diff --git a/test/picardtestcase.py b/test/picardtestcase.py
index c1103804c..7b7fa4fed 100644
--- a/test/picardtestcase.py
+++ b/test/picardtestcase.py
@@ -89,7 +89,6 @@ class PicardTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         log.set_level(logging.DEBUG)
         setup_gettext(None, 'C')
         self.tagger = FakeTagger()
-        QtCore.QObject.tagger = self.tagger
         QtCore.QCoreApplication.instance = lambda: self.tagger
         self.addCleanup(self.tagger.run_cleanup)
         self.init_config()
diff --git a/test/test_browser.py b/test/test_browser.py
index 02759a2f2..8c05cf3fa 100644
--- a/test/test_browser.py
+++ b/test/test_browser.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2017 Sambhav Kothari
 # Copyright (C) 2018 Wieland Hoffmann
 # Copyright (C) 2018, 2020-2021 Laurent Monin
-# Copyright (C) 2019, 2022 Philipp Wolfer
+# Copyright (C) 2019, 2022, 2024 Philipp Wolfer
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 # modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 
 
 from unittest.mock import (
+    MagicMock,
     Mock,
     patch,
 )
@@ -122,23 +123,22 @@ class BrowserLookupTest(PicardTestCase):
         url = mock_open.call_args[0][0]
         self.assert_mb_entity_url_matches(url, 'area', 'f03d09b3-39dc-4083-afd6-159e3f0d462f')
 
-    @patch('PyQt6.QtCore.QObject.tagger')
-    def test_mbid_lookup_release(self, mock_tagger):
+    def test_mbid_lookup_release(self):
+        self.tagger.load_album = MagicMock()
         url = 'https://musicbrainz.org/release/60dbf818-3058-41b9-bb53-25dbdb9d9bad'
         result = self.lookup.mbid_lookup(url)
         self.assertTrue(result)
-        mock_tagger.load_album.assert_called_once_with('60dbf818-3058-41b9-bb53-25dbdb9d9bad')
+        self.tagger.load_album.assert_called_once_with('60dbf818-3058-41b9-bb53-25dbdb9d9bad')
 
-    @patch('PyQt6.QtCore.QObject.tagger')
-    def test_mbid_lookup_recording(self, mock_tagger):
+    def test_mbid_lookup_recording(self):
+        self.tagger.load_nat = MagicMock()
         url = 'https://musicbrainz.org/recording/511f3a33-ded8-4dc7-92d2-b913ec420dfc'
         result = self.lookup.mbid_lookup(url)
         self.assertTrue(result)
-        mock_tagger.load_nat.assert_called_once_with('511f3a33-ded8-4dc7-92d2-b913ec420dfc')
+        self.tagger.load_nat.assert_called_once_with('511f3a33-ded8-4dc7-92d2-b913ec420dfc')
 
-    @patch('PyQt6.QtCore.QObject.tagger')
     @patch('picard.browser.filelookup.AlbumSearchDialog')
-    def test_mbid_lookup_release_group(self, mock_dialog, mock_tagger):
+    def test_mbid_lookup_release_group(self, mock_dialog):
         url = 'https://musicbrainz.org/release-group/168615bf-f841-49f7-ac98-36a4eb25479c'
         result = self.lookup.mbid_lookup(url)
         self.assertTrue(result)
diff --git a/test/test_collection.py b/test/test_collection.py
index 31307f3f3..1da053d86 100644
--- a/test/test_collection.py
+++ b/test/test_collection.py
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 from unittest.mock import (
     ANY,
     MagicMock,
-    patch,
 )
 
 from test.picardtestcase import (
@@ -58,6 +57,7 @@ class CollectionTest(PicardTestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
         super().setUp()
+        self.tagger.mb_api = mb_api
         picard.collection.user_collections = {}
 
     def test_collection_init(self):
@@ -109,7 +109,6 @@ class CollectionTest(PicardTestCase):
         self.assertEqual({releases[2]}, collection.releases)
         collection.tagger.window.set_statusbar_message.assert_called_once()
 
-    @patch('PyQt6.QtCore.QObject.tagger.mb_api', mb_api, create=True)
     def test_get_user_collection(self):
         self.assertEqual({}, picard.collection.user_collections)
         collection1 = get_user_collection('foo')
@@ -123,7 +122,6 @@ class CollectionTest(PicardTestCase):
             picard.collection.user_collections,
         )
 
-    @patch('PyQt6.QtCore.QObject.tagger.mb_api', mb_api, create=True)
     def test_add_release_to_user_collections(self):
         self.set_config_values(persist={'oauth_username': 'theuser'})
         release_node = {
@@ -156,7 +154,6 @@ class CollectionTest(PicardTestCase):
         self.assertIn(release_node['id'], collection3.releases)
         self.assertEqual(0, collection3.size)
 
-    @patch('PyQt6.QtCore.QObject.tagger.mb_api', mb_api, create=True)
     def test_load_user_collections(self):
         self.tagger.webservice.oauth_manager.is_authorized.return_value = True
         picard.collection.user_collections['old-collection'] = Collection('old-collection', mb_api)
@@ -169,7 +166,6 @@ class CollectionTest(PicardTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(collection1.name, 'My Collection')
         self.assertEqual(collection1.size, 402)
 
-    @patch('PyQt6.QtCore.QObject.tagger.mb_api', mb_api, create=True)
     def test_load_user_collections_not_authorized(self):
         self.tagger.webservice.oauth_manager.is_authorized.return_value = False
         picard.collection.user_collections['old-collection'] = Collection('old-collection', mb_api)