Bulletin YOUR DAILY ENTERTAINMENT NEWS UPDATE JULY 14, 2021 Page 1 of 18 INSIDE Audio Streams Up 15%, Vinyl Sales • Walter Kolm’s WK Double in First Half of 2021 Records Expands, Hires New CEO and BY ED CHRISTMAN Launches Mexican Imprint As the pandemic ends, the recorded music business million streams. (By comparison, Roddy Ricch’s “The has continued to thrive: overall on-demand streams in Box” had been streamed 1.07 billion times during the • Venues Won’t Have to Reapply the U.S. grew 10.8%, to 555.3 billion, in the first half of first half of last year.) for Supplemental 2021 compared to the same period of 2020, according The top album is Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Shuttered Venue to MRC Data. Within that audio streams grew 15% to Double Album, with 2.1 million album consumption Grants nearly 483 billion from nearly 420 million in the cor- units, outpacing the No. 2 title, Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR, • Why Picking a responding earlier period and globally audio streams at 1.37 million units. Wallen’s album is also outper- New Britney Spears performed even better jumping a whopping 27.3% to forming last year’s mid-year No. 1, Lil Baby’s My Turn, Conservatorship 1.296 trillion. which had nearly 1.5 million album consumption units Lawyer Isn’t So Not all the good news is digital. Vinyl sales, which by this time. Simple have grown for the past decade, more than doubled Taylor Swift’s evermore leads vinyl sales over the • 2021 Billboard Latin between January and June, up 108.2% to 19.2 million period, with 143,000 units sold, followed by Harry Music Awards Date & from 9.2 million in the first six months of last year. Style’s Fine Line, with 125,000 units sold. Location Announced Even CD sales, which have been steadily and precipi- Overall, U.S. album audio consumption units are • Warner Music tously declining, posted a modest 2.2% gain, to 18.9 up 14.4% to 413.3 million, while overall consumption Group Elects Nancy million units. units (including video streams) are up 13.5% to 434.65 Dubuc to Board of The only serious loss was in digital sales: Album million. Directors; Thomas downloads fell 26.8%, to 12.92 million, while track Universal Music Group improved upon its industry- Lee Stepping Down sales dropped 20.3%, to 101.8 million. But physical leading market share, as measured by distribution sales rose so much that, for the first time in years, total ownership, to 38.55% from 38.16% in the same period album sales rose, by 12.6% to 51.26 million. of 2020. The total market share of independent dis- The top song of the year so far is Olivio Rodrigo’s tributors, as measured by label ownership, also rose, to • BILLBOARD 200 “drivers license,” with 582.8 million streams, followed 36.46% from 35.85%, according to Billboard estimates. CLICK by Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” featuring Dababy, with 438 (continued) TOTAL IMMERSION ESSENTIAL ANALYSIS of the latest business topics and trends formulated to give industry players the competitive advantage in a rapidly changing market. EXCLUSIVE QUARTERLY REPORTS that deliver in-depth, holistic reporting; case studies; and custom data designed to serve the industry. A DEEP DIVE LIBRARY stocked with intelligence on fan data, SUBSCRIBE TO BILLBOARD PRO FOR song catalog sales, TV synchs, Africa’s burgeoning music ACCESS TO NEW REPORTS business and the gaming industry’s embrace of artists. AND THE ARCHIVE 2021 R&B/HIP HOP POWER ISSUE R&B/Hip-Hop dominates every other genre claiming a quarter of all music consumption. On August 7th, Billboard will publish its 5th annual R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players list showcasing the producers, creatives, executives and publishers who have made R&B/Hip-Hop the hottest genre on earth. Advertise and congratulate the people who are driving this industry and reach an influential audience of decision-makers in music and pop culture. ON SALE : 8/7 | AD CLOSE: 7/28 | MATER IAL S DUE: 7/29 CONTACT Sp ue Joe Maimone 201.301.5933 | [email protected] LE Lee Ann Photoglo 615.376.7931 | [email protected] 21 Cynthia Mellow 615.352,0265 | [email protected] Marcia Olival 786.586.4901 | [email protected] Ryan O’Donnell +447843437176 | [email protected] Editorial content subject to change Page 3 of 18 IN BRIEF R&B/hip-hop remained the top genre, log sales (up 18% to 288.6 million album If you compare the first 10 weeks of this with a 28.25% market share, down slightly consumption units) and current album year, versus the