Few in the music business had a better week then Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge.
The largest US music company pulled off a first this week by having each of the top 10 records on the Billboard Hot 100 list come from one of its labels.
Grainge was crowing after the latest Billboard list was released Friday. The achievement marks the strategic importance of Grainge’s controversial effort to acquire EMI.
European regulators had attempted to prevent a concentration of market power, forcing Universal to sell assets as big as Parlophone, but it’s unlikely they’d have predicted a week like this.
No. 1 on the list, which measures sales, radio play and streams, is Katy Perry with Capitol Records, acquired as part of Universal’s $1.9 billion EMI acquisition, finalized a year ago this month.
Perry’s catchy “Roar” last week displaced Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” which occupied the top spot for 12 weeks. Thicke is signed to Universal’s Star Trak/Interscope label.
Lorde, the 16-year-old newcomer from New Zealand, leaps to No. 3 on the list with her alternative-radio hit, “Royals.” She is on the Lava/Republic label.
At No. 4 is Jay Z, featuring Justin Timberlake, with “Holy Grail,” on Roc Nation, while at No. 5 Avicii’s “Wake Me Up” is on PRMD/Island Records.
Rounding out the top 10 are: Lana Del Rey & Cedric Gervais’ “Summertime Sadness,” on Polydor/Interscope; Lady Gaga’s “Applause,” on Streamline/Interscope; Drake’s “Hold On, We’re Going Home,” featuring Majid Jordan (Cash Money/Republic); “Safe and Sound” by Capital Cities, another EMI acquisition on the Lazy Hooks/Capitol label; and, “Berzerk” (Aftermath/Interscope) from Eminem.
“This week, we achieved what has never been done before in the Billboard charts,” Grainge said in a memo to his staff, a copy of which was obtained by The Post. “We have successfully integrated and reinvigorated EMI.”