As soon as upon a time, Coachella used to ring in a brand new 12 months of festivals and stay music by releasing its lineup in January. It arrived on this timeframe with such consistency that these first couple weeks of January had been frustratingly sluggish for the pageant’s devotees. However these days, apparently, are over. Following up on final 12 months’s shock November lineup drop, Coachella pushed the timeline up two months earlier and revealed its 2026 lineup on Monday, September fifteenth.
The additional early launch suggests two issues: that organizers would ideally like an excellent longer runway to promote tickets (not a nasty concept), they usually’re actually assured of their 2026 lineup. When glancing at this upcoming 12 months’s version, it’s simple to see why. Sabrina Carpenter and Karol G will headline the pageant as beforehand reported, anchoring Friday and Sunday night time; Justin Bieber — maybe the largest identify of the bunch, and the hardest to nail down — will take the reins on Saturday for his very first solo Coachella efficiency. Additionally, the Italian DJ and producer Anyma is again post-Sphere residency to debut his new present, Æden.
Elsewhere on the lineup are sub-headlining performances from The xx, The Strokes, and Younger Thug, plus 9 Inch Noize (9 Inch Nails + Boys Noize), Turnstile, Disclosure, Iggy Pop, David Byrne, Interpol, Addison Rae, Dijon, Ethel Cain, Moist Leg, Laufey, BIGBANG, FKA twigs, DEVO, Moby, KATSEYE, Sombr, Alex G, and plenty of extra.
As pageant lineups have been more and more wanting an increasing number of random, it’s a bit difficult to evaluate the course that large occasions like Coachella are taking. Final 12 months’s lineup felt extra millennial-coded than regular, and the identical may very well be stated about this 12 months. On the similar time, Coachella reprises the essential technique of nabbing as many ‘acts du jour’ as doable (see: sombr, Addison Rae, KATSEYE, Teddy Swims, and Laufey).
Learn on for the 5 largest takeaways from the Coachella 2026 lineup.
It All Will depend on How You Really feel About Justin Bieber
It was hardly 18 months in the past when a still-burgeoning Sabrina Carpenter seized the principle stage and casually debuted somewhat track known as “espresso” at Coachella. Like her fellow Coachella 2024 breakout Chappell Roan, Carpenter’s rise has been stratospheric of late; she may have so simply taken everything of 2026 off following the success of Quick ‘n Candy, however as an alternative she doubled down and put out a terrific new album, Man’s Greatest Buddy. So, it was a no brainer to get Carpenter again for subsequent 12 months’s Coachella. She’s on the peak of her powers, she’s bought an entire lot of persona and charisma on stage, and her stay vocals are glorious.
Karol G’s rise has been much less ubiquitous however nonetheless undeniably large. The Colombian pop star carried out a massively attended 2022 set (full with a memorable celebration of Latin pop), turned the primary Latin artist to headline Lollapalooza in 2023, dropped her star-studded fifth album Tropicoqueta this summer season, and lately headlined the halftime present for the São Paulo installment of the NFL’s Worldwide Collection.
Then there’s Anyma, which… look, I’m certain his residency on the Sphere was visually spectacular. I can respect an artist who pays as a lot consideration to the visible facets of a stay present as they do for the sonic facets. However it’s arduous to not see Anyma because the odd one out on this group of headliners. Is his music actually price such a major slot? Not simply his visuals, however the songs themselves? I think about the SoCal digital heads may have much more to say about his reserving and efficiency than I do (although I additionally suspect that an enormous portion of his viewers are tech bros).
This brings us to the make or break headliner: Justin Bieber. 10 years in the past, even with the rejuvenation he skilled with Objective, it might have been unthinkable to guide Bieber as a central headliner. A whole lot of the core Coachella crowd, who attended this pageant within the first section of its existence, is perhaps deterred by the selection. However Swag, his newest album, has been a summer season hit, and lots of the followers who grew up with Bieber are partaking with him once more out of nostalgia and due to his “It’s not clocking to you” persona.
Maybe the album actually has labored a miracle and altered the best way normal public see Bieber; so far as we see it, nevertheless, one relatively good album doesn’t actually change the truth that his catalog is uneven and a variety of his latest music has been boring, worship-lite spouse man pop. Bieber being the ‘legacy’ famous person is a little bit of a daring threat; he has by no means headlined one of many Large 5 of US festivals, he’s scaled again on stay exhibits considerably through the years, his public life has been barely turbulent of late, and he’s a reasonably distinctive get, all issues thought of.
On the similar time, that is Justin Bieber we’re speaking about, not Frank Ocean or Woman Gaga or Taylor Swift. He’s advantageous. Mid, even.
