diff --git a/pkgs/applications/audio/ardour/5.nix b/pkgs/applications/audio/ardour/5.nix
deleted file mode 100644
index b25f9339da13..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/applications/audio/ardour/5.nix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,161 +0,0 @@
-{ lib, stdenv
-, fetchgit
-, alsa-lib
-, aubio
-, boost
-, cairomm
-, curl
-, doxygen
-, fftwSinglePrec
-, flac
-, glibmm
-, graphviz
-, gtkmm2
-, libjack2
-, liblo
-, libogg
-, libsamplerate
-, libsigcxx
-, libsndfile
-, libusb1
-, fluidsynth_1
-, hidapi
-, libltc
-, qm-dsp
-, libxml2
-, lilv
-, lrdf
-, lv2
-, perl
-, pkg-config
-, itstool
-, python2
-, rubberband
-, serd
-, sord
-, sratom
-, taglib
-, vamp-plugin-sdk
-, dbus
-, fftw
-, pango
-, suil
-, libarchive
-, wafHook
-}:
-let
-  # Ardour git repo uses a mix of annotated and lightweight tags. Annotated
-  # tags are used for MAJOR.MINOR versioning, and lightweight tags are used
-  # in-between; MAJOR.MINOR.REV where REV is the number of commits since the
-  # last annotated tag. A slightly different version string format is needed
-  # for the 'revision' info that is built into the binary; it is the format of
-  # "git describe" when _not_ on an annotated tag(!): MAJOR.MINOR-REV-HASH.
-
-  # Version to build.
-  tag = "5.12";
-in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
-  pname = "ardour_5";
-  version = "5.12";
-
-  src = fetchgit {
-    url = "git://git.ardour.org/ardour/ardour.git";
-    rev = "ae0dcdc0c5d13483271065c360e378202d20170a";
-    sha256 = "0mla5lm51ryikc2rrk53max2m7a5ds6i1ai921l2h95wrha45nkr";
-  };
-
-  nativeBuildInputs = [
-    wafHook
-    pkg-config
-    itstool
-    doxygen
-    graphviz # for dot
-    perl
-    python2
-  ];
-
-  buildInputs = [
-    alsa-lib
-    aubio
-    boost
-    cairomm
-    curl
-    dbus
-    fftw
-    fftwSinglePrec
-    flac
-    glibmm
-    gtkmm2
-    libjack2
-    liblo
-    libogg
-    libsamplerate
-    libsigcxx
-    libsndfile
-    libusb1
-    fluidsynth_1
-    hidapi
-    libltc
-    qm-dsp
-    libxml2
-    lilv
-    lrdf
-    lv2
-    pango
-    rubberband
-    serd
-    sord
-    sratom
-    suil
-    taglib
-    vamp-plugin-sdk
-    libarchive
-  ];
-
-  wafConfigureFlags = [
-    "--optimize"
-    "--docs"
-    "--use-external-libs"
-    "--freedesktop"
-    "--with-backends=jack,alsa,dummy"
-  ];
-
-  NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-I${qm-dsp}/include/qm-dsp";
-
-  # ardour's wscript has a "tarball" target but that required the git revision
-  # be available. Since this is an unzipped tarball fetched from github we
-  # have to do that ourself.
-  postPatch = ''
-    printf '#include "libs/ardour/ardour/revision.h"\nnamespace ARDOUR { const char* revision = \"${tag}-${builtins.substring 0 8 src.rev}\"; }\n' > libs/ardour/revision.cc
-    patchShebangs ./tools/
-  '';
-
-  postInstall = ''
-    # wscript does not install these for some reason
-    install -vDm 644 "build/gtk2_ardour/ardour.xml" \
-      -t "$out/share/mime/packages"
-    install -vDm 644 "build/gtk2_ardour/ardour5.desktop" \
-      -t "$out/share/applications"
-    for size in 16 22 32 48 256 512; do
-      install -vDm 644 "gtk2_ardour/resources/Ardour-icon_''${size}px.png" \
-        "$out/share/icons/hicolor/''${size}x''${size}/apps/ardour5.png"
-    done
-    install -vDm 644 "ardour.1"* -t "$out/share/man/man1"
-  '';
-
-  meta = with lib; {
-    description = "Multi-track hard disk recording software";
-    longDescription = ''
-      Ardour is a digital audio workstation (DAW), You can use it to
-      record, edit and mix multi-track audio and midi. Produce your
-      own CDs. Mix video soundtracks. Experiment with new ideas about
-      music and sound.
-
-      Please consider supporting the ardour project financially:
-      https://community.ardour.org/donate
-    '';
-    homepage = "https://ardour.org/";
-    license = licenses.gpl2;
-    platforms = platforms.linux;
-    maintainers = with maintainers; [ goibhniu fps ];
-  };
-}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix b/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix
index ad615a67b8c7..53a0773c1722 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/aliases.nix
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ mapAliases ({
   amsn = throw "amsn has been removed due to being unmaintained."; # added 2020-12-09
   antimicro = throw "antimicro has been removed as it was broken, see antimicroX instead."; # added 2020-08-06
   arduino_core = arduino-core;  # added 2015-02-04
+  ardour_5 = throw "ardour_5 has been removed. see https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/139549"; # added 2021-09-28
   arora = throw "arora has been removed."; # added 2020-09-09
   asciidocFull = asciidoc-full;  # added 2014-06-22
   asterisk_15 = throw "asterisk_15: Asterisk 15 is end of life and has been removed."; # added 2020-10-07
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index c53485f5dea4..aae90760947f 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -23296,8 +23296,6 @@ with pkgs;
 
   ardour = callPackage ../applications/audio/ardour { };
 
-  ardour_5 = lowPrio (callPackage ../applications/audio/ardour/5.nix { });
-
   arelle = with python3Packages; toPythonApplication arelle;
 
   argo = callPackage ../applications/networking/cluster/argo { };