You know you’ve made it if you’ve performed at Coachella. The ultra-famous desert festival is a destination for popular and upcoming artists. The 2025 festival is still underway with Weekend 2 right around the corner, but anticipation is already building up for who will grace the Coachella stage in 2026.
The Coachella lineup always spans a wide variety of genres from rock to hip-hop to indie. Coachella has a very meticulous process in which they secure performers for their festival—the performers can’t be performing at a LiveNation concert in the Southern California area six months before the festival and artists are barred from performing any festival in North America from December 15 to May 1. Despite efforts to keep headliners and performers under wraps, rumors from music industry sites like Hits Daily Double have reported news about artists who were in talks to perform at the fest months before the lineup is dropped. For example, Bloomberg reported that Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna said no to headlining.
Related: ‘I’m a Stylist & This Is What Everyone Will Be Wearing to Coachella This Year’
Based on context clues and artists’ trajectory in the popular sphere, here’s our dream lineup for Coachella.
They headlined the 2025 Super Bowl and embarked on a completely sold-out stadium tour, it would make sense for this iconic duo to end their streak in the desert. Maybe he’ll drop his final diss track on Drake. Who knows? But HitsDailyDoubles also says that it’s likely in the cards since some execs are in talks.
Kevin Parker last headlined Coachella back in 2019. But with star-studded collabs with Dua Lipa and an album on its way (via The Guardian), we’re totally ready for this psychedelic act to shake up the desert again.
Since all seven members are back in the military in 2026, it would make total sense for BTS to make a grand comeback at Coachella. K-pop has been swarming the festival after the pandemic, and we can’t wait to see a flood of ARMY bombs cover the desert ground.
At this point, we’re begging for a new album RiRi. The “Umbrella” artist rejected playing the festival in 2025, but here’s to hoping that she’s in the studio cooking up new music for us.
It’s time for Olivia Rodrigo to headline the Coachella stage! She made a special appearance when No Doubt reunited in 2024, but the “So American” singer needs to sign that contract immediately because we’ll drop anything to see her.
Can you believe that Taylor Swift has never performed at Coachella? Yeah, she’s been sighted with her beau Travis Kelce in 2024, but the Lover singer never graced the Coachella stage. It would be so fitting after her record-breaking Eras Tour run and the 25th anniversary for her to bring Swiftchella to the masses.
Charli XCX already professed that summer 2025 will be the Summer of Lorde at her own Coachella set when they surprised the crowd with “Girl, so Confusing.” The “Solar Power” star will be releasing new music and it would actually be the full circle moment of our dreams.
Yo Gabba Gabba went extremely viral for their Coachella set this year. So, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that The Wiggles can also perform at Coachella as well. The band already has adults-only performances and has joined The Kid Laroi on stage, and it would be extremely fun to sing “Fruit Salad” with a bunch of your fellow adult peers.
Beck was the first-ever headliner at Coachella back in 1999 and is a fan favorite when it comes to the rock acts.
As someone who’s been stuck in a Playboi Carti moshpit at the Governor’s Ball, his festival sets are really insane. He just released his album Music and is definitely going to release more music between now and Coachella 2026.
Damon Albarn last played the desert festival with his Britpop band Blur in 2024 (which didn’t go as great as planned), and played with Gorillaz in 2016. However, he did confirm that new Gorillaz music would be coming out in 2025, so we would love to see the virtual and real-life band perform those live.
The “Denial Is a River” rapper is having one big year after winning Best Rap Album at the Grammys and Woman of the Year at the Billboard Women in Music Awards. She made her Coachella debut in 2023, but we’re here to say that she could totally snag a headlining spot easily.
The Irish rock band is making waves throughout the world with their expansive global tour. They’re the best band in the world, cited by their peers Hayley Williams and every music publication, so it would make sense for the band to grace the desert stages. They were supposed to make their Coachella debut in 2020 but couldn’t do so because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With mesmerizing sets at Glastonbury and Reading and Leeds, we’re ready for this band to become everyone’s “Favourite.”
Just a week before Coachella, SEVENTEEN performed at Tecate Pal Norte, which is deemed the Coachella of Mexico. The 13-member group is making rounds with the headline circuit with festivals like Glastonbury and Lollapalooza Berlin. They also headlined LA3C back in 2023, but we can see them “dropping like hot” in the Californian desert.
World-famous DJ Anyma is in talks to head to Coachella, as reported by HitsDailyDouble. The DJ had a very successful run at The Sphere in Las Vegas, and brought out top artists during his residency like Ellie Goulding and FKA Twigs.
Sabrina Carpenter is reportedly in talks to headline the Coachella stage, according to HitsDailyDouble. The “Espresso” singer performed at the fest in 2023, and she’s sure to bring the Man’s Best Friend energy back again.
HitsDailyDouble reported that Karol G is rumored to be in talks for taking the Coachella stage. One of the biggest Latin stars on Earth, she’s ready to shake up the desert with her latest album Tropicoqueta.
