Publishers Quarterly: Sony/ATV Music Tops Hot 100 and Radio Rankings
The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” rules both charts, and Roddy gets Riccher.
In the second quarter of 2020, Sony/ATV Music Publishing topped both the Top Radio Airplay songs and Hot 100 publisher charts with market shares of 20.11% and 20.18%, respectively. This marks the publisher’s 11th consecutive No. 1 ranking on the radio tally — which it has led for 31 of the last 32 quarters — this time with shares in 58 of the list’s 100 songs, including Post Malone’s “Circles” at No. 6.
From April to July, The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” was the No. 1 song on the two charts. Among writers, Rodrick Wayne Moore Jr., better known as Roddy Ricch, topped the Hot 100 with co-writes on five songs. Those consisted of DaBaby’s “Rockstar” (No. 5) and his own “The Box” (No. 6), “High Fashion” with Mustard (No. 23), an appearance on NLE Choppa’s “Walk Em Down” (No. 40), and “Ballin” again with Mustard (No. 62). He’s represented by Kobalt.
On the Top Radio Airplay songs chart, Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas Baird O’Connell, tied for first with the songs “everything i wanted” (No. 9) and “bad guy” (No. 64). Universal Music Publishing Group reps Eilish; Finneas is signed to Kobalt.
The Top Radio Airplay song chart credited 353 songwriters, while the Hot 100 chart was generated by 349 songwriters.
In the ongoing back-and-forth battle for Hot 100 publisher rankings, Sony/ATV edged out UMPG, last quarter’s leader, with 20.18% to 20.03% shares, respectively. This is Sony/ATV’s fourth win in the ranking since it debuted in the first quarter of 2019, this time with a stake in 54 songs, including Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” featuring Beyoncé (No. 2).
UMPG had a share of more Hot 100 songs than any other publisher, with 58, including “Blinding Lights.” (That’s up from 54 songs the prior quarter.) But the company fell from second to third place on the radio airplay rankings with a 17.85% share, down from 18.58% last quarter, even though it was up in total tracks, from 52 to 55.
On the Top Radio Airplay publishers list, Kobalt’s market share rose three percentage points from last quarter, to 19.04%, with 44 songs charting, including “Blinding Lights.” That was enough to overtake UMPG for No. 2 — its ninth time in the spot since 2012. On the Hot 100 publisher ranking, Kobalt’s market share fell to 17.09%, from 17.94% the previous quarter, for third place, with 39 songs.
Warner Chappell Music — which also had a stake in “Blinding Lights” — ranked fourth in the Top Radio Airplay (14.70%) and Hot 100 rankings (15.09%). Once again, the company topped the Country Airplay publisher rankings with a 21.44% share, its 14th straight quarter ruling that tally.
Warner Chappell had a share of 52 songs on the Top Radio Airplay songs chart and 48 songs on the Hot 100 chart. Even though it had more songs on the radio chart than last quarter (when it had 46), the publisher’s market share was down from the 18.63% it clocked earlier this year. Its market share also fell from the 17.99% it had in the prior quarter, though it equaled the first quarter’s 48 song placement in this quarter’s Hot 100 chart.
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BMG ranked fifth on both charts with an 8.38% share on Top Airplay Songs (up from 6.43% last quarter) and 7.53% on Hot 100 (up from 7.09%), where it has improved market share for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company placed 26 songs in the airplay chart and 27 songs in the Hot 100 chart, with Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now” (No, 3 on airplay, No, 7 on the Hot 100), its top song in both charts. That’s an improvement from the 22 songs BMG had on the Hot 100 chart and 19 for the airplay chart in the first quarter.
On the rest of the airplay chart, Big Machine Music ranked sixth (with a 2.98% share and 11 songs), Round Hill Music seventh (2.94% and eight songs — up from 2.30% in the prior quarter), Pulse Music eighth (2.48% with five songs), peermusic ninth (1.67% and four songs) and Downtown Music 10th (1.51% with six).
Rounding out the Hot 100 publisher rankings were Pulse (No. 6, with a 3.03% share and five songs), Round Hill (No. 7, 2.63% and eight songs — up from 1.57%), Big Machine (No. 8, 2.28% and nine songs) and peermusic (No. 9, 1.25% and four songs). Deundraeus Portis — aka producer Twysted Genius — was No. 10 with a 0.72% share based on co-writes for Lil Baby’s “Emotionally Scarred” (No. 45) and “Sum 2 Prove” (No. 67).
This was Pulse’s third consecutive placement on both publisher rankings, led by Harry Styles’ “Adore You” for the airplay chart and Drake’s “Toosie Slide” on the Hot 100 chart — both placing fourth. Both Round Hill’s and Big Machine’s top performing songs were Maren Morris’ “The Bones,” the No. 7 song in the Airplay chart and the No. 12 song in the Hot 100 chart.
This article originally appeared in the Aug. 15, 2020 issue of Billboard.
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