Publishers Quarterly: Universal Gets Taylor-Made Boost in Close Competition With Sony

Universal Music Publishing Group earned the top spot on the Hot 100 Songs publishers ranking for 2024’s second quarter with 27.97% of the market, in large part thanks to Taylor Swift and the 19 songs she landed on the chart. It didn’t hurt that her writing partner Jack Antonoff is also on UMPG’s roster. (He moved there from Sony Music Publishing in August 2023.) Swift’s work accounted for a little over one-third of the 56 songs the publisher had on the Hot 100 during the quarter, up significantly from its 43-song count in the first quarter of the year.

Sony Music Publishing, which typically places first on the Hot 100 publishers ranking, finished a close second with a 27.13% market share and 57 tracks on the chart, including the No. 1 song for the second quarter, Tommy Richman‘s “Million Dollar Baby.” Warner Chappell Music finished third with a 19.87% market share. Its top second-quarter tune was “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey, one of 47 that it landed on the chart.

Sony nevertheless remained at the peak of the Top Radio Airplay ranking for the 13th consecutive quarter, with a 27.64% market share and 66 songs. Its No. 1 track was “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims, a song in which Warner Chappell and UMPG also have stakes. Sony was also buoyed by the quarter’s biggest Radio Airplay hitmaker — Ashley Gorley, co-writer of “I Had Some Help” by Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen — plus seven other songs on the chart.

Warner Chappell maintained its second-place ranking among Top Radio Airplay publishers for the third consecutive quarter with a 23.25% market share and 63 songs on the chart. UMPG came in third with 15.82% of the market and 43 songs.

Kobalt held its position as the fourth-largest  publisher on the Hot 100 and Top Radio Airplay charts with market shares of 10.74% and 9.44%, respectively, in part due to stakes in the No. 1 songs on both charts.

Despite a tumultuous first half of the year, Hipgnosis turned in a strong performance, finishing fifth on both rankings, with a 4.36% share on Top Radio Airplay and 2.73% on the Hot 100, also thanks to its piece of "Lose Control." Last quarter, Hipgnosis — whose founder and CEO, Merck Mercuriadis, stepped down in July after private equity firm Blackstone acquired its catalog — was No. 7 on Top Radio Airplay and No. 9 on the Hot 100.

BMG ranked No. 6 on both Top Radio  Airplay (3.36%) and the Hot 100 (1.47%), down  from the No. 5 ranking it had on both charts in  the first quarter.

Three independent publishers fill the entries at Nos. 7, 8 and 9 on the Hot 100 chart. Reservoir Music ranked seventh (1.34%) thanks to its share of "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter, Position Music (1.194%) was eighth due to its stake in "Beautiful Things" by Benson Boone, and Sentric Music Publishing was ninth (1.192%) with help from "End of Beginning" by Djo. The latter two publishers make their first appearances on the rankings.

Last Quarter: Jack Harlow Helped Sony Sweep (Again)