Highlights
- Britney Spears has sold the rights to her full music catalogue to Primary Wave
- The deal is reported to be worth around $200m (£146m)
- The sale follows the end of her conservatorship and her 2023 memoir
- Spears previously said she would “never return to the music industry”
Pop star Britney Spears has sold the rights to her entire music catalogue in a deal reportedly worth around $200 million (£146 million).
The 44-year-old singer is understood to have agreed the sale with independent music publisher Primary Wave on 30 December. The company has not publicly confirmed the agreement, and representatives for Spears have declined to comment. Details of the transaction, including the final price, have not been disclosed.
A catalogue that shaped turn-of-the-millennium pop
Spears rose to global fame with her 1999 debut single …Baby One More Time, launching a career that would define late 1990s and early 2000s pop. Follow-up hits including Oops!... I Did It Again, Toxic and Gimme More cemented her position as one of the best-selling female artists of all time.
Across nine studio albums released since her debut, Spears has sold more than 150 million records worldwide. Her last musical release was a duet with Elton John in 2022. In January 2024, she stated that she would “never return to the music industry”.
Joining a growing list of artists cashing in
Spears’ sale reflects a wider trend of high-profile musicians selling their catalogues to investment firms and publishers. Bruce Springsteen sold his back catalogue to Sony in 2021 for $500m, while Justin Bieber reportedly struck a $200m deal with Hipgnosis Songs Capital in 2023.
Other artists including Justin Timberlake and Shakira have also entered similar agreements in recent years.
Primary Wave, founded two decades ago by music executive Lawrence Mestel, has built its portfolio through acquisitions of major catalogues and estates. It previously secured 50% of Kurt Cobain’s share of the Nirvana catalogue and has since acquired rights linked to the estates of Notorious BIG, Prince and Whitney Houston.
A new chapter after personal upheaval
The sale comes several years after Spears’ 13-year conservatorship ended in 2021. The legal arrangement had placed control of her finances and aspects of her personal life in the hands of her father.
In 2023, she published her memoir, The Woman in Me, detailing her experiences during that period. At the end of 2025, her former husband Kevin Federline released his own memoir, You Thought You Knew.
With her recording career apparently behind her and her catalogue now in new hands, the deal marks a significant shift in the legacy of one of pop’s defining figures.
