diff --git a/internal/services/media_scanner.go b/internal/services/media_scanner.go
index fc7f0991..d68eda82 100644
--- a/internal/services/media_scanner.go
+++ b/internal/services/media_scanner.go
@@ -1884,11 +1884,17 @@ func extractAudiobookshelfSidecar(path string) *MediaMetadata {
 	}
 
 	// Smart genre (A2c §2.5): most-specific canonical genre wins the genre
-	// column; every candidate (split parts included) stays in tags.
-	if genre, _ := pickSmartGenre(sidecar.Genres); genre != "" {
+	// column; every candidate (split parts included) stays in tags. The
+	// split is the point: ABS-style exports join genres into one
+	// comma-string ("Epic, Action & Adventure, Military") which must land
+	// as separate tags, while commas inside a single subject heading stay
+	// legal within one tag.
+	genre, all := pickSmartGenre(sidecar.Genres)
+	if genre != "" {
 		metadata.Genre = genre
 	}
-	if tags := append(append([]string{}, sidecar.Genres...), sidecar.Tags...); len(tags) > 0 {
+	tags := append(append([]string{}, all...), sidecar.Tags...)
+	if len(tags) > 0 {
 		metadata.Tags = utils.NormalizeTags(tags)
 	}
 	if sidecar.Language != nil {
diff --git a/internal/services/media_scanner_metadata_test.go b/internal/services/media_scanner_metadata_test.go
index aea9c8db..baeffc8a 100644
--- a/internal/services/media_scanner_metadata_test.go
+++ b/internal/services/media_scanner_metadata_test.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"image/jpeg"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 )
@@ -196,6 +197,30 @@ func TestExtractAudiobookshelfSidecar(t *testing.T) {
 				}
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name: "joined genre string splits into separate tags (ABS export)",
+			json: `{"title": "Joined Genres", "genres": ["Epic, Action & Adventure, Military, Sword & Sorcery"]}`,
+			validate: func(t *testing.T, m *MediaMetadata) {
+				want := []string{"Epic", "Action & Adventure", "Military", "Sword & Sorcery"}
+				if len(m.Tags) != len(want) {
+					t.Fatalf("Tags = %v, want %v", m.Tags, want)
+				}
+				for i, w := range want {
+					if m.Tags[i] != w {
+						t.Errorf("Tags[%d] = %q, want %q", i, m.Tags[i], w)
+					}
+				}
+				inGenre := false
+				for _, w := range want {
+					if strings.EqualFold(m.Genre, w) {
+						inGenre = true
+					}
+				}
+				if !inGenre || m.Genre == "" {
+					t.Errorf("Genre = %q, want a case-insensitive match of %v", m.Genre, want)
+				}
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			name: "sparse sidecar (real-world Audiobookshelf export)",
 			json: `{"title": "Sparse (1234)", "authors": ["X"], "tags": [], "description": null}`,