Sony‘s combined revenues from recorded music and music publishing topped USD $3 billion for a third consecutive quarter in calendar Q2 2026 (April–June), reaching an estimated $3.12 billion in the period – the highest quarterly total of that run.
That’s according to MBW’s calculations based on Sony Group Corp‘s calendar Q2 2026 (fiscal Q1 2026) results, as announced by the Japanese conglomerate today (Friday, July 31).
According to Sony, growth in the quarter was driven by rising streaming revenues across both recorded music and music publishing, plus a jump in income from live events and merchandising.
The $3.12 billion quarterly combined total was up 12.7% YoY at US dollar-converted consistent currency, compared to $2.77 billion in calendar Q2 2025.
That means Sony’s recorded music and publishing operations generated approximately $352 million more in calendar Q2 2026 than in the prior-year quarter.
Note: Corporately speaking, Sony Group’s global music operation includes recorded music, plus music publishing, plus ‘Visual Media & Platform’. The final category primarily covers mobile games and animation projects, and has been omitted from MBW’s revenue calculations in the above chart.
MBW calculates Sony’s music revenues in USD, based on average quarterly exchange rates provided by Sony. This gives a more accurate picture of Sony’s worldwide performance than the Japanese firm’s reported Yen figures. US-headquartered Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Music Publishing both aggregate the results of their worldwide subsidiaries on a USD basis. However, this global USD conversion risks a degree of FX distortion by converting revenues from Tokyo-based Sony Music Entertainment Japan, which reports revenues in its ‘root’ currency of Yen.
Recorded music revenue breakdown
Sony Music Entertainment‘s total recorded music revenue in calendar Q2 2026 was an estimated $2.39 billion, up 14.7% YoY versus $2.09 billion in calendar Q2 2025.
Of that total, streaming revenue (combining subscription and ad-funded streaming) was approximately $1.49 billion, up 9.8% YoY versus $1.36 billion a year earlier.
Quarterly revenues from physical music sales hit $186 million in calendar Q2 2026, up 3.3% YoY.
The standout performer within Sony’s recorded music division, though, was the category corporately defined as ‘Other’. It captures income from live performances, merchandising, and license revenue (public performance, broadcast and sync).
This ‘Other’ category generated $671.7 million in calendar Q2 2026, up 39.7% YoY – comfortably the fastest-growing part of Sony’s recorded music business in the quarter, reflecting the company’s expanding participation in the global live and merch markets.
According to Sony Corp‘s results, Sony Music Entertainment‘s ten biggest recorded music projects in the calendar Q2 2026 quarter (ex-artists signed in Japan), in order of global revenue generation, were:
- Michael Jackson – Thriller
- Ella Langley – Dandelion
- Bad Bunny (Rimas Entertainment) – DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS
- Michael Jackson – Bad
- RAYE – THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE.
- Bad Bunny (Rimas Entertainment) – Un Verano Sin Ti
- SZA – SOS
- Luke Combs – The Way I Am
- Ella Langley – still hungover
- Peso Pluma and Tito Double P – DINASTÍA
Music publishing performance
Sony’s global music publishing operation – led by Sony Music Publishing – generated $728 million in the three months to end of June 2026.
That quarterly revenue figure, at the US dollar level, was up 6.7% YoY versus $683 million in the prior-year quarter.
Within that publishing total, streaming generated approximately $426 million in calendar Q2 2026, up 8.5% YoY.
Quarterly profits
Sony Corp also today issued profit numbers for its corporate Music division in the three months to end of June 2026. (The following figures include Sony’s operations across Recorded Music, Music Publishing, plus Visual Media & Platform.)
In calendar Q2 2026 (fiscal Q1 2026), Sony’s corporate Music division posted a quarterly operating income of 105.9 billion Yen ($665m).
That represented an operating margin of 18.8%, from total divisional quarterly revenues (again, ‘Music’ including ‘Visual Media & Platform’, including intersegment revenues) of 562.0 billion Yen ($3.53bn).
Sony Corp additionally presents to investors its Adjusted OIBDA performance in each quarter (see below) – a metric also used by Warner Music Group to present its earnings.
In calendar Q2 2026 (fiscal Q1 2026), Sony’s Music division posted an Adjusted OIBDA of 134.4 billion Yen ($844m).
That represented an Adjusted OIBDA margin from total divisional quarterly revenues of 23.9%.
Full-year guidance
Alongside its quarterly results, Sony raised its full-year outlook for the corporate Music division (again, inclusive of Visual Media & Platform). For its current fiscal year, ending March 2027, the company now forecasts Music segment sales of 2.19 trillion Yen – a 50 billion Yen (2%) upward revision on its May guidance – and operating income of 420 billion Yen, raised by 20 billion Yen (5%).
Sony attributed the upgrade partly to the consolidation of Recognition Music Group – the 45,000-song catalog (formerly Blackstone-owned, and built out of the old Hipgnosis portfolio) whose acquisition by Sony Music Publishing completed in July – alongside favorable foreign-exchange movements.
Methodology note
Note: All YoY percentage rises/falls published in this story are calculated at constant currency at the US dollar-converted level.
MBW uses Sony’s own quarterly average currency rates for these calculations, and the below data from Sony’s filings.
For this analysis, MBW has calculated Sony’s financials from Japanese Yen into US dollars at the following prevailing exchange rates in each quarter, as provided by Sony Corp:
- Calendar Q1 2024: 148.2 Yen per USD
- Calendar Q2 2024: 155.6 Yen per USD
- Calendar Q3 2024: 149.5 Yen per USD
- Calendar Q4 2024: 152.2 Yen per USD
- Calendar Q1 2025: 152.6 Yen per USD
- Calendar Q2 2025: 144.6 Yen per USD
- Calendar Q3 2025: 147.37 Yen per USD
- Calendar Q4 2025: 153.99 Yen per USD
- Calendar Q1 2026: 156.7 Yen per USD
- Calendar Q2 2026: 159.3 Yen per USD
By applying these exchange figures to each applicable period, we effectively get a US-leaning constant currency picture of Sony Music’s performance.
This isn’t a perfect system; it risks overplaying Sony Music Entertainment’s global business slightly by converting a chunk of revenues from Sony Music Entertainment Japan (which would usually be straight-reported in Yen) into US dollars.
But it provides us with a cleaner reflection of the performance of New York-based Sony Music Entertainment outside of FX distortion, because the company had to convert its US currency into Yen in the first place for Sony Corp’s results. The same is true for US-based Sony Music Publishing.
MBW believes this currency exchange system is the yardstick used internally at Sony Music Group‘s HQ in New York.
Sony’s own description of its three corporate music divisions is as follows:
- Recorded Music – Streaming includes the distribution of digital recorded music by streaming; Recorded Music – Others includes the distribution of recorded music by physical media and digital download as well as revenue derived from artists’ live performances;
- Music Publishing includes the management and licensing of the words and music of songs;
- Visual Media and Platform includes the production and distribution of animation titles, including game applications based on the animation titles, and various service offerings for music and visual products.
Within / covering the first two divisions listed above:
- Sony Music Publishing, run by CEO & Chairman Jon Platt, is Sony’s US-headquartered music publishing operation. Sony Music Entertainment, run by CEO Rob Stringer, is Sony’s US-headquartered recorded music operation.
- And Sony Music Group – also run by Rob Stringer, as Chairman – is Sony’s US-headquartered umbrella group for both Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Music Publishing.
Music Business WorldwideMusic Business Worldwide
