Thanks to a wave of distinctive (and confessional) new albums from female artists, Universal Music was behind the biggest songs of the summer.
The Big Picture: Charli XCX may not be a Universal client, but brat summer reached far and wide for female artists, giving the girls reign over the top of the charts just a year after Taylor Swift (also a UMPG client) ruled the music world.
Between the Lines: UMPG has a lot to brag about this summer.
Female clients had some of the biggest singles of the summer, including Billie Eilish (“Birds of a Feather”), Sabrina Carpenter (“Espresso”), Lorde (“Girl, So Confusing” remix), Megan Thee Stallion (“Mamushi”), and Ariana Grande (“We Can’t Be Friends”).
That led UMPG to land the top spot during the second quarter of 2024 in Billboard’s Publisher’s Quarterly.
Part of the reason was the 2022 hiring of Sony’s Jennifer Knoepfle as EVP and co-head of US A&R, who brought over super-producer Jack Antonoff along with her — Antonoff is a favorite collaborator among many of the mentioned artists.
Closing Thoughts: Whether it’s UMPG artists like Swift and Carpenter, or non-clients like Charli XCX and Chappell Roan, female expression is definitely in the air… which Knoepfle says is due to a “beautiful freedom in the business right now that’s allowing people to just be who they want to be, and that empowerment is spreading. I think that might be one reason why we’re seeing so many female artists explode at the same time.” Essentially, every listener has someone to identify with.
Go Deeper: Songwriter Amy Allen is the pen behind many of the biggest pop hits of the summer. Put some respect on the stealthy wordsmiths.
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