diff --git a/internal/tags/provider_musicbrainz.go b/internal/tags/provider_musicbrainz.go
index 5a0362c5..b652a917 100644
--- a/internal/tags/provider_musicbrainz.go
+++ b/internal/tags/provider_musicbrainz.go
@@ -155,6 +155,54 @@ func (p *musicbrainzProvider) TestConnection(ctx context.Context) error {
 	return err
 }
 
+// ReleaseGroupForRelease names the MusicBrainz release group a release
+// belongs to (#5241). Minstrel's albums.mbid is the release id from the tags,
+// while Lidarr knows albums only by release group, so re-acquiring a lost
+// album needs this translation when its files (and their release-group tag)
+// are already gone.
+//
+// It goes through the registered MusicBrainz provider, so the lookup shares
+// that provider's client and 1 req/s limiter with tag enrichment rather than
+// doubling Minstrel's request rate, and it respects the provider's on/off
+// switch. ErrNotFound: MusicBrainz is switched off, or has no release under
+// that id (an id that is already a release group lands here too).
+// ErrTransient: retry later.
+func ReleaseGroupForRelease(ctx context.Context, releaseMBID string) (string, error) {
+	p, err := ProviderByID("musicbrainz")
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", ErrNotFound
+	}
+	mb, ok := p.(*musicbrainzProvider)
+	if !ok {
+		return "", ErrNotFound
+	}
+	return mb.releaseGroupForRelease(ctx, releaseMBID)
+}
+
+// mbReleaseResponse models the subset of /ws/2/release/{mbid}?inc=release-groups
+// we read.
+type mbReleaseResponse struct {
+	ReleaseGroup struct {
+		ID string `json:"id"`
+	} `json:"release-group"`
+}
+
+func (p *musicbrainzProvider) releaseGroupForRelease(ctx context.Context, releaseMBID string) (string, error) {
+	if !p.enabled.Load() || releaseMBID == "" {
+		return "", ErrNotFound
+	}
+	q := url.Values{"inc": {"release-groups"}, "fmt": {"json"}}
+	full := mbBaseURL + "/release/" + url.PathEscape(releaseMBID) + "?" + q.Encode()
+	var resp mbReleaseResponse
+	if err := p.client.getJSON(ctx, full, &resp); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	if resp.ReleaseGroup.ID == "" {
+		return "", ErrNotFound
+	}
+	return resp.ReleaseGroup.ID, nil
+}
+
 // normalizeMBTags drops non-positive-vote tags (net-downvoted or zero) and
 // scales the remaining vote counts into [0,1] relative to the strongest tag
 // on this recording, so one recording's raw counts don't dominate another's.
diff --git a/internal/tags/provider_musicbrainz_test.go b/internal/tags/provider_musicbrainz_test.go
index 8af8774c..9de04629 100644
--- a/internal/tags/provider_musicbrainz_test.go
+++ b/internal/tags/provider_musicbrainz_test.go
@@ -176,3 +176,37 @@ func TestMusicBrainzFetch_EmptyTags(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("empty tags: err = %v, want ErrNotFound", err)
 	}
 }
+
+// #5241: a release id resolves to its release group through
+// /release/<id>?inc=release-groups; an unknown id (or one that is already a
+// group) and a switched-off source both say ErrNotFound.
+func TestMusicBrainzReleaseGroupForRelease(t *testing.T) {
+	const release, group = "rel-1", "group-1"
+	srv := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		if r.URL.Path != "/release/"+release {
+			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusNotFound)
+			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"error":"Not Found"}`))
+			return
+		}
+		if got := r.URL.Query().Get("inc"); got != "release-groups" {
+			t.Errorf("inc = %q, want release-groups", got)
+		}
+		_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"id":"` + release + `","title":"X","release-group":{"id":"` + group + `","title":"X"}}`))
+	}))
+	defer srv.Close()
+	old := mbBaseURL
+	mbBaseURL = srv.URL
+	defer func() { mbBaseURL = old }()
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	got, err := newMBProvider(true).releaseGroupForRelease(ctx, release)
+	if err != nil || got != group {
+		t.Fatalf("resolve = (%q, %v), want (%q, nil)", got, err, group)
+	}
+	if _, err := newMBProvider(true).releaseGroupForRelease(ctx, "group-1"); !errors.Is(err, ErrNotFound) {
+		t.Errorf("unknown release: err = %v, want ErrNotFound", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := newMBProvider(false).releaseGroupForRelease(ctx, release); !errors.Is(err, ErrNotFound) {
+		t.Errorf("switched off: err = %v, want ErrNotFound", err)
+	}
+}