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Sombr, Geese and Sasha Keable are among the artists to feature on the BBC Radio 1’s Sound of 2026 longlist published Monday (Dec. 1).
The annual list is described by the BBC as spotlighting “ten exciting new artists tipped for success next year” and has become “a trusted marker of future success.” Chappell Roan was the most recent victor of the Sound Of prize in 2025.
Joining the aforementioned trio is Alessi Rose, Chloe Qisha, Florence Road, Jim Legxacy, kwn, Royel Otis, and Skye Newman. The top five from the list will be announced from Jan. 5, 2026 onwards, culminating in the winner on Jan. 9.
The shortlist and winner is compiled and selected by over 170 U.K. music industry professionals and artists including Elton John, Dua Lipa, JADE, Olivia Dean, YUNGBLUD and Sam Smith.
Sound Of was established in 2003 and has become a crucial part of the U.K. music industry’s tips season. Adele, Lady Gaga, RAYE, The Weeknd, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish and Lewis Capaldi are among the artists to appear on the list over its history. Recent winners have included The Last Dinner Party (2024), FLO (2023), PinkPantheress (2022), Pa Salieu (2021) and Celeste (2020).
For the 2026 edition, eligible artists must not have had more than three top 10 singles in the Official Singles Chart, and cannot have been a lead artist on a No. 1 album in the Official Albums Chart before October 6, 2025. Previously, artists were not allowed more than two U.K. top 10 albums or two U.K. top 10 singles.
Sombr has the highest-charting LP among nominees with 2025’s I Barely Know Her (No. 10), followed by Geese’s acclaimed third album Getting Killed (No. 26). Sombr just makes cut with three top 10 U.K. singles (“Back to Back”, “Undressed” and “12 to 12”), while Skye Newman boasts three top 40 U.K. singles, though only “Family Matters” has reached the top 10 (No. 5).
The changes were made in response to criticism of the criteria following Chappell Roan’s victory in 2025, a year following her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, which also hit the top spot on the U.K. charts. She featured on the longlist with Barry Can’t Swim, Confidence Man, Doechii, English Teacher, Ezra Collective, Good Neighbours, KNEECAP, mk.gee, Myles Smith and Pozer.
BBC Sound Of 2026 longlist
Alessi Rose
Chloe Qisha
Florence Road
Geese
Jim Legxacy
kwn
Royel Otis
Sasha Keable
Skye Newman
sombr
Trending on Billboard Radiohead has been forced to postpone a pair of shows on their comeback tour of Europe due to illness. In a statement posted to their social channels on Monday morning (Dec. 1), the band announced that frontman Thom Yorke was suffering from an “extreme throat infection” and two upcoming shows in Copenhagen, […]
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Charli XCX, RAYE and Florence and the Machine are among the six headliners for Reading & Leeds Festival 2026.
The dual site English festival – held concurrently in Reading’s Richfield Avenue and Leeds’ Bramham Park – will also be headlined by Fontaines D.C., Dave and dance duo Chase & Status. The event will take place across the Bank Holiday weekend on Aug. 27-30.
SOMBR, Skepta and Geese are also among the names to join the lineup’s first announcement, with Kasabian set to be Leeds’ festival’s first ever Thursday headliner with a slot on the main stage. In recent years, two headline acts per day have taken to the stage across the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Also appearing on the bill will be Role Model, JADE, Josh Baker, Kneecap, Kettama, Chris Stussy (Reading only), Geese, Skye Newman, Adéla and Keo. More names will be announced in due course.
A PayPal presale for the event is live now (Dec. 1) with a second presale taking place tomorrow (Dec. 2) before a general sale on Wednesday (Dec. 3).
Florence and The Machine and Dave have both headlined the festival previously, the former in 2012 and the latter in 2022. All other headliners have appeared a number of times throughout the festival in recent years.
Its the first show announced for Fontaines D.C. following the conclusion of their Romance tour in August 2025 and is billed as their only U.K. festival appearance in 2026. Charli XCX will also return to the stage for her sole U.K. festival performance and will follow the release of her upcoming Wuthering Heights soundtrack LP in February 2026.
Speaking to Billboard U.K. earlier this summer, festival boss Melvin Benn reflected on why he was keen to give upcoming stars the opportunity to headline over legacy acts. 2025’s event was headlined by Chappell Roan, Travis Scott, Bring Me The Horizon, and Hozier.
