Universal Music maintained its position as the biggest music label of 2011 but it was close.
Lady Gaga. Photo by Tim Cashmere
29.85% of all music sales during 2011 were through Universal but Sony was just a bees dick behind at 29.29%, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Universal Music lost market share in 2011, down from 30.84% and Sony made good gains, up from 27.95% the previous year.
Warner Music was fairly steady at 19.13%, down a tad from 20.01% in 2010. EMI was at 9.62%, down from 10.18% the previous year.
Other labels combined accounted for 12.11% of sales in 2011.
Universal was number one for new music selling 31.85% of new releases in 2011. Sony sold 29.56%, Warner 17.39%, EMI 9.07% and others 9.85%.
Catalogue albums were Universal 27.42%, Sony 28.97%, Warner 21.18%, EMI 10.34% and others 12.07%.
Sony was number one for physical albums with 31.08% of sales thanks to strong physical sales for Adele. (Sony had Adele for North America). Universal had 30.53% of sales, Warner 18.78%, EMI 9.44% and other 10.17%.
Digital albums went to Universal 28.35%, Sony 25.36%, Warner 19.91%, EMI 10% and others 16.37%.
Biggest albums by label for 2011 were:
Universal – Lady Gaga ‘Born This Way’ (3)
Sony – Adele ‘21’ (1)
Warner – Michael Buble – ‘Christmas’ (2)
EMI – Lady Antebellum – ‘Own The Night’ (10).
