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Publishing

Publishers Quarterly: Sony Drops 'ATV' and Stays No. 1 On Songs Charts

By Ed Christman
2/19/2021
By Ed Christman
2/19/2021
Gabby Barrett
Rick Diamond/Getty Images for CMT

Gabby Barrett attends the 2019 CMT Music Awards at Bridgestone Arena on June 05, 2019 in Nashville.

The newly rebranded publisher shows "Hope" with the most titles on Top Radio Airplay and Hot 100 Songs.

Sony Music Publishing, which rebranded from Sony/ATV on Feb. 10, maintained its reign atop the publisher charts for the period from October to December, leading both Top Radio Airplay and Hot 100 Songs for the third quarter in a row. The publisher has topped the airplay tally for 33 of the last 34 quarters, and its market share on it rose slightly to 22.11% (from 22.10%). On Hot 100 Songs, Sony slipped to 24.13% (from 26.68%).

24kGoldn’s "Mood" (featuring iann dior) ruled both Top Radio Airplay and Hot 100 Songs in the fourth quarter. (Universal Music Publishing Group and Kobalt have stakes in the song.) But the late Johnny Marks, published by his own St. Nicholas Music, led songwriters on Hot 100 Songs, with four Christmas compositions on the chart: Brenda Lee's "Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree" at No. 17, Burl Ives' "A Holly Jolly Christmas" at No. 44, Gene Autry's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" at No. 87 and Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run" at No. 80. On Top Radio Airplay, Tom "Kid Harpoon" Hull (represented by UMPG) was the top songwriter with four charting songs: Harry Styles' "Watermelon Sugar" (No. 11), "Adore You" (No. 20) and "Golden" (No. 59) and Shawn Mendes' "Wonder" (No. 43).

Artists Mentioned

24kGoldn

Andy Williams

Brenda Lee

Burl Ives

Chance the Rapper

Chuck Berry

Drake

Gabby Barrett

Gene Autry

Harry Styles

This marks Sony’s 13th consecutive No. 1 on Top Radio Airplay, with 55 songs on the chart, including Gabby Barrett's "Hope" (No. 2). The company had 54 compositions on Hot 100 Songs — more than any other publisher, but down from 59 — including Drake's "Laugh Now Cry Later" (featuring Lil Durk) at No. 2.

On both charts, Nos. 2-5 remained the same as the previous quarter: UMPG, Kobalt, Warner Chappell Music and BMG, respectively.

UMPG’s market share grew on both tallies. On Top Radio Airplay, it led song placements with 58, reaching 20.56% (from 19.24% and 58 songs), while on Hot 100 Songs, UMPG reached 20.29% with 50 songs (from 18.98% and 60 songs).

Kobalt’s share fell on both charts: down to 16.79% with 44 songs on Top Radio Airplay (from 18.76% and 50 songs) and 15.27% with 39 songs on Hot 100 Songs (from 16.14% and 47 songs).

Warner Chappell improved on Top Radio Airplay with a 15.15% share and 48 songs (from 13.19% and 46 songs) led by The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" at No. 3. On Hot 100 Songs, it earned a 14.82% share with 40 songs (from 13.30% and 42 songs), thanks to "Laugh Now Cry Later." For the 16th consecutive quarter, Warner Chappell led the Country Airplay chart, with 23.38%.

BMG’s market share slipped on both rankings, scoring 8.22% on Top Radio Airplay with 30 songs (from 9.17% and 32 songs) and 7.61% on Hot 100 Songs with 27 songs (from 8.45% and 34 songs), with Justin Bieber's "HOLY" (featuring Chance the Rapper) reaching Nos. 5 and 7, respectively.

On Top Radio Airplay, the rest of the top 10 repeated from the previous quarter as well: Round Hill Music ranked sixth (2.70%), Pulse Music Group seventh (1.81%), Reservoir eighth (1.62%), Big Machine ninth (1.61%) and peermusic 10th (1.5%).

On Hot 100 Songs, St. Nicholas Music ranked sixth (3.52%), Concord Music seventh (1.69%), Pulse Music eighth (1.68%), Reservoir ninth (1.50%) and Round Hill Music 10th (1.38%).

This article originally appeared in the Feb. 20, 2021 issue of Billboard.

UPDATE: This story was updated Feb. 25 to include Reservoir at ninth on the Hot 100 Songs chart with Round Hill Music ranked 10th, therefore bumping Dean Kay’s Demi Music from the list.

By Ed Christman
2/19/2021

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