14
MONTE LIPMAN, 53
Founder/chairman, Republic Records
AVERY LIPMAN, 51
Founder/president, Republic Records
Last Year’s Rank: 14
A YEAR OF ACCOLADES: Republic boasts two of Billboard‘s top five artists of 2017 and two of the top 10 most-streamed singles, including Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee‘s “Despacito,” the year’s most-streamed song (1.3 billion plays). Post Malone scored smashes with “Congratulations” and “rockstar” (911 million and 620 million streams, respectively), Taylor Swift notched her fifth No. 1 on the Hot 100 with “Look What You Made Me Do,” and Nicki Minaj racked up 13 Hot 100 entries without an album.
THE ROAD AHEAD: Avery predicts Malone will be “one of the marketmakers” with forthcoming album Beerbongs & Bentleys, while Monte remains bullish on Julia Michaels, who became the label’s ninth best new artist Grammy nominee in the past decade. “She is a Renaissance woman,” he says of the multiplatinum recording artist/songwriter.
MUSIC TREND THAT SHOULD BE RETIRED: (Monte) “Music videos [featuring] young kids holding guns.”