“I think it’s a pointer to all festivals to not be afraid and to be bold with their bookings,” Benn says of Roan’s headline slot in 2025. “To say that you were there when Chappell criticised Donald Trump from the Reading Festival stage, for example, or when Hozier stood up and said, ‘Free Palestine’… only a certain number of people can be there at that moment and actually experience it.”
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Radiohead is making history at London’s O2 Arena.
Following four sold-out shows earlier this month, the iconic U.K. band broke the venue’s attendance record, previously held by Metallica in 2017.
The Oxford-formed band played the O2 on Nov. 21, 22, 24 and 25, with each show drawing more than 22,200 concert-goers, and the final show reaching 22,355 attendees, the venue announced on X.
“These past four record-breaking nights will go down in the venue’s history, with Radiohead breaking the attendance records each night,” Christian D’Acuna, the O2’s senior programming director, said in a statement.
“We knew how special these exclusive shows would be and we’re so grateful to the band for bringing them to the O2. It’s been a true honor to host them, and each night they played different set lists spanning their incredible back catalogue. These shows will be remembered for years to come.”
After a seven-year absence from touring, Radiohead returned to the stage on Nov. 4 at Madrid’s Movistar Arena to launch a sold-out 20-date European tour. The trek includes stops across the U.K. and Europe, with shows in Madrid, Bologna, Copenhagen, Berlin, and the four-night residency in London.
This marks Radiohead’s first live performances together since summer 2018, when they played at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center in August of that year.
Reflecting on the recent reunion, drummer Philip Selway said in a press statement, “Last year, we got together to rehearse, just for the hell of it. After a seven-year pause, it felt really good to play the songs again and reconnect with a musical identity that has become lodged deep inside all five of us.”
Radiohead went on hiatus after completing an extensive world tour supporting their 2016 album, A Moon Shaped Pool. The album became their sixth No. 1 on the U.K. Official Albums Chart, reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and earned the group a Coachella headlining slot in 2017.
Trending on Billboard Taylor Swift continues her reign over the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart, landing her sixth non-consecutive week at No. 1 with “The Fate of Ophelia” (Nov. 28). Explore See latest videos, charts and news The track appears on the superstar’s 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl, and first hit the summit […]
Trending on Billboard Horns up! Yungblud and Aerosmith have hit No. 1 with their new collaborative project on this week’s Official U.K. Albums Chart (Nov. 28). The achievement marks a major milestone for both acts. One More Time sees U.S. rock legends Aerosmith hit the summit on the chart for the first time, while also […]
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Global talent agency Wasserman Music has expanded its flourishing U.K. operation with a trio of new leadership hires across tour marketing, artist services, and artist representation.
The company has enlisted Paul Ryan as senior vice president and agent. Ryan is renowned in the U.K. rock and metal space, having worked across artist management and promotion for scene-leaders Bring Me the Horizon and Architects, among others.
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He will continue to work with those acts, alongside Cradle of Filth, Lamb of God, Malevolence and Sleep Token, as well as newly signed names TesseracT and Currents.
Rebecca Laurie joins Wasserman as a manager on the tour marketing team, overseeing domestic and global tour marketing for U.K. agents. Laurie brings over a decade of experience, having spent five years in festival and tour marketing at AEG, as well as stints with UROK and DICE.
Chris Lander has been appointed as vice president within Wasserman’s artist services team. Having held senior roles across podcast production at Global Media, he has contributed to popular U.K. shows including My Therapist Ghosted Me, LuAnna: The Podcast and Take That: This Life.
Lander has also worked in talent development, with a previous roster of leading British comedians and podcast hosts such as James Acaster, Nish Kumar and Deborah Frances-White. His new role will see him identify and execute opportunities for artists in film and television, digital media, gaming, literary, content and IP development, social impact, and more.
Back in September, meanwhile, Wasserman’s Laura Flynn was promoted to a management position on the tour marketing team. She has since worked across successful U.K. arena tour launches for RAYE, Louis Tomlinson, D-Block Europe and The Neighbourhood.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Paul, Chris, and Rebecca to our team, and to have Laura join our tour marketing division,” Alex Hardee, Wasserman Music executive vice president and managing executive, said in a statement.
“Each brings a unique skill set that strengthens our presence in the U.K. and broadens the opportunities we can deliver for our artists. Their passion, experience, and vision will be invaluable as we continue to grow.”
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Mumford & Sons fans, rejoice. The band will return to BST Hyde Park next summer for a huge homecoming show, a decade since their last headline performance there.
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The trio will headline the event on July 4, joined by their friends, the U.S. alternative rock outfit The War On Drugs. Additional acts on the bill will be revealed at a later date.
