ASX blue-chip shares can be a great source of passive income, if we choose the right ones. For me, it's about more than just what the dividend yield is.
I want to consider businesses that I am confident can deliver resilient payouts. Plus, I prefer ASX blue-chip shares with tailwinds that can enable them to increase their payouts over time.
The below two businesses offer pleasing diversification, a high level of passive income and potential growth. Let's dive in.
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Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (ASX: CLW)
This business is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns a diversified portfolio of commercial properties across Australia.
Its portfolio spans government-related buildings (such as Geosciences Australia in Canberra), pubs and hotels, grocery and distribution, telecommunication exchanges, service stations, food manufacturing, waste and recycling, Bunnings properties and plenty more.
I think this ASX blue-chip share's $6 billion portfolio is very attractive and offers more diversification than any other ASX-listed property investment.
But it's not just diversification that makes this a good investment – the business also has built-in rental indexation with its tenants. The rent is either growing in line with inflation or at a fixed annual rate.
In the first half of FY26, the business saw 3% growth of like-for-like property income. This allows the business to hike its FY26 annual distribution by 2% to 25.5 cents per unit. That translates into a dividend yield of 7%. That's a great yield in my book.
It looks great value to me considering it's trading at a 22% discount to the net tangible assets (NTA) of $4.68 at 31 December 2026.
WAM Leaders Ltd (ASX: WLE)
The other idea I want to tell you about is this listed investment company (LIC) which largely focuses on ASX blue-chip shares with an active management strategy.
That strategy of buying when prices are lower and selling when prices are higher has helped the team at WAM Leaders portfolio outperform the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index (ASX: XJO) by an average of close to 3% more per year since the LIC's inception in 2016, before fees, expenses and taxes.
By focusing on high-quality businesses, WAM Leaders can produce good returns in most economic conditions.
At the end of June 2026, some of its largest positions included Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES), Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS), Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP), Scentre Group (ASX: SCG), Nexgen Energy (Canada) CDI (ASX: NXG), Goodman Group (ASX: GMG), Charter Hall Group (ASX: CHC), Amcor CDI (ASX: AMC) and Ampol Ltd (ASX: ALD).
As you can see, it's a portfolio full of ASX blue-chip shares.
The business has increased its annual payout each year since FY17, showing it has a great track record of providing rising dividends for investors.
It expects to pay an annual dividend per share of 9.6 cents in FY26, which translates into a forward grossed-up dividend yield of 9.8%, including franking credits, at the time of writing.
These aren't the only ASX shares I'd buy for income, but they are among the ones I'd be very happy to buy for my portfolio.