first 10 weeks of last year — from 28.44% in the first half of 2020, while consumption units (up 5.6% to 146.07 mil- when record stores were still open, CD sales rock rose by 1.1 percentage points to a lion) grew, while as a percentage of overall were down by a large margin — 26.9%. But 20.36% market share. Latin also grew, to a consumption current (33.6%) continues to after that point, the CD format rebounded 5.28% market share, from 4.36% last year; lose market share to catalog (66.4%). At this posting a 30% increase to 12.2 million during and country and dance each rose slightly — point last year, current music comprised 2021’s week 11 through week 26, against the the former to 8.21% from 8.02%, the latter to 36.1%, to catalog’s 63.9%. That can be par- corresponding period last year when most 3.39% from 3.18%. The only major genre that tially explained by the strong performance retail stores — including record stores — and dropped was pop, which declined slightly to of “The Box” in the first half of 2020, which CD sales totaled 9.4 million units, so that the 12.89% from 13.28%. helped boost the top 10 songs of that year format finished the quarter with 18.9 million Looking at those genres another way, Lat- to 4.9 billion streams — compared to 3.93 in the first half of this year versus 18.6 mil- in had the largest percentage gain growing billion for the top 10 in the first half of 2021; lion in the first half of 2020. 37.6% to nearly 23 million album consump- and 6.6% of overall streams among the top A version of this article will appear in the tion units from 16.7 million units in the first 200 songs in 2021, compared to 7% last year. July 17, 2021, issue of Billboard. half of 2020, while dance music increased Or, to put it another way, the top 200 most 21% to 14.7 million units from 12.2 million streamed songs in the first six months of this units in the first half of 2020. Close behind year totaled 32.76 billion, but that represents Walter Kolm’s WK in percentage gains, rock was up 20% to 88.5 a 6.4% decline from the 34.99 billion streams million album consumption units from 73.8 the top 200 songs generated last year in the Records Expands, million units in the corresponding year ear- corresponding period. lier period; and country increased 16.3% to All of the above gains take place against Hires New CEO 35.7 million units versus 30.7 million units. the economic downturn caused by the CO- R&B/Hip-Hop grew 12.8% to 122.8 mil- VID-19 pandemic, however the increases in and Launches lion album consumption units in the first the first half of 2021 shouldn’t be discounted half of 2021 from 108.9 million units in the because, for the most part, the recorded mu- Mexican Imprint corresponding year earlier period. That sic part of the music industry was unscathed means it didn’t keep pace with the U.S. by the pandemic. In fact, it appears to have BY LEILA COBO industry’s overall gain of 13.5%. Likewise, bolstered streaming and physical music. In pop music also fell behind inn the industry’s particular, vinyl’s increased popularity has ne year ago, Latin mega manag- overall growth, only increasing 10.2% to 56 been attributed to changing consumer hab- er Walter Kolm took a gamble. million album consumption units from 50.85 its during the pandemic. But the pandemic In the middle of the pandemic, million units. also appears to have played at least a cos- when his star acts — including In other key measurements, both cata- metic role in this year’s growth of the CD. OMaluma, Carlos Vives and Wisin — were AUTHORITATIVE INTELLIGENCE. DELIVERED DIGITALLY. CLICK HERE FOR FREE DELIVERY DIGITAL NEWSLETTERS 2021 ERIKA RECORDS INC. 40TH ANNIVERSARY This year marks the 40th anniversary of Erika Records Inc. CONTACTS founded in 1981 by Erzsebet Liz Dunster, making the company the first ever woman owned vinyl record Joe Maimone 201.301.5933 | [email protected] pressing plant. Originally started as a heavy metal label Dunster scouted bands at legendary venues such as the Lee Ann Photoglo Troubadour and sold records out of the trunk of her Pinto. 615.376.7931 | [email protected] She had one goal in mind: save enough to open her own pressing plant for the sake of creative freedom. She Cynthia Mellow wanted to elevate vinyl records beyond the standard 615.352,0265 | [email protected] round record. Marcia Olival 786.586.4901 | [email protected] The company’s DIY approach and commitment to the evolution of vinyl has been key to the success of Erika Ryan O’Donnell Records over the past four decades.