The 10 Biggest Music Business Deals of 2025: Taylor Swift’s Masters, ABS Billions & More

In an industry filled with household names and viral news bites, the most significant music business transactions of 2025 had all the excitement of an accounting seminar: Asset-backed securities (ABSs) and joint ventures for off-balance sheet investments accounted for half of the 10 largest music deals of the year.

Dry and complex financial engineering lacks the pizazz of, say, the world’s biggest pop star finally buying the rights to master recordings that twice sparked her outrage by being sold to other parties. Still, ABSs have been some of music’s biggest deals in recent years, and off-balance sheet transactions are an increasingly common way for major labels and publishers to add to their I.P. empires. Sometimes the unsexiest transactions are the most impactful ones. 

It wasn’t a bad year for music dealmaking, but 2025 had fewer big-ticket transactions than 2024. The top 10 deals of 2025 totaled $6.9 billion, slightly less than half of the $12.9 billion a year earlier. What’s more, half of this year’s list was under $500 million and wouldn’t have made 2024’s top 10.

Not that 2025 lacked a blockbuster deal. Taylor Swift’s purchase of her Big Machine masters made headlines around the world — even though the price tag wouldn’t have made the 2024 list. Last year, Queen and Michael Jackson rights changed hands for much larger sums.

This year’s list is heavy on fundraising but light on acquisitions and investments, which fell from $8.56 billion in 2024 to just $1.46 billion in 2025. This year’s list had three fundraises worth $1.78 billion and a joint venture deal worth $1.2 billion, whereas the 2024 list had zero fundraises and joint ventures. 

Here are Billboard’s top 10 business deals of 2025.