At the end of 2023, Republic Records’ industry-leading current market share of 13.47% represented the best full-year mark for a label since at least 2015, encompassing the streaming era for the music industry.
But in 2024, Republic surpassed that: powered by mega albums by Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen and Sabrina Carpenter (the latter whose label Island Records is included in Republic’s market share along with Cash Money, Wallen’s labels Mercury and Big Loud and indie distributor Imperial), Republic posted a 14.90% current share, the second year in a row it led all labels by more than 4%.
Much of that can be attributed to the all-conquering success of Swift, whose Tortured Poets Department album was more than twice as big in the U.S. in 2024 than the second-biggest, Wallen’s 2023 album One Thing At a Time. But it also had to do with the remarkable rise of Island’s one-two punch of Carpenter and Chappell Roan, who each broke out this year with an album that ended the year among the 10 biggest of 2024: Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet and Roan The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. Year over year, Island quadrupled its current market share, from 0.62% in 2023 to 2.49% in 2024, helping Republic reach new heights.
But Republic wasn’t the only label to have a big year: in second place was Interscope Geffen A&M, which saw its current share grow nearly two full points year over year, to reach 10.72% in 2024 — a share which grew steadily each quarter as the year went along. (Interscope’s market share also includes Verve Music Group.) Billie Eilish’s banner album Hit Me Hard & Soft led the way for IGA, but Kendrick Lamar’s cultural juggernaut “Not Like Us” was among the biggest songs of the year, while his Billboard 200-topping November album GNX helped capitalize on that momentum. Interscope, too, posted a share more than 4% higher than its next-closest competitor, Warner Records.
(One note: market share rankings do not reflect the Universal Music Group’s reorganization carried out this past February, which brought Def Jam under Republic’s purview and Capitol under Interscope’s; if it did, REPUBLIC would stand at a 15.46% current share, with Interscope Capitol at 14.70%.)
Which is not to say Warner Records had a down year: after posting a huge 5.96% current share in 2023, Warner had an even bigger 2024 and bested its sister label Atlantic Records for the first time in years. Warner (whose share includes Warner Nashville, Warner Latina and Rhino) reached a 6.55% share, led by breakout hits by Grammys best new artist nominees Benson Boone (“Beautiful Things”) and Teddy Swims (“Lose Control”), as well as the continued momentum of Zach Bryan, whose latest album The Great American Bar Scene delivered another major release for the label.
That meant Atlantic Records (which encompasses 300 Entertainment and Elektra) finished in fourth, dropping 1.21% from 2023 to land at 5.64% current share, in a year that was marked by a major transition in leadership. In fifth was Columbia Records, whose share includes some indie labels from distributor RED, which delivered a major album in Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter (and, later in the year, Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia) and a song in Hozier’s “Too Sweet,” but slipped slightly year over year to 4.59%. In sixth, RCA Records also dipped year over year, coming in at 4.11%, down from 4.67% in 2023.
Another label that saw an executive overhaul, Capitol Music Group — which includes Motown/Quality Control, Blue Note, Astralwerks and some of Virgin Music’s share — also decreased significantly, falling from a 5.91% current share in 2023 to 3.98% in 2024, dropping them to seventh overall. But the eighth and ninth labels — Epic Records and Alamo Records, respectively — saw significant gains, with Epic jumping to 2.59% from 2.31% last year and Alamo nearly doubling its share, from 1.13% in 2023 to 2.11% in 2024, with much of that coming from the success of its Santa Anna distribution company, which debuted in January 2023. Rounding out the top 10 is another Sony label, Sony Music Latin, which also grew, up to 2.04% in 2024 from 1.94% in 2023.
Among the label groups, two sectors saw significant growth, offsetting the others. The Universal Music Group, fueled by the huge successes of Republic and Interscope, grew 1.09% year over year, posting a 36.90% current share. Sony Music, on the other hand, fell 1.13% in current share year over year, to 25.96%. Warner Music Group also fell, dropping from 16.96% in 2023 to 16.33% in 2024 in current share, while the indie sector grew 0.67% year over year by current distribution, from 20.14% to 20.81%. By label ownership, the indie sector accounted for 38.91% of current share.
At the label group level, overall share — which includes catalog in addition to frontline releases — told a different story. Sony Music actually grew the most year over year, up 0.22% to 27.39% in overall share in 2024, while UMG grew 0.17% to 38.61%. Warner Music Group dipped from 18.63% to 18.39%, while by distribution ownership the Indies also fell slightly, from 15.77% to 15.62%. By label ownership, the indie sector accounted for 36.19% overall share.
Among the individual labels in overall share, Republic and Interscope still held the top two spots — at 10.39% and 10.17%, respectively — though Interscope’s deeper catalog made it closer than with current share. Similarly, Atlantic Records’ deeper catalog meant it took third place in overall share, leapfrogging Warner Records in fourth, at 7.63% and 6.88%, respectively. Columbia (5.97%) maintained the fifth spot, just edging Capitol Music Group (5.95%) in sixth, while RCA, Epic, Sony Nashville and Universal Music Nashville rounded out the top 10.
In catalog share — those releases that are older than 18 months — it was Interscope’s deeper bench that led it to an industry-leading 9.98% share, ahead of Republic’s 8.84% and Atlantic’s 8.31%. Warner Records (7.00%) came in fourth, while Capitol Music Group (6.62%) jumped to fifth, ahead of Columbia (6.44%) and RCA (5.31%) in sixth and seventh, respectively. Epic (2.70) landed in eighth, while Def Jam’s illustrious history, celebrating 40 years in 2024, carried it up to ninth, at a 2.19% share.
Among the label groups, UMG’s catalog share was an industry-leading 39.19%, while Sony posted a 27.87% share and the Warner Music Group ended at 19.09%, with the indies at 13.85%. Sony’s share was up from the 27.21% it claimed in 2023, while each of the other three declined slightly year over year.