In landing its fifth consecutive sweep for the No. 1 slot of both the publisher’s rankings of the Hot 100 and Top Radio Airplay for the second quarter, Sony Music Publishing went a step further as it snared the highest score ever recorded since Billboard first began tracking U.S. publisher market share for hit songs back in 2006. For the Hot 100 in the second quarter, Sony scored a 37.32% market share.
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Beyond its five-quarter-in-a-row sweep of both publisher rankings, it also marks the sixth consecutive time it has topped the Hot 100 ranking. Moreover, Sony’s score swamped the Hot 100 competition as its share was twice as large as the 17.67% tally by Warner Chappell Music, the quarter’s No. 2-ranked publisher for that chart.
Helping to boost Sony into the top spot was its ownership slice in the Q2 Hot 100 No. 1 song, Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas.” On the Top Radio Airplay list, where Sony also was the top ranked publisher with a 30.26% share, its top performing song was Olivia Dean’s “So Easy (To Fall In Love),” which landed at No. 2. Playing in Sony’s favor on Top Radio Airplay is that it serves as the administrator for that chart’s Top Radio Airplay songwriter — with Songs of the Orchard serving as the publisher to Shane Boose, better known as sombr, who placed two songs on the chart, including “Homewrecker” at No. 7. He held the top writer position for both charts in the prior quarter.
Sony placed 63 songs on the Hot 100 chart in the second quarter compared to 65 songs in Q1. However, the songs in Q2 helped the publishing company beat its 29.08% performance in the first quarter. On Top Radio Airplay, Sony’s song count fell from 71 songs in Q1 to 65 in Q2. Still, the company improved its chart share, coming in at 30.26% from 29.11%.
Coming in second on both the Top Radio Airplay and Hot 100 charts, Warner Chappell Music gave up some ground from the prior quarter as it tallied 22.82% on the former chart in the second quarter versus the 23.22% it had in the first quarter. On the Hot 100 chart, its share fell nearly three percentage points to 17.67% from its first-quarter showing of 20.49%. While it was able to secure 59 song placements on the Top Radio Airplay chart in the second quarter — one more than its showing for the first quarter — its song count fell to 39 tunes on the Hot 100 versus the 50 placements it had previously. Its top song on both charts in the second quarter was Bruno Mars’ “I Just Might, which was the No. 1 song on the Top Radio Airplay list and the No. 4 song on the Hot 100.
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Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) ranked as the No. 3 publisher on both charts in the second quarter, and similarly suffered market share drainage. On the Top Radio Airplay chart, it finished with a 12.45% share — slightly more than two percentage points lower than its first-quarter tally of 14.68%, with its song count likewise falling to 44 songs from the prior quarter’s 58 tunes. On the Hot 100, its share dropped one percentage point to 16.55% in the second quarter, down from the 17.55% it had in Q1, while its song count also fell to 43 from the 47 tunes it garnered on that chart in the first quarter. UMPG’s top song on both charts was the same top tune it had on both charts in the prior quarter: Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need,” which was No. 5 on the Top Radio Airplay chart and No. 3 on the Hot 100.
Likewise, Kobalt and BMG, respectively, held steady in the No. 4 and No. 5 spots on both charts, both ceding market share totals from the prior quarter. In the case of Kobalt, its Hot 100 share fell to 9.30% in the second quarter — down from the prior quarter’s 11.15% — as its song count also decreased to 32 tunes, including “Choosin’ Texas,” from 36 placements in the prior quarter. On the Top Radio Airplay chart, its market share decline wasn’t as sharp, dropping to a 9.38% share from the prior quarter’s 9.86%. Kobalt gained two placements in the second quarter, finishing with a slice of 34 songs on the Top Radio Airplay chart, versus 32 in the prior quarter. Its top song on the Top Radio Airplay song list was Olivia Dean’s “So Easy (To Fall In Love).”
As for BMG, its 3.73% share on the Hot 100 was down from the prior quarter’s 5.24%, but its song count held steady at four placements on the chart, with its top song being Mars’ “I Just Might.” The publisher fared better in total market share on Top Radio Airplay, coming in with a 5.61% showing, falling from the prior quarter’s 6.19% share. It landed 12 song placements in both quarters.
Concord, the No. 6 ranked publisher on the Top Radio Airplay chart for the third consecutive quarter, saw its market share fall slightly to 2.75% from the prior quarter, when it held the same place in the ranking on a 2.88% market share. Yet the company’s song count increased to nine tunes from seven songs in the prior quarter. On the Hot 100, Concord ranked at No. 8 in Q2, falling from 3.19% with 10 placements in Q1, to 1.88% with seven placements in the second quarter; like other publishers in Q2, it was impacted by Sony’s strong showing on the chart. Its top song on both charts in the second quarter was “Man I Need.”
Pulse landed at No. 6 on the Hot 100, defying the market share-losing trend, coming in with a 2.30% share in the second quarter, up from its 1.22% tally in the first quarter when it was the No. 8-ranked publisher on the chart. Its top song on that chart was Kehlani’s “Folded,” which landed at No. 11. That song was also Pulse’s top song on the Top Radio Airplay publisher rankings, where the song fared even better as the No. 3 tune. Pulse came in at No. 9 on Top Radio Airplay with a 1.48% share, improving from the first quarter when the company did not crack the Top 10.
Making its fifth consecutive appearance on the Top Radio Airplay publisher rankings, Big Machine Music finished as the No. 10 ranked publisher with a 1.34% share, up from the prior quarter’s 1.19% share when it was the No. 8 ranked publisher. However, Big Machine didn’t make the Hot 100 rankings in the second quarter.
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Also appearing on both charts for the second quarter are Me Gusta Music and Downtown. Me Gusta Music was ranked No. 7 on both charts, with a 2.42% share on the Top Radio Airplay chart and a 2.01% tally on the Hot 100 chart, after not showing up in the rankings on either chart in the prior quarter In the second quarter, it placed five songs on the Top Radio Airplay chart, including Josh Ross’ “Hate How You Look,” the No. 18 song; while on the Hot 100 chart, it snared a stake in four tunes, with its top song being Ella Langley’s “I Can’t Love You Anymore,” which finished at No. 14.
Downtown made its first appearance in the Top Radio Airplay rankings since Q4 2022, coming in at the No. 8 spot in the second quarter thanks to a 1.61% share. The publisher had been absent from the Hot 100 rankings since Q3 2025, but its 1.09% share gave it the No. 10 slot in the second quarter. Its top tune on both charts was BTS’ “Swim,” which was the No. 15 song on the Hot 100 and the No. 30 song on the Top Radio Airplay chart.
Finishing out the Hot 100, Walt Disney Music ranked No. 9 with a 1.21% share, making its first appearance on the chart since Q2 2022. Its top song was Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You,” the No. 30 song on that chart.
For the Top 10 Publishers Top Radio Airplay chart, percentage calculations were based upon the overall top 100 detected songs from 2,367 U.S. radio stations electronically monitored by Mediabase 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the period of April 1 to July 31, 2026. For Top 10 Publishers Hot 100 Songs, percentage calculations were based upon the top 100 songs ranked by Billboard Hot 100 points calculated from digital sales, streaming and Mediabase-tracked radio airplay detections during the period of March 27 to June 25 and reflecting the issue dates of April 11, 2026 through July. 4, 2026. Publisher information for musical works on both charts has been identified by the Harry Fox Agency. A “publisher” is defined as an administrator, copyright owner and/or controlling party.
