2 days ago

Mark SavageMusic correspondent

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Lily Allen, who got a lot of attention for her album West End Girl, has plenty of live gigs coming up

As the sun sets on 2025, all the year-end lists have been published and it's time to look forward to what 2026 has in store.

In many ways, the last 12 months have felt transitional. With relatively few A-list releases, and a Brat-shaped hole in the summer, music seemed to split in two.

The charts were agonisingly static: Just three songs held the number one spot hostage for half the year: Taylor Swift's Fate of Ophelia, Huntr/x's Golden, and Alex Warren's Ordinary (never has a song been so aptly titled).

But outside Spotify's self-fulfilling "top hits" playlists, fans were engaging with music that was encouragingly weird and experimental.

Geese's critically-acclaimed Getting Killed sounded like someone trying to play Radiohead's first four albums simultaneously; while Spanish pop star Rosalía delivered a sumptuous avant-garde pop album, Lux, that married flamenco, opera, hip-hop and scorched earth drum loops.

Former Little Mixer Jade Thirlwall turned in a scathing-but-affectionate thesis on pop music and pop stardom on That's Showbiz, Baby! and West End Girl re-established Lily Allen as a master lyricist.

So what does 2026 have in store? Let's dive in.

A Glastonbury-shaped hole

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The only tunes at Glastonbury next year will be moosic from the cows...

Good news for cows, bad news for music fans: Glastonbury takes a fallow year in 2026.

Even so, next summer's festival line-up is looking immense.

Reading and Leeds boasts Fontaines DC, Florence + The Machine, Dave, Charli XCX, Raye, and Chase & Status at the top of its bill.

Mighty Hoopla has snagged Lily Allen and Scissor Sisters; Latitude has Lewis Capaldi and David Byrne; and End of the Road boasts Pulp and CMAT.

But surely the biggest booking of the summer is at London's BST Festival.

Mr Worldwide himself, Pitbull, will headline on 10 July with special guest Kesha. Get your bald caps ready.

Second helpings of Oasis?

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Has Liam Gallagher hinted there will be more gigs from Oasis?

When Oasis wrapped up their gargantuan comeback tour in Mexico last month, Liam Gallagher's parting words were: "We'll see you again sometime."

So what's the story, jackanory? For months, it's been rumoured the band will return to Knebworth House, where they staged a triumphant two-night stand in 1996.

But there's also speculation Oasis will take a year off before scheduling any more shows, especially with Bonehead undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.

In an official press release wrapping up their 2025 dates, the band were quietly enigmatic. "There will now be a pause for a period of reflection."

Watch this space.

There'll be an AI hit, and an AI backlash

Jorja Smith's voice was part of a recent disagreement

Like it or not, Artificial Intelligence is being used in recording studios right now. Even if it's just for tasks like lifting vocals from an old recording, or cleaning up distortion, machine learning is part of the production toolkit.

But at the end of 2025, there was a huge row over the song I Run by the British dance act Haven, after allegations the band had used AI to clone Jorja Smith's voice.

And the streaming service Deezer estimates that a third of all music uploaded to its site is now AI-generated.

At some point in the next 12 months, one of these songs will catch on and become a real-world hit.

But the backlash has already begun.

Producer Jack Antonoff has described making Sabrina Carpenter's Please, Please, Please with physical instruments, played imperfectly, as a reaction to the clinical nature of modern pop.

Miley Cyrus's latest album, Something Beautiful, was also played on live instruments; and artists like Olivia Dean and Skye Newman are making music that harks back to the organic sounds of 70s pop and soul.

Numerous surveys suggest fans want to know when music has been created with AI.

But what about the opposite approach? If we can have parental advisory stickers, how a label that simply says, "real music by real musicians"?

Beyoncé goes rock and Harry Styles plays the typewriter

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Beyoncé has another album on the horizon

Will 2026 be the year that Beyoncé sheds her Stetson and starts smashing guitars to smithereens?

When she released Renaissance in 2022, the star let it be known that it was the first of a three-part musical reclamation series.

The first installation explored the black roots of dance music. The second, Cowboy Carter, reclaimed country. Fans think rock and roll is next.

Why? During the Cowboy Carter tour, video screens depicted her in edgy, rock-inspired outfits; and her latest Levi's advert saw the star riding into the night on a motorcycle.

