The likes of Rosalia and Olivia Dean are expected to take their careers to the next level next year despite the huge wave of musicians that have entered the field this year.
Only two names are predicted to have significant 2026 tally, Rosalia and Olivia Dean. From small venues to some of the country’s biggest stages, the past year has seen a wide range of musical talent.
Platforms like TikTok, celebrity endorsements and radio airplay have catapulted many artists into chart-topping success and mainstream recognition in 2025.
A new wave of stars is afoot as the new year approaches. In the upcoming months, here are the acts to watch out for.
Fcukers
Endorsed by The Strokes ‘ Julian Casablancas, Charli XCX and Beck, Fcukers are poised to make a splash in the coming year. With a dub reggae and hyperpop twist, this duo’s infectious electroclash sound has drawn inspiration from The Rapture, LCD Soundsystem, and Soulwax, and has already amassed millions of streams.
This New York-based band, which features vocalist Shanny Wise and producer Jackson Walker Lewis as well as bassist and keyboardist Jackson Walker Lewis, has not yet released their debut album. Their first EP Baggya $$was released under Ninja Tune’s sublabel Technicolour Records in September last year.
In the past year, the band delivered a high-energy performance on the Woodsies stage at Glastonbury Festival, supported Tame Impala on the US leg of the Deadbeat tour, and sold out three nights at London’s Colour Factory, despite only having played their first gig in 2023.
Homie Don’t Shake, their first single, cleverly incorporated the riff from Them’s 1966 hit I Can Only Give You Everything into pulsing electronica. Their high-quality output has been maintained with their October release, I Like It Like That, giving rise to a full-length album.
– Tune in to Bon Bon, an energetic indie house track featuring seductive vocals from Wise that has racked up nearly eight million Spotify streams.
Olivia Dean
London-born singer-songwriter Olivia Dean, nominated for best new artist at the 2026 Grammy Awards, has expanded her fanbase over the past year with the launch of her second studio album, The Art Of Loving, which soared to the top of the UK albums chart in October.
Additionally, her second album produced the UK number one single Man I Need and the top 10 hits Nice to Each Other and So Easy (To Fall In Love). Two years after its release, her debut album, Messy, which was released in 2023, climbed to the top ten of the UK albums chart, with one of its singles, Dive, achieving the top 17 position on the UK singles chart in 2025.
The 2025 record will be succeeded by the Art Of Loving Tour in 2026, kicking off in Glasgow in April and wrapping up in Auckland, New Zealand, in October, with performances at New York’s Madison Square Garden and London’s O2 Arena.
Dean, a devoted supporter of Premier League football club West Ham United, has recently performed a live duet with Sam Fender on his track Rein Me In. She’s been a supporting act on his People Watching Tour and released the single It Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be for the 2025 film Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.
In the past year, she’s also supported Sabrina Carpenter on her Short ‘ N ‘ Sweet tour in the US. The 26-year-old has a soulful sound that has made her mother the Women’s Equality Party deputy leader, and she is quickly becoming a household name in the UK. However, it’s anticipated that she will become a major global celebrity in 2026.
– Listen: Nice To Each Other, an acoustic ballad about dating, showcasing a soulful vocal.
Geese
Following their debut studio album, New York rock band Geese, who won indie album of the year in 2025, finally made it big. Their lead singer, Cameron Winter, also received high praise for his solo album Heavy Metal, which was rumoured to be in the running for a Grammy Award nomination.
The band are the most recent addition to a long line of creative New York bands that includes Blondie, Television, Talking Heads, and The Strokes. These renowned musicians have their own distinctive experimental twist, while incorporating inspiration from these legendary musicians.
Winter’s distinctive vocals are remarkably versatile, morphing and adapting to suit each track flawlessly, shifting from a spirited punk rallying cry to a tender and wounded whisper, whilst guitarist Emily Green delivers her own interpretation of the jagged approach pioneered by Television’s Richard Lloyd.
Cillian Murphy, a member of the Peaky Blinders, confessed in a recent chat that he is “obsessed” with them and described Winter’s solo career as “amazing.”
The band recently graced Radio 1’s Live Lounge, where their rendition of The New Radicals’ You Get What You Give became a social media hit, and have already changed tickets for two sold-out shows in London scheduled for next year.
– Listen: Crusades, a pulsating New York street anthem that would make Lou Reed and Tom Verlaine beam with pride.
Rosalia
Rosalia, who goes by the full name Rosalia Vila Tobella, is one of Spain’s most successful musical exports of all time. She has long been a well-known face in her native country, but a larger European chart success has largely remained elusive.
Following the drop of her fourth record Lux, the alternative pop sensation became the most successful female Spanish performer in UK albums chart records, as it climbed to number four, whilst she also secured her peak position on the singles chart with Berghain, which hit number 36. The intricate concept of the 2025 album, which includes songs based on the lives of female saints like Hildegard of Bingen, Rabia Al-Adawiya, and Miriam, as well as exploring Rosalia’s personal relationship with religion, has received a lot of praise.
The singer, who is originally from Catalonia, has previously won two Grammy Awards for her 2022 record and El Mal Querer in the same category as well as Motomami (2022), Los Angeles (2017), and El Mal Querer (2018). It’s claimed that Rosalia is gearing up for a tour in 2026, which would be her first since the 2022 Motomami World Tour.
– Listen to Berghain, a distinctive pop song combining Yves Tumour and Bjork. It combines classical strings, opera, and pop.
The New Eves
The New Eves became one of the most distinctive bands in 2025, combining guitarist and violinist Violet Farrer, cellist and guitarist Nina Winder-Lind, bassist Kate Mager, drummer and flautist Ella Oona Russell, and drummer and flautist Nina Winder-Lind.
When Rough Trade announced its album of the month for the first time in August, their debut album, The New Eve Is Rising, was named that title. The record fuses the experimental elements of The Velvet Underground and krautrock with feminist punk and folk, resulting in a truly unique sound. The Last Dinner Party and Florence and the Machine’s witchy aesthetics are carried forward by their visual aesthetic.
The band’s debut album perfectly complements the foreboding mood created by its strikingly eerie cover artwork, which depicts the group climbing a hillside while sporting a banner emblazoned with the album’s title, which is reminiscent of The Wicker Man.
Following the release, Winder-Lind reflected: “This project has been about us redefining ourselves, and we hope anyone who’s listening can be inspired by that. By creating our own mythology, we are letting ourselves go as four people.
The Brighton quartet delivered two atmospheric sold-out performances at London’s Hoxton Hall in 2025, before capitalising on their inaugural album’s triumph with a release containing the tracks Red Brick and Whale Station, revealing a more approachable facet of the collective.
– Listen to Highway Man, one of 2025’s most compelling compositions, which features a piercing guitar line and wailing violin.
Source: Mirror
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