On September 15th, 2025, the official Instagram account of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival announced the lineup for the 2026 event. The lineup has been met with much anticipation and criticism.
Lots of rumors had been circulating on social media, more specifically TikTok, on who would be headlining this year. The biggest rumor was that artists such as Sabrina Carpenter and Karol G would be two of the headliners for the festival. Many questioned who the third would be.
On the official lineup list, fans saw that the rumors did end up being true, as Sabrina Carpenter and Karol G are indeed headlining and will be performing Friday and Sunday of both weekends. Along with them the only male headliner this year ended up being Justin Bieber, who will be performing on both Saturday nights.
Every headliner had performed at the festival before. Sabrina Carpenter just performed at Coachella 2024 and has now ended up becoming a headliner in just 2 years.
Justin Bieber is an avid fan of Coachella, as he is often seen at the festival. He has also made many guest appearances with artists such as Tems in 2024 and Ariana Grande in 2019 to perform songs such as “Essence” and “Sorry”. Justin Bieber has never had a solo performance at the festival, however, which is sure to get believers excited.
Karol G performed at the festival in 2022 and amazed fans and guests of the festival with songs such as “PROVENZA” and “Tusa”. After her recent halftime performance at the NFL, São Paulo game she is sure to amaze fans once again with her latino influence.
Other notable artists who will be performing at the festival in 2026 are KATSEYE, Central Cee, The Strokes, Addison Rae, PinkPantheress, Young Thug, and Laufey, to name a few. On Sunday, Major Lazer will also be returning to the desert after 10 years.
For K-Pop fans, this will also be a big year, as the popular group BIGBANG will be performing at the festival for the first time. This will be their first real performance since 2017 in Seoul. They were originally scheduled to perform at Coachella in 2020, but were not able to due to the Covid pandemic. A K-Pop soloist named Taemin, originally from the group SHINee, will also be making his debut at the festival.
Although this lineup brings excitement to many fans, it’s facing criticism too. With many people on social media saying that this lineup is “the most boring yet”. Fans have also said that “it’s the worst lineup Coachella has ever put together”. Others fear that Justin Bieber may pull out at the last minute like the artist Frank Ocean did in 2023.
So far, the tickets for weekend one have been completely sold out, while tickets for weekend two are still available for purchase.
