Which works are entering the public domain in 2026?
Something we all look forward to as any new year approaches is the new material we might get from our favourite artists, such as Courtney Barnett, who we know has got a new album in the can, so surely we’ll hear more from that in 2026.
Bob Dylan has spent some time in the studio this year as well, which means he was either working on new material or getting his band ready for another stint on the road, and it’s been a while since Fiona Apple released new music, so with any luck, we’ll get to hear some more before long. But for all the new music that is surely on the way, there’s still much existing music, and, as the clock strikes 00:00 and ushers in January 1st, 2026, a whole host of old recordings and compositions will slip into the public domain.
2025 saw some huge jazz standards and classics enter the public domain, copyrights running out on things like ‘Singing In the Rain’, ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Alfred Dublin’s ‘Tiptoe Through the Tulips’, although, it is important to note, that while the compositions became public domain, not all of the master recordings did, such as those by Diana Krall, Rod Stewart or Tiny Tim for each of the songs mentioned above, respectively.
And, confusingly, this public domain entry won’t be happening in all countries for the songs, as owing to a convoluted, and frankly at times nonsensical, difference between the operations at performing rights organisation societies around the world, there are different copyright lengths and laws in different countries.
Many places, including the UK and the majority of Europe, adhere to a ‘life of creator plus 70 years’ copyright term, meaning that works by composers such as James P Johnson, who wrote the music which accompanied the legendary Charleston dance, and Arthur Honegger will enter the public domain here in 2026.
On the other hand, in Belarus, Bolivia, New Zealand and Uruguay as well as most of Africa and Asia the copyright term is the lifetime of the creator plus 50 years, meaning that the music of Bernard Herrmann, composer for films like Citizen Kane, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, Fahrenheit 451 and Taxi Driver, will become PD in those regions. Elsewhere, copyrights in countries like Spain have a longer lifetime of plus 80 years, while Mexico has the most extreme protections for their copyrights at plus 100 years.
Which songs are entering the public domain in 2026?
The most complicated copyright terms can naturally be found in the United States, but generally, works that were published between 1923 and 1977 are subject to a ‘life of creator plus 95 years’ rule, meaning that a whole host of hugely popular jazz standards are about to hit the PD, most notable among them ‘Body and Soul’, ‘Dream a Little Dream of Me’, ‘Embraceable You’, ‘Georgia on My Mind’, ‘I Got Rhythm’, ‘(I’m) Confessin’ (that I Love You)’, ‘Little White Lies’, ‘Love for Sale’, ‘Mood Indigo’, ‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’, ‘On the Sunny Side of the Street’, ‘Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone’, ‘Three Little Words’ and ‘You’re Driving Me Crazy’, and that is just on the publishing side.
Of the master recordings to enter the PD in 2026, the most notable will surely be Bessie Smith’s ‘St Louis Blues’, prominently featuring Louis Armstrong on the cornet, as well as an enormous range of recordings such as ‘I’ll See You in My Dreams’ by the Isham Jones Orchestra, the gorgeous ‘Somebody Loves Me’ by Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra, Al Jolson’s ‘Let Me Sing and I’m Happy’, ‘Sitting on Top of the World’ by The Mississippi Sheiks, ‘Milk Cow Blues’ by Sleepy John Estes, ‘John the Revelator’ by Blind Willie Johnson and ‘Standing on the Corner (Blue Yodel No 9)’ by Jimmie Rodgers.
Elsewhere, there will be some significant films entering the PD in 2026 as well, including All Quiet on the Western Front, Greta Garbo‘s first talkie Anna Christie, Bing Crosby’s film debut King of Jazz and John Wayne’s film debut in The Big Trail, as well as Animal Crackers starring the Marx brothers, which includes the incredibly funny song ‘Hello, I Must Be Going’, The Unholy Three, which stars Lon Chaney in his only speaking role, and no less than three Alfred Hitchcock films.
Among the literary works are Dashiell Hammett’s brilliant detective story The Maltese Falcon, which was later adapted into a fantastic film starring Humphrey Bogart, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet and Mary Astor, the Agatha Christie detective novel The Murder at the Vicarage, which first introduced audiences to Miss Marple and William Faulkner’s novel As I Lay Dying.
