MELISMATIC: Mel's Q1 Wrap Up

It may be hard to believe, but 2009 is 1/4 over. Today marks the beginning of the second quarter into the year, already. So where has music stacked up in the first three months of 2009? Let's take a look back...

So far in 2009, we have had five #1 songs here in the USA on the Hot 100 Chart. They have been:

1. Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) (2 weeks)
2. Lady Gaga - Just Dance (feat. Colby O'Donis) (3 weeks)
3. Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You (2 weeks)
4. Eminem feat. Dr. Dre & 50 Cent - Crack A Bottle (1 week)
5. Flo Rida - Right Round (6 weeks and counting)

Over in the UK, there has been six different #1's, including the aforementioned Lady Gaga, Kelly Clarkson and Flo Rida tracks, as well as Lily Allen's "The Fear", the Comic Relief single "Islands In the Stream" and also, Gaga's "Poker Face."

In the US, we've also had five different #1 albums so far this year:

1. Taylor Swift - Fearless (9 weeks)
2. Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream (1 week)
3. The Fray - The Fray (1 week)
4. U2 - No Line On the Horizon (1 week)
5. Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted (2 weeks)

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This past week, Hits Daily Double released a list of comparitive marketshares for the major record labels based on sales in the United States over the course of the first quarter of 2009. They ranked like this in terms of percentage of marketshare:

1. Universal Music Group (30.4%)
2. Sony-BMG (23.4%)
3. Warner Music Group (16.1%)
4. EMI (8.7%)

It should come as no surprise that UMG grabs the #1 spot, although they are down almost 2 percentage points from their placement at this time last year (then, they were sitting at 32.2%). However, UMG has the bragging rights of having Taylor Swift, Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and the majority of the Disney crew, as well as Lady Gaga, Eminem, Keyshia Cole and U2.

SONY hold strong at #2, and have seem to have stolen the percentage points that UMG formally held, being up 2 points in marketshare. SONY holds the rights to Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson, Jamie Foxx, Bruce Springsteen and The Fray.

Warner Music Group also have positive gains to brag about, probably thanks to their holds in Flo Rida, T.I., Kanye West and the explosion of The Dream and the 'Twilight' soundtrack. However, it's when you realize that the label group has jumped in marketshare to 16.1% from just 4.9% at this time last year, you begin to appreciate their financial gains.

EMI, despite boasting The Beatles catalogue, as well as that of Coldplay and Katy Perry, comes in a predictable fourth place -- until you hear that just last year, they were ranked 3rd among the four and just had .1% more than they do now...

In a label breakdown, the Interscope-Geffen-A&M arm of Universal Music Group continue to have the most marketshare at 7.9%, a feat they also had last year. It continued to have positive gains, but not my by much, and are in fear of being overrun by SONY's Columbia Records, who have gained 3.2% in marketshare over the course of a year to put them at 6.9%.

Universal Music Group stands at #3 with 6.5% with a negative percentage drop of .5%. Atlantic, a part of Warner Music Group, is #4 with 5.8%, and another Warner alum, Island Def Jam, is #5 with 5.5%, with the second highest increase in marketshare. RCA, a piece of the SONY pie, is next with 4.3%.

The rest range in percentages of 2.7-2.4% and are Disney Music Group, Jive Label Group, Capitol Music Group and Epic Records Group, respectively.

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Over on my end, over the course of the last three months, my music listening has ranked in this way. Here are my Top 29 Songs of 2009's First Quarter...

29. Kanye West - Heartless
28. Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow
27. K'NAAN - ABC's (feat. Chubb Rock)
26. Agnes Carlsson - Release Me
25. BOA - Eat You Up (DJ Escape & Johnny Vicious Radio Edit)
24. Red Blooded Women - Enjoy the Silence
23. Jada - American Cowboy
22. The Saturdays - Issues
21. Slumdog Millionaire - Jai Ho
20. Brandy - Right Here (Departed)
19. Kat DeLuna - Unstoppable
18. MIA - Paper Planes
17. The Ting Tings - Shut Up And Let Me Go
16. Brandy - Piano Man
15. The Saturdays - Just Can't Get Enough
14. Girls Aloud - Untouchable
13. Jessica Mauboy - Burn
12. Adrienne Bailon - Uncontrollable
11. The Saturdays - Work
10. Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire
9. Lady Gaga - Just Dance
8. Lady Gaga - Poker Face
7. Beyonce - Diva
6. Flo Rida - Right Round
5. Beyonce - Halo
4. The Saturdays - Lies
3. The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
2. The Saturdays - Beggin'

And the #1...