Ranking France’s top 200 sellers of 2021: Believe scores a landmark performance and becomes the #2 player in the market for French artists

Ranking France’s top 200 sellers of 2021:
Believe scores a landmark performance and becomes the #2 player
in the market for French artists

Paris, January 13, 2022 – With a highly impressive 41 albums in the top 200 and a 28% market share for the top-streaming albums locally in 2021¹, the Group enjoyed a landmark performance in France for the year. Believe also had the biggest-selling act of the year, Jul, as well as the most-streamed single and the #1 music video of the year on YouTube, with ‘La Kiffance’ de Naps.

This performance underscores the importance and the impact of Believe’s strategy, which is based around local acts, its unique development know-how in the digital world and its ability to attract and develop artists at the highest level. It also illustrates Believe’s ability to become a leader in one of the world’s largest markets with a model that combined organic growth with strategic partnerships.

The major achievements of Believe and its strategic partners include:

• Having 41 albums in the Top 200, representing a digital market share of 28% for local artists in the chart, ranking Believe as the #2 player in this market, scoring three of the four most-streamed singles in France: ‘La kiffance’ by Naps at #1; ‘TDB’ by Oboy at #3; and ‘Bande Organisée’ by 13’Organisé at #4
• Having the biggest-selling act of the year with Jul², who broke his own previous record by having 10 albums in the Top 200
• The growing success of Vianney, signed to Tôt ou Tard, which saw his album ‘N’attendons pas’ at #7
• The multiple successes of Naps, with three albums in the Top 200 and ‘La Kiffance’ becoming the most-viewed clip on YouTube in 2021
• The rise of DjaDja & Dinaz, with two albums in the Top 200
• The breakthrough successes of Landy and ZKR, first spotted on TuneCore, who had (respectively) the #36 and #53 biggest albums of the year.

For Romain Vivien, General Manager of Believe France, these results validate the core strategy of the Group, which went public in June 2021, and whose mission is to support all independent artists and labels at every stage of their career.

“Our collaborations with top artists like Jul, Naps and DjaDja & Dinaz show that the new generation of artists embrace our digital-first model, as well as endorse our values of independence and transparency. These artists have renewed their faith in us for many years, while entrusting us with our broadening remit, including branding, merchandising and live.

It is also a point of enormous pride for our teams to see artists such as Landy and ZKR – who started out on our automated solutions platform TuneCore and were then developed alongside our partners DJ Bellek from Morning Glory and 109 Records – rise high in the Top 200. This illustrates their unrivalled expertise in developing artists in a digital world, as well as the relevance and flexibility of our solutions to meet their expectations.”

Believe’s remarkable performance is the result of a development strategy that has been implemented and refined over several years: namely to invest gradually and organically in music genres as they go digital – first urban, then mainstream and pop – and build strategic partnerships with labels that are synonymous with artistic talent. The objective is to support all types of artists and allow them to reach the widest possible audiences.

Romain Vivien says, “The alliance of our digital expertise alongside the artistic support of labels such as 6&7 (Jérémie Frérot, Kimberose, Zazie) and Tôt ou Tard (Vianney, Shaka Ponk, Cats on Trees, Noé Preszow) allows artists of all genres to develop their audience in an increasingly digital world.”

The strategic partnerships recently concluded with the labels Play Two (Maître Gims, TAYC, Camélia Jordana) and Jo&Co (Claudio Capéo, Hoshi) help consolidate the position of Believe as the second-biggest player in the French new music releases market while strengthening its market share across all genres of music.

Believe continues to diversify the range of artists on its in-house labels, illustrated by the recent signings of Izïa Higelin, Yodelice and star classical pianist Valentina Lisitsa.

About Believe France

Believe France offers a complete range of services:

● TuneCore, an automated solutions platform for creators

● Artists and Labels Solutions, for labels wishing to have a cutting-edge technological platform and dedicated services to make their music known to as many people as possible

● Artists Services, for artists wishing to maximise their audience.

These offers are supported by dedicated teams and technologies to maximise exposure and increase revenue for artists in the digital world. They are complemented by sophisticated merchandising, branding – including recent deals with Jul, Asics and Reebok – synchronisation and neighbouring rights. Believe is also one of the main producers of tours on the French market via its various subsidiaries (Live Affair, Zouave, Uni-T, Play Two Live), which support artists such as Indochine, Vitaa & Slimane, Hatik, Therapie Taxi, Pomme, Vianney, Shaka Ponk, Vincent Delerm, Jul, Jeanne Added, Yseult, and Djadja & Dinaz.

Believe’s know-how in terms of innovation has also been recognised with several prizes such as its trophies at the Social Music Awards (three in 2021 and five in 2020, including Label of the Year for AllPoints).

CONTACTS

Press Contacts

Kelly Martin, kelly.martin@agenceproches.com, +33 6 63 52 94 74
Elodie Roubaud, elodie.roubaud@agenceproches.com, +33 7 60 43 65 08

Contact Investors Relations

Emilie Megel, emilie.megel@believe.com, +33 6 07 09 98 60

¹ Estimation by Believe based on the Top Albums Streaming 2021 produced by The Official Charts Company (OCC) for SNEP. Data including the projects of Believe’s strategic partners.

² Estimated total sales based on the Top 200 Albums Combined (streaming, physical, download) produced by OCC for SNEP.

¹ Estimation Believe sur la base du Top Albums Streaming 2021 produit par The Official Charts Company (OCC) pour le SNEP. Donnée incluant les projets des partenaires stratégiques de Believe.

² Estimation du total ventes sur la base du Top 200 Albums mégafusionné (streaming, physique, downloard) produit par OCC pour le SNEP

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• Ranking Frances top 200 sellers of 2021_Believe_2022_01_13