‘ONE THING’ IS A BIG THING

SZA and Morgan Wallen drive market-share surges

IN THE FIRST THREE MONTHS of 2023, two albums defined the year to date: SZA’s SOS, on RCA, and Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, on Republic Records. To say these albums have had a profound effect on first-quarter label market-share rankings is an understatement. Combined, SZA and Wallen have spent all but two weeks atop the Billboard 200 this year, and Wallen’s first-week numbers were so large that nearly one in every five album consumption units that week was a Republic release.

In terms of current market share — albums released in the past 18 months — Republic has had a white-hot start, posting a 12.45% mark and besting the second-highest label, Interscope Geffen A&M (7.75%), by nearly five full percentage points. Republic continues to benefit from an exceptionally strong 2022 fourth quarter — Q4 releases like Taylor Swift’s Midnights, Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains, and Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss are all in the top 10 most consumed albums of 2023 so far. But Wallen’s album One Thing at a Time is a huge driver here.

How huge? If Wallen’s label, the Republic-distributed Big Loud Records, broke out on its own, it ranks as the No. 8 label in current share in Q1, having posted a 2.84% share so far in 2023. (Republic’s market share encompasses Big Loud, Island, Cash Money, Mercury and indie distributor Imperial.) Republic’s single-week current market share was 9.76% the week before One Thing at a Time was released; its first-week numbers nearly doubled that up to 18.14% the week it debuted.

Meanwhile, SOS, which topped the Billboard 200 for eight nonconsecutive weeks in the first three months of 2023, helped catapult RCA to a 5.76% current market share in Q1. That’s up from 4.34% this time last year and lands it in fifth place, only slightly behind its Sony sister label Columbia at 5.85%. Alongside strong new releases like the Miley Cyrus album Endless Summer Vacation on Columbia, as well as the continuing success of 2022 releases from artists such as Bad Bunny (Un Verano

Sin Ti, The Orchard), Harry Styles (Harry’s House, Columbia), Beyoncé (Renaissance, Columbia) and Future (I Never Liked You, Epic), RCA has helped push Sony Music Entertainment to a 28.46% current share in Q1. That’s up from 24% at this point last year and places Sony at its highest mark since the end of 2016, according to Luminate.