Following our list of the Most Anticipated Tours of 2026, we continue looking forward with the 16 bands and artists we’re excited to see reach the next level in the months to come. Make sure to check out our most anticipated albums of 2026 as well, and revisit 2025 Annual Report for the best of last year.
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A year can go by fast, so the moment a rising artist becomes a superstar is one to savor. 2025’s breakouts were especially intriguing, as many of them — like our Rookie of the Year Lambrini Girls, KATSEYE, 2hollis, and Lola Young — epitomize this decade’s irreverence for the limitations of genre and style. There’s no way to connect with a new audience without unfiltered authenticity and fearless risk-taking, and each year, a new crop of musicians show up and show us what they’re made of.
Now in the second half of the 2020s, the best new artists are finding clever ways to juggle the past, present, and future. Some are openly nostalgic, like the Y2K-era sparkle of After and the bewildering soul of Jalen Ngonda; some are so of-the-moment that they don’t even have music out (see below for Omerta, a synth-punk band from London with notoriously chaotic shows). Others tap into timeless songwriting and music steeped in tradition, like Tennessee’s Mon Rovîa and the ever-charismatic Tyler Ballgame.
Of course, there’s the very likely possibility that some of our favorite new artists of 2026 have yet to make themselves known to us, and happen to be sitting on some of the best music of the year. We’ll be looking far and wide for them too, but in the meantime, here’s a list of 16 artists that are poised to make a big impression in 2026.
— Paolo Ragusa
Live Music Editor
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source consequence.net ’
