28Q1 2012 ALL CHARTS, GRAPHS AND DATA IN THIS REPORT ARE COPYRIGHT OF THE OFFICIAL CHARTS COMPANY
www.musicweek.com
No rescue in sight as albums dip A
ANALYSIS MARKET SHARES
n Adele-charged XL Beggars bailed out the albums market in Q1 2011 as the majors struggled, but 12 months later not even
the multiple Brit and Grammy winner could save the day. In the first quarter of last year sales of Adele’s
albums 21 and 19 had been so spectacular that they easily cancelled out the four majors combined selling 2 million fewer full- and mid-price artist albums compared to the same period in 2010. Fast forward 12 months and the majors
collectively were suffering similar disappointment as sales of their non-budget albums in Q1 dipped year-on-year by a further 2.2 million, but on this occasion there was no blockbuster seller from elsewhere to make up the shortfall. In fact, the independents, which had such a
spectacular first three months of 2011 mainly thanks to Adele, suffered their own big losses with sales of full- and mid-price budget artist albums falling 23.1% year-on-year to around 3.8 million units. Across artist and compilation titles that drop
increased to 24.8%, a fall largely explained by the indie sector having to compete with record- breaking sales figures enjoyed in the first quarter of 2011 by Adele. However, the majors had no such impossible figure to compete against and for most of them the losses were still significant. In both unit and percentage terms Warner
suffered the biggest drop with its full- and mid- price album sales falling year-on-year in Q1 by around 1.2 million units and 33.7% as it was overtaken in the rankings by EMI. As a consequence, its market share slipped from 15.3% to 12.1%, some 2.6 percentage points behind EMI in third place. Universal and Sony also suffered double-digit
percentage declines in the number of albums it sold in the quarter compared to the same period in 2011, although their losses collectively were less than Warner endured individually. Universal comfortably remained market leader
with a 32.1% share of sales almost double that of second-placed Sony, although it achieved this having sold around 730,000 fewer albums than it did during the same quarter 12 months earlier. This represented a 10.4% drop in unit terms. Sony’s 16.3% albums share came with an 11.9%
dip in album sales, having shifted around 430,000 fewer units than it sold in Q1 2011, while EMI defied the trend by increasing its own sales by around 220,000 units or 8.2% to take its market share up from 11.4% to 14.7%. Despite having to compete with a record-
breaking first quarter of 2011, XL Beggars finished as top independent for albums with a 3.8% share with Ministry of Sound second (2.8%) and Demon third (1.5%). Universal’s Polydor and Island were the quarter’s top two albums companies with Polydor claiming
10 15 20 25 30 35
0 5
TOP 10 ALBUMS CORPORATE GROUPS Q1 2012 Universal
top spot thanks to successes including Lana Del Rey’s Born To Die. Island’s highlights took in albums by Jessie J, Rizzle Kicks and Florence + The Machine. EMI’s Virgin claimed fifth position with a
S Warnerony EMI XL
Ministry Of
Sound Demon Union Corporate Groups Blix Square Street Beady Eye
6.6% share largely thanks to Emeli Sande’s first album Our Version Of Events, while above it sat Sony companies Columbia and RCA. Columbia was boosted by new studio albums from long-time campaigners Bruce Springsteen and Leonard Cohen, while RCA’s interests included One Direction (above), Rebecca Ferguson and Beyonce. The singles market provided a lot more positive
TOP 10 ALBUMS COMPANIES Q1 2012 10
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news compared to albums with three of the four majors selling more units compared to the first quarter last year and the independents’ sales were up by 18.7%. Universal’s sales rose 2.9% as it led the market
Polydor Island Columbia RCA
Virgin Mercury Atlan- tic
Corporate Groups TOP 10 SINGLES CORPORATE GROUPS Q1 2012
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UMTV Parlo- phone
Warner Bros
with a 34.4% share, but its nearest rival Sony went in reverse with sales dropping 7.6% as both Warner and EMI closed the gap. Warner, having taken a real hit in the albums market, was partially compensated by a 13.3% increase in singles sales, which meant that it sold around 720,000 more units than in Q1 2011. This also lifted its market share from 13.2% to 14.1%. EMI, meanwhile, increased its singles sales by 30.3% as its market share rose from 11.1% to 13.6%. Where EMI did take a dip was in its usual
Universal Sony Warner EMI MoS XL
Domino Peace frog
Corporate Groups Demon Naive
stronghold of compilations. Lacking a new regular Now! album, the major saw it sales fall in the quarter by 2.3% as it slipped from second to fourth in the league table. Universal remained top with a 33.0% share as it sold around 135,000 more compilations compared to the first quarter of 2011, while the success of the Be My Baby compilation helped move Sony up to second place with a 16.0% share and Ministry of Sound was third (15.1%) as it also finished as the quarter’s top independent for singles.
Sales %
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