ONE THIRD OF A PIE LEFT

With two-thirds, and eight months, gone, and, thankfully, just four months left, the music industry limps towards the finish line of one of the least memorable years in its meteoric history.

Sales are down almost 15%, and EMI changed hands, as 2007 finds the business still grappling with the transition from physical goods to digital distribution.

UMG is once again the leading music group in overall marketshare with 31.7%, up a sliver over last year at this time, easily beating back SBMG (22.1%), WMG (16.0%) and EMI (9.6%). Check out the complete chart here.

In the label new release battle, Interscope/A&M, thanks to Top 10 hits from Fergie (#5) and Octone’s Maroon 5 (#8), as well as the continued success of Robin Thicke and Gwen Stefani, was up 1.2 percentage points, barely edging out Warner Bros., which had the year’s top debut sales week with Linkin Park, for the marketshare crown.

Disney Music Group, fueled by both sets of High School Musical and Hannah Montana albums, Rascal Flatts, the Jump In! soundtrack and Jonas Brothers landed at #3 (flip-flop them on the attached chart), just ahead of Columbia Records, which used releases from Beyonce, John Mayer and the Dixie Chicks as well as the Dreamgirls soundtrack to land in the fourth spot. Island Def Jam relied on the strength of Fall Out Boy, Bon Jovi, Ne-Yo, Rihanna and Fabolous to finish Top 5.

The year’s top seller Daughtry, R. Kelly and Kelly Clarkson helped RCA Music Group to a positive year-to-year-result.

The Universal Records Group, which had Akon (#3) as well as breaking new artists Amy Winehouse and the rock breakthrough story of the year in Hinder, finished #7.

Among the positive gainers were Capitol Music Group with Corrine Bailey Rae, Joss Stone and the Beatles; Zomba Label Group with Justin Timberlake, T-Pain and Ciara, and Blue Note Music Group, with hits by Norah Jones (#4) and Celtic Woman.