List of largest music deals

[b] Some figures might not be entirely accurate, as some multi-million-dollar contracts were reportedly misrepresented or exaggerated,[1][2][3] and many were just media estimations.

[15] The largest music deals belong to catalog acquisitions which include songwriting and publishing rights, with an increase in the late 2010s and early 2020s.

Multi-million-sized music deals have often raised skepticism and been criticized in corporate terms for bi-directional disadvantages,[18][19][15][20][21][22] including Prince's 1992 contract with Warner Bros deriving a contractual dispute.

[18] Referred by a contributor from Forbes to as "the best-known and most-cited example" among misadventured contracts,[15] Mariah Carey's 2001 deal with Virgin Records marked "the first time that a major music corporation decided to cut its losses on a superstar agreement", according to The New York Times.

[23] The following are contracts confirmed artists signed with respective record labels, but sums are largely based on media speculations.