For the second quarter of 2024, Warner Chappell Music (WCM) continued to hold the top spot in Bulletin boardCountry Airplay publisher rankings, marking third consecutive quarter at No. 1.
With a 33.53% market share — up half a percentage point from Q1 — WCM's Nashville team scored big hits like Bailey Zimmerman's “Where It Ends,” which along with the song's producer, Austin Shawn, are signed to WCM starting in 2023. In addition to Sony Music Publishing's five-consecutive quarters at No. 1 from Q3 2022 to Q3 2023, Warner Chappell consistently holds the title of country music's top quarterly publisher in Nashville, dating back to the first quarter of 2017.
Sony came in second with 18.94% market share and 49 songs on the Q2 Country Airplay chart, including hits “Outskirts” by Sam Hunt (No. 3), “Take Her Home” by Kenny Chesney (No. 5) and Nate Smith's “World on Fire” and “Bulletproof” (Nos. 11 and 12). Of the 49 songs Sony had on the chart, 15 were written by Ashley Gorley, giving him the distinction of being the top Country Airplay songwriter of the quarter.
Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) moved up one spot to third with a 7.69% market share and 23 songs on the Country Airplay chart for the quarter. Sam Hunt's “Outskirts,” Jordan Davis' “Tucson Too Late” (No. 6), Post Malone and Morgan Wallen's “I Had Some Help” (No. 15) and Wallen's “Cowgirls” (No. 16) were among UMPG's top songs of the quarter.
Kobalt moved up to No. 4 with a 6.88% market share, up from fifth place and 5.78% last quarter. It also controls a track from the sixth track, Davis' “Tucson Too Late,” along with 22 other songs on the quarter's chart.
BMG dropped from third place in Q1 to fifth with a market share of 4.95%. The Berlin-based music label's biggest song this quarter was Nashville superstar Jelly Roll's “Halfway to Hell,” which landed at number four on Country Airplay in the second quarter. BMG had eleven songs on the chart.
Big Machine Music finished sixth with a 4.19% market share thanks to Tyler Hubbard's “Back Then Right Now” and eleven other songs. At No. 7, Hipgnosis debuted on the country publisher chart with a 3.48% market share and four songs, including a share of Zimmerman's “Where It Ends.”
At No. 8, St. Music also debuts on the publisher's Country Airplay chart with two songs, including Bryan Martin's “We Ride.” Concord came in ninth with 2.31% of the market thanks in part to Tim McGraw's “One Bad Habit.”
Anthem rounds out the top 10 with hits like Scotty McCreery's “Cab in a Solo.” The publisher held the same ranking in Q1, but significantly improved its market share, from 1.87% to 2.18% quarter over quarter.
