Sony/ATV Music Publishing has lead the quarterly U.S. radio market shares for a 20th period in a row, which adds up to five consecutive years.
It has occupied first place on the latest quarterly publisher rankings based on U.S. radio performance between April to June 2017.
The rankings are compiled every three months by Billboard. They are determined by music publishers’ market share of the top 100 U.S. radio airplay songs for each quarter, according to Nielsen Music data and song splits compiled by the Harry Fox Agency.
Sony/ATV Chairman and CEO Martin Bandier said: “Being in first place for five years doesn’t happen by accident, but is a tribute to the immense talent of our songwriters, the amazing songs they create and the hard work of our team.
“It is an amazing accomplishment and one we are very proud of.”
Sony/ATV has dominated the survey since it became administrator of EMI Music Publishing in 2012.
That year in a deal valued at $2.2 billion, Bandier bought 1.3 million copyrights including catalogues of Carole King, Norah Jones, Motown classics, and standards like ’Somewhere Over the Rainbow’. It is rumoured to be poised to buy EMI Publishing outright in the near future.
In Q2 2017, Sony/ATV achieved a 23.3% share. It had 49 of the Top 100 songs on American radio in Q2 2017.
Nine of the Top 10 radio songs in the period were co-published by the company.
These included Bruno Mars’’That’s What I Like’, which is the period’s #1 hit. The company’s Ray Romulus was one of the song’s four writers, while its other writers were signed with Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell and BMG.
At #2 was Ed Sheeran’s’Shape Of You’, which he co-wrote.
It spent 12 consecutive weeks at the top on Billboard’s weekly Radio Songs airplay chart, the joint longest chart-topping run on the chart this decade.
Other Sony/ATV radio hits in the Top 10 were ’Something Just Like This’ by The Chainsmokers & Coldplay at #3, ’Stay’ by Zedd feat. Alessia Cara at #4 and’It Ain’t Me’ by Kygo feat. Selena Gomez at #5.
At #9 was ’Despacito’ by Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber. It stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for 13 weeks and was also the first-ever predominantly non-English song to top the all-format Radio Songs airplay chart.
Cara, a Sony/ATV songwriter in her own right, also rounded outthe quarter’s Top 10 with ’Scars To Your Beautiful’ at #10.
Universal Music Publishing Group rose to 23.3%, with 53 songs in the Top 100. It had 40 in Q1 2017.
It was UMPG’s highest market share since 2007, and the highest since former Sony/ATV co-President Jody Gerson became UMPG Chairman/CEO in 2014.
Warner/Chappell dropped from second to third, but remained the top publisher of the Top 100 country radio songs for the third consecutive quarter.
At #4 was Kobalt, followed by BMG, SONGS Music Publishing, Reservoir Media, Words & Music/Big Deal, Big Machine and Black River Entertainment rounding out the Top 10.
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