Record Label Market Share Year End 2023: Republic Sets High Water Mark; RCA, Warner Finish Strong

At the midyear point of 2023 , Republic Records had put up a 12.46% current market share — defined as albums released in the past 18 months — which was a remarkable figure, and more than 4.5% higher than the second largest label. Now, as 2023 has come to a close, Republic finished the year even higher, reaching an eye popping 13.47% current market share for the year.

That’s the highest full year mark since at least 2015, when streaming began to lift the industry out of its post CD doldrums, and more than 3% higher than its current share in 2022, which was a then industry leading 10.38%. Republic’s high water mark stems from a combination of both enduring releases dating back to the end of 2022 and massive albums from two of the biggest stars on the planet this year: Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen .

For full year 2023, Swift and Wallen (signed through Republic’s deal with Big Loud, which on its own commanded a 2.33% current share) combined for seven of the top 10 albums in U.S. consumption units, according to Luminate, including four of the top five. With Metro Boomin ’s Heroes & Villains ranking at No.

10, Republic had an astonishing eight of the 10 biggest albums in the United States in 2023. And Republic’s fourth quarter was even more dominant: In the final three months of the year, the label’s current market share ballooned to 16.79%, buoyed by new albums from Drake , Nicki Minaj and Stray Kids .

That’s higher than the current share of the entire Warner Music Group across that three month period, which stood at 15.50%. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper height"])for(var r=0;r.