By 1969, Branson had been immersed in the British music scene which inspired his idea to create a mail-order record company he named Virgin Records. The proceeds from this new venture were then used to fund his magazine business. The company did not come out as a smashing hit, but it performed reasonably well enough to allow the British billionaire to open a record shop on Oxford Street in London. This then led to building a recording studio in Oxfordshire in 1972.

In 1973, Virgin Records featured its first artist, Mike Oldfield, for his song, “Tubular Bells.” The single was a hit and stayed on the UK Billboard charts for 247 weeks. This kept the ball rolling for Branson as he signed more artists that later on became phenomenal in the music industry such as the Sex Pistols, the Rolling Stones, Genesis, and the Culture Club. The success of these artists catapulted Virgin Records as one of the top six recording companies across the globe.

In 1980, Branson expanded his business ventures and added the travel company Voyager Group on its roster. He then included the Virgin Atlantic airline along with a number of Virgin Megastores by 1984. However, things turned sour for the Virgin brand in 1992 and Branson was forced to sell the company to Thorn EMI for $1 billion.

In 1993, however, Branson picked up where he left off and founded record company Virgin Radio. A second one, named V2, was created by 1996. Gradually, the Virgin Group once again expanded and is now present in at least 35 countries worldwide. It has almost 70, 000 employees around the globe including the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Asia, South Africa, and Europe. Aside from his record companies, the Virgin brand has ventures in various industries such as luxury game preserve and mobile phones. Branson is also eyeing to dominate the space tourism industry with Virgin Galactic.

Branson is married to Joan Templeman. The couple has three children, namely, Same, Holly, and Clare Sarah.