Leaders of Columbia Records sing the same tune If you're the co-chairmen of a music company, it helps to have friends like Adele. The Grammy-winning pop singer's "21" is in its 22nd non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. With sales of 7.6 million units, more than any record in seven years, the album's success helped propel its American label, Columbia Records, to almost 10% of sales of all current releases in the U.S. in 2011, according to Nielsen SoundScan, catapulting the company from fourth place to first. The British singer-songwriter was drawn to Columbia because of its co-chairmen, Chief Executive Rob Stringer and Chief Operating Officer Steve Barnett. "They're still huge fans of music," Adele told The Times. I haven't met many record company execs of huge labels who still feel like that. Even though Stringer is Barnett's boss, the two English-born, New York-based executives say they make all major decisions together, and talk as often as 40 times a day. Their bond is so strong that they often complete each other's sentences. Structurally, Stringer, 49, reports to Sony Music CEO Doug Morris, while Barnett, 60, oversees the Columbia staff. They rarely disagree. "I know it sounds like some bloody Disney thing, but we don't argue, do we?" says Stringer, looking at Barnett, who nods in agreement. Barnett, who moved to the U.S. 26 years ago, switched to Columbia in 2005 from Sony sister label Epic Records, which he joined in 1996. Nine months later, his boss was replaced by Stringer, who relocated from London, where he ran Sony Music for Britain and Ireland. Stringer, who started at Sony in 1985, is the younger brother of Howard Stringer, who will step down as president and CEO of Sony Corp. on April 1. They're in a great position currently. The music industry had a good 2011, when total U.S. album sales rose 1.4% and downloads rose 8.5%. At a time when other old-guard record companies are losing artists and relevance, Stringer and Barnett have recently re-signed Barbra Streisand and added Foster the People, the Shins and Jack White to 125-year-old Columbia's 94-act roster. The company's musical menagerie runs from 85-year-old crooner Tony Bennett to 11-year-old classical singer Jackie Evancho, and includes longtime Columbia acts Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Diamond and Beyonce. But success didn't come easily, or overnight. Stringer and Barnett initially struggled in their efforts to reinvent Columbia. Barnett dropped new acts such as the Jonas Brothers, OneRepublic and Katy Perry, all of whom developed into platinum artists for other labels. "My natural instinct was ... let's start again," Barnett says. "I thought we needed a revolution," Stringer agrees. Stringer began courting Rick Rubin, the high-profile producer of the Beastie Boys and Columbia's Dixie Chicks, as the label's "creative guru." West Coast-based Rubin joined in 2007 as co-chairman, but as Barnett and Stringer continued to restructure the label, says Stringer, "there wasn't a space for Rick." Rubin, who declined to comment, left the company last year, months before the end of his contract. One of his last projects for Columbia was producing five tracks for "21," and, says Stringer, "he played a part in getting us going." Smart television deals accelerated Columbia's rise. In 2007, Stringer shepherded a joint venture with Nickelodeon to co-produce tween-appeal shows "Victorious" and "Big Time Rush" and release the companion albums through Columbia. Two years later, after Barnett showed him a clip from an upcoming TV series called "Glee," Stringer immediately flew to Los Angeles to meet with the show's co-creator. Each Tuesday, Columbia puts songs from that evening's new episode on iTunes and releases occasional "Glee" compilations. Columbia has sold 6.9 million "Glee"-branded albums and more than 33 million song downloads since 2009. Columbia hopes to replicate that success with NBC's musical "Smash." Columbia has also tied in with strategically selected retail partners, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which sold 784,000 copies of AC/DC's 2008 "Black Ice" in its first week through an exclusive deal, the highest for any Columbia release. Columbia linked with QVC for Susan Boyle and, later, Evancho, who have sold a combined 9 million albums since 2009. Says Barnett: "We convinced QVC to give us just one hour on this woman who came in second on an English TV show ... and [Boyle] sold 36,000 albums in 13 minutes." Ian Montone, whose company manages the Shins, White and Foster the People, has found the label to be artist-friendly in its deal-making, including allowing White to keep his masters and utilize his indie label, Third Man, in partnership with Columbia. "They don't get too penned in to any one structure," Montone says. If there's an artist they want, they will make it happen. Some of Stringer's and Barnett's current energy is devoted to Columbia's 125th anniversary. The yearlong celebration will kick off this fall with the release of the coffee table book "360 Sound: The Columbia Records Story." The deluxe version will include the stories behind 263 key Columbia tracks, starting with John Philip Sousa's "Washington Post March," and a USB flash drive containing all the songs. Stringer compares being the current custodian of Columbia to "having this most fantastic modern art museum: You must be very careful to [not] think you actually painted the paintings in there. Steve never walks past and goes 'I did that.' No, that's a Dylan.