November 21, 2009

By Ed Christman

EMI Music Publishing Group captured the largest share of the 100 most popular U.S. radio airplay songs in the third quarter, outdistancing its rivals for the third consecutive three-month period.

The company snared a 19.5% share of the quarter's top 100 airplay songs, with a share in 45 songs in the rankings, up from 39 in the second quarter when it had a 17.3% share. EMI's third-quarter showing this year exceeded the 18.3% share it had during the same period a year earlier and represented its best performance since first-quarter 2008, when it topped the publisher rankings with a 21.4% share.

EMI's top tracks in the third quarter included the No. 2 song "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas, the No. 3 "Knock You Down" by Keri Hilson featuring Kanye West and Ne-Yo, and the No. 4 "Best I Ever Had" by Drake.

Radio airplay is calculated based on the overall top 100 detecting songs from the 1,630 radio stations monitored electronically by Nielsen BDS for the three months that ended Sept. 30. The Harry Fox Agency researches the publishers' split for each track to calculate their share of those songs.

Sony/ATV Music Publishing ranked second for the third quarter in a row with a 17.1% share, up from 14.2% in the second quarter and 15.5% in the same period last year, when the company ranked third. In the most recent quarter, Sony/ATV had a share in 35 of the top 100 airplay songs, improving on the 25 songs it had a piece of during the second quarter of this year. Its top songs included shares in Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me," the quarter's No. 1 airplay song; "Best I Ever Had"; and Lady Gaga's "LoveGame" (No. 7).

Universal Music Publishing Group ranked third in the quarter with a 12.5% share, up from 11.9% in the second quarter and halting a continuous decline in the company's market share since third-quarter 2008, when it had a 20.6% share. Universal had a share in 24 of the quarter's top 100 airplay songs, matching its tally from the previous quarter. Songs it had a share in included "Knock You Down," "Best I Ever Had" and Pitbull's "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" (No. 8).

Coming in fourth place was Warner/Chappell Music, which scored an 11.9% share of the third quarter's top songs, down from 14.1% in the second quarter when the company ranked third, but up from 11.7% in the third quarter of last year. Warner/Chappell had a share in 34 of the top 100 songs, down from 35 in the second quarter. In addition to "Knock You Down" and "Best I Ever Had," it had a share in Katy Perry's "Waking Up in Vegas" (No. 6).

Kobalt Music Group came in fifth place for the sixth consecutive quarter, with a 6.1% share in the third quarter, down from 7.4% in the second quarter but up from 3.8% in the third quarter of last year. Kobalt had a share in 12 top airplay songs, including "Knock You Down," "Waking Up in Vegas" and Pink's "Please Don't Leave Me" (No. 10).

Bug Music/Windswept Holdings ranked sixth with a 4% market share, slipping from 4.2% in the second quarter but marking a slight improvement from 3.8% during the same period last year. Bug had a share in eight of the top songs, including Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" (No. 5).

Cherry Lane Music Publishing captured a 2.9% share to come in seventh for the third quarter, marking its fifth appearance on the top 10 publishers airplay chart since Billboard launched the chart in second-quarter 2006. Its 2.9% showing was up from its 2.7% share in the second quarter and was its largest market share in any quarter since the chart's launch. Cherry Lane had shares in two of the top airplay songs, both from the Black Eyed Peas: "I Gotta Feeling" and "Boom Boom Pow" (No. 15).

Evergreen Copyrights ranked eighth, making its debut on the chart with 2.3% thanks to a share in three songs: "You Belong With Me," Pitbull's "Hotel Room Service" (No. 16) and Randy Houser's "Boots On" (No. 31).

Words and Music Copyright Administration snared a 2% share to rank ninth, representing its fourth appearance on the chart. It had a piece of five top 100 songs, including Brad Paisley's "Welcome to the Future" (No. 60) and "Then" (No. 75) and Chris Young's "Gettin' You Home (The Black Dress Song)" (No. 61).

Rounding out the top 10 is Stage Three Music, which makes its second appearance on the publishers airplay chart, after making its debut in the previous quarter. It tallied a 1.9% share, down from 3.1% in the second quarter, when it ranked seventh. It had shares in five songs, including Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" (No. 20), Rascal Flatts' "Summer Nights" (No. 32) and Matt Nathanson's "Come On Get Higher" (No. 71).

Swift was the quarter's top-ranking songwriter, thanks to three songs in the top 100: "You Belong With Me," "Love Story" and "Best Days of Your Life," which she co-wrote with Kellie Pickler.

After ranking as the top songwriter of the second quarter, Nadir "RedOne" Khayat slips one notch to second in the third quarter, owing his still-strong showing to his share in Lady Gaga's "LoveGame," "Poker Face" (No. 42) and "Just Dance" (No. 68); Sean Kingston's "Fire Burning" (No. 14); and "Make Her Say" (No. 100) by Kid Cudi featuring West and Common.

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