Whatever genre it tackles, the new Beyoncé album is expected in the first half of the year.

She's not the only one with new music on the horizon.

Harry Styles has been hard at work since at least March 2024, when he was spotted walking into London's Rak Studios.

In August, Australian radio hosts Fifi, Fev and Nick claimed his fourth album was finished and that Styles "did it all on a typewriter".

Their source was "a man" with his name tattooed somewhere on Styles' body.

Seems legit.

Meanwhile, Charli XCX is following up Brat with her soundtrack to Emerald Fennell's movie adaptation of Wuthering Heights; while Lana Del Rey's long-delayed country album is supposed to arrive at the start of 2026.

Gorillaz celebrate their 25th anniversary with a new album, The Mountain, featuring a number of posthumous collaborations from actor Dennis Hopper, The Fall frontman Mark E Smith and soul legend Bobby Womack.

Madonna is working on the spiritual sequel to her 2005 opus Confessions On A Dancefloor; while Raye, Robyn and Carly Rae Jepsen have all confirmed new music is on the way (Jepsen is also having her first baby in 2026 - congratulations!)

Rock legends Bob Dylan, U2 and The Rolling Stones have also been sweating over the mixing desk, as have The xx, Sam Fender, Stormzy and Noah Kahan.

BTS, Blackpink and Katseye will devour pop music as we know it

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RM and V of BTS celebrated their discharge from the South Korean army after military service

After a four-year break, during which most of its members undertook compulsory military service, BTS are back.

RM and V celebrated with salutes and a saxophone performance as they were discharged in June; and shortly afterwards, confirmed a new album and tour for 2026.

Updating fans in November, RM told fans "the music is really coming out great" - but the comeback will be a big test for K-Pop's biggest band.

The industry has fragmented and become even more competitive during their absence, with acts like Stray Kids, Twice, NewJeans and Cortis pushing the genre in new directions.

Regardless, the unwavering loyalty of the BTS Army guarantees a record-breaking return.

Fellow K-Pop idols Blackpink are also on the comeback trail, after a hugely successful world tour in 2025.

The band were spotted filming a new video in October, and their label says an album is "in the final stages of completion".

Meanwhile, Katseye – a multinational girl group trained in the K-Pop system – are poised to dominate next year's charts.

After scoring two viral hits in 2025, they're set to headline Iowa's Hinterland festival in July, after making their Coachella debut in April.

The song that'll take them over the top is a trashy pop earworm called Internet Girl.

Co-written by Justin Tranter (Lady Gaga, Chappell Roan, Britney Spears) it has already blown up online, after premiering on the band's US tour.

Everybody after me: "Eat Zucchini. Eat Zu-chi-ni."

Wallet-busting tours

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The elephant in the (very big) room, during Take That's 2009 Circus tour

Ticket prices keep rising – but concert attendance keeps going up.

Luckily, the secondary market will be properly regulated in 2026, with the government announcing laws to stop touts reselling tickets for more than face value.

The year's biggest touring acts will include Take That, who are bringing back their spectacular, acrobatic Circus Tour from 2009 for a new, 17-date run. Let's hope the giant animatronic elephant hasn't gone rusty in its storage container.

Olivia Dean has booked six nights at the O2 Arena, with further dates in Glasgow and Manchester. Ariana Grande is also planting her feet in London's big dome, with 10 concerts scheduled for August and September.

My Chemical Romance celebrate the 20th anniversary of their Black Parade album, with three nights at Wembley Stadium; which will also see summer residencies from Bon Jovi and The Weeknd.

And Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny will make a long overdue return to the UK in the summer, with two dates at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The Latin American leg of the tour has been a critical smash, praised for its stunning visuals and celebratory atmosphere, and he arrives in the UK after playing the Super Bowl in February.

And if we're talking about Latin legends, I have my fingers crossed that Shakira will finally bring her box office-breaking Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour to Europe next year. It's one of the best stadium shows I've ever seen.

Elsewhere, expect massive gigs from Lily Allen, Florence + The Machine, CMAT, Mumford & Sons, Rosalía, Dave, Raye and David Byrne.

Fans are also hoping Radiohead will schedule more dates after their recent comeback tour; and there are rumours that U2 and Harry Styles will hit the road in 2026.

Get your wallets ready.