Entertainment·NewAriana Grande is suing the hackers who she claims have been stealing and selling her unreleased music, photos and footage for years. The singer filed a lawsuit in California state court on Monday, obtained by CBC News, alleging a yearslong hacking campaign against close collaborators and others with access to her unreleased material.45 of Grande’s unreleased tracks were allegedly stolen and leaked in 2023 aloneGriffin Jaeger · CBC News · Posted: Jul 28, 2026 1:08 PM EDT | Last Updated: 23 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.Ariana Grande arrives at the Golden Globes on Jan. 11, 2026, in Beverly Hills, Calif. The singer is suing hackers who allegedly stole and sold her unreleased content for years. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/The Associated Press)Ariana Grande is suing the hackers who she claims have been stealing and selling her unreleased music, photos and footage for years. The singer filed a lawsuit in California state court on Monday, obtained by CBC News, alleging a yearslong hacking campaign against close collaborators and others with access to her unreleased material, "resulting in the unlawful and egregious theft, dissemination, and exploitation of unreleased content belonging to Ms. Grande."The suit claims a group of unnamed John Does gained access to online accounts and devices of photographers, producers and other people Grande has worked with. They then downloaded unreleased music, recording session footage, music video materials, photos and other private materials and then sold it "on the dark web for significant sums of money."Grande's suit claims that "in 2023 alone, 45 unreleased songs belonging to Ms. Grande were hacked, stolen, and leaked," and that since her 2011 debut, "hundreds of similar leaks have taken place."The complaint outlines multiple alleged breaches spanning years. In 2019, the login details for a photographer’s Dropbox account were allegedly stolen. The next year, one of Grande’s producers’ phones was allegedly hacked, which led to the leak of her unreleased masters, demos and footage.The most recent claim allegedly took place in 2024, when a phishing campaign targeted a digital technician working for a photographer Grande collaborated with. The singer claims the hackers made a Gmail account and internet domain to impersonate the photographer and convince the technician to send private materials to the hackers. Calling out 'crooks'This isn't the first time Grande has called out hackers for leaking her unreleased content. In an interview on The Zach Sang Show in 2024, she brought up a song called Fantasize, which she wrote and produced with Swedish producer Max Martin for a TV show. It went viral after the leaked track was posted online against her will. "Before I left for Wicked, [there were] a few studio sessions that I did which are all over TikTok. Thank you so much, I'll see you in jail. Literally," she said. "Those were all written for a TV show, for something that was not for me, so Fantasize comes out. Crazy, was stolen... these pirates, crooks, illegal!"CBC News reached out to representatives for Grande, who declined to comment. The star is gearing up to release her eighth studio album, Petal, later this week. She’s currently on her Eternal Sunshine tour, stopping in Montreal for a three-night stint this week — the only Canadian dates on the tour.ABOUT THE AUTHORGriffin Jaeger is a reporter and producer with CBC's entertainment unit. He also formerly hosted and produced content for The National’s digital platforms. You can reach him at griffin.jaeger@cbc.ca