diff --git a/src/actors.js b/src/actors.js
index 256c6fe..f4283e9 100644
--- a/src/actors.js
+++ b/src/actors.js
@@ -616,9 +616,11 @@ export async function mergeActors(targetActorId, sourceActorIds, reqUser) {
 	let mergedActorStashes = [];
 
 	try {
-		const [existingProfiles] = await Promise.all([
+		const [existingProfiles, sourceProfiles] = await Promise.all([
 			trx('actors_profiles')
 				.where('actor_id', targetActorId),
+			trx('actors_profiles')
+				.whereIn('actor_id', sourceActorIds),
 			trx('actors')
 				.update('alias_for', targetActorId)
 				.whereIn('id', sourceActorIds)
@@ -629,11 +631,19 @@ export async function mergeActors(targetActorId, sourceActorIds, reqUser) {
 				.whereIn('actor_id', sourceActorIds),
 		]);
 
+		// multiple source actors may provide profiles for the same entity, but we can only assign one to the target actor; prefer the newest
+		const newestSourceProfileMap = Object.fromEntries(sourceProfiles
+			.toSorted((profileA, profileB) => profileA.updated_at - profileB.updated_at)
+			.map((profile) => [profile.entity_id, profile.id]));
+
+		const duplicateSourceProfiles = sourceProfiles.filter((profile) => newestSourceProfileMap[profile.entity_id] && newestSourceProfileMap[profile.entity_id] !== profile.id);
+
 		// assign source actor profiles to target actor, unless a profile for that entity is already present
 		mergedProfiles = await trx('actors_profiles')
 			.update('actor_id', targetActorId)
 			.whereIn('actor_id', sourceActorIds)
 			.whereNotIn('entity_id', existingProfiles.map((profile) => profile.entity_id))
+			.whereNotIn('id', duplicateSourceProfiles.map((profile) => profile.id))
 			.returning('id');
 
 		// find releases that have more than one source actor assigned