Tickets will go on sale on Dec. 4 via BST Hyde Park’s official website, while an artist presale will take place earlier in the week for those signed up to the Mumford & Sons mailing list.
“Hyde Park is woven into our story, it’s where so many memories were made. Coming back a decade later, with all this new music, feels incredibly special,” the band said in a statement. “London is and always will be the band’s home. We can’t wait.”
AEG Presents CEO Jim King added: “Mumford & Sons’ last Hyde Park show was a milestone for BST. Having them return at this moment in their career is something we’re incredibly proud of.”
Mumford & Sons graced BST Hyde Park stage, which returns to London’s Hyde Park each year, back in 2015 in support of their third record Wilder Mind. Prior to that show, they had supported Arcade Fire and played alongside The Vaccines at previous iterations of the event.
For 2026, the band are set to join a stacked BST Hyde Park line-up, which kicks off with country supernova Garth Brooks playing his first U.K. show in nearly 30 years on June 27. The summer classic will also see headline sets from Maroon 5 (July 3), Pitbull and Kesha (July 10), and Lewis Capaldi (July 11 and 12).
In the meantime, Mumford & Sons are gearing up their winter U.K. arena tour, which commences with a show in Newcastle this weekend (Nov. 29). They’ll hit up Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and Cardiff along the way, before rounding out the leg with a double header at The O2, London (Dec. 10-11). The band are slated to release their sixth studio album Prizefighter on Feb. 13, 2026 via Island Records. The record will feature collaborations with Hozier, Gracie Abrams, Chris Stapleton and Gigi Perez, and follows their U.K. chart-topper Rushmere, released this past March.
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The team behind Together For Palestine, the sold-out OVO Arena Wembley gig that raised over £2 million ($2.6 million) for Palestinian causes in September, have announced a charity Christmas single.
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Brian Eno, Celeste, Neneh Cherry, Mabel and Bastille’s Dan Smith are among the names that will feature on “Lullaby,” released by T4P and distributed by global indie EMPIRE on Dec. 12 – the day the U.K.’s Official Christmas No. 1 race kicks off.
The single will see a group of U.K. and Palestinian artists join forces to rework “Yamma Mweel El Hawa,” a traditional Palestinian lullaby. All proceeds going to Choose Love’s Together For Palestine Fund, supporting three Palestinian-led organizations Taawon, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and Palestine Medical Relief Service in light of the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.
Other acts involved include Amena, Kieran Brunt (Shards), Lana Lubany, Leigh-Anne, London Community Gospel Choir (LCGC), Nadine Shah, Nai Barghouti, Sura Abdo, TYSON, Yasmeen Ayyashi and Ysee.
The track is produced by Benji B, Kieran Brunt and Henri Davies, mixed by David Wrench and Valgeir Sidurðsson and mastered by Matt Colton, and was arranged and recomposed by Kieran Brunt and Nai Barghouti, with English lyrics written by Peter Gabriel. Together For Palestine are encouraging fans to pre-order “Lullaby” on BandCamp, iTunes and Amazon, or pre-save the single on their chosen streaming service ahead of its release.Palestinian musician Nai Barghouti said in a statement: “This lullaby from our Palestinian musical heritage has been with me since early childhood. Today, it returns at a much-needed time as a reminder of what Palestinians will never lose: hope, defiance, beauty, and dignity.”
Brian Eno added: “After a year defined by unimaginable loss, grief and injustice, we want to end with an act of love for Palestine’s children. Lullaby reflects their beauty, their longing and their hope. If we rally together and download it, we have a real shot at landing Christmas No. 1 – and turning that moment into vital life-saving support for Gaza’s families.”
Mabel continued: “The song holds a special place for many reasons, but mostly as it’s the first time I’ve sung with both my mum Neneh and sister Tyson, and for it to be a traditional lullaby in tribute to the mothers and children of Gaza means the world. I hope you feel the strength in our voices.”At the aforementioned OVO Arena Wembley gig in London, the likes of Damon Albarn, PinkPantheress and Jamie xx graced the stage in support of Together For Palestine. The event featured performances and speeches by 69 artists, actors, activists, and cultural figures, and was livestreamed to over 200,000 music fans worldwide, according to its organizers.
Trending on Billboard Austin Daboh has left his senior role at Warner Music’s Atlantic Records after five years. Daboh, who served as executive vice president of Atlantic Records U.K., announced the news on his LinkedIn profile on Thursday (Nov. 20). Daboh also served as president of Black Music at the label from 2023 onwards. He […]
