As 2026 approaches, the global music landscape is gearing up for a wave of major album releases spanning rock, pop, metal, indie and beyond. From long‑anticipated studio efforts by established acts, to fresh explorations from rising stars, the first half of the year promises some of the most eclectic offerings in recent memory. Here's a comprehensive look at the key releases set from January through April.

Singer-songwriter Kate Bush has expressed her heartbreak after the death of a longtime friend during a Christmas Day swim off the coast of Devon. Matthew Upham, 63, a local antiques dealer and one of Bush's dearest friends for 30 years, went missing after entering the sea to assist a woman in difficulty near Budleigh Salterton.

Jeff Buckley's earliest New York performances will return in a newly expanded edition of Live At Sin-é in February 2026. The reissue revisits the intimate East Village shows that first introduced Buckley to a wider audience. Recorded in a cramped Lower East Side cafe, the performances captured an artist still defining his voice, his approach, and his relationship with an audience.

The Paper Kites will return in January 2026 with their seventh studio album, If You Go There, I Hope You Find It, a record that signals another carefully measured evolution for one of Australia's most internationally consistent alternative folk acts. Scheduled for release on 23 January 2026 via Nettwerk Music Group, the album arrives after more than a decade of steady growth, touring endurance and creative restlessness.

Gibson Gives has capped off 2025 with the most impactful year in its history, delivering record levels of instruments, funding, and support to music education and wellness programs around the world. The philanthropic arm of Gibson confirmed that 2,445 guitars were donated during the year, alongside more than $5.3 million enabled for global music education initiatives, reinforcing the company's long-standing belief that access to music can be transformative.

Western Australia's longest running and most revered David Bowie tribute event will return in January for what may be its final and most emotionally charged chapter.

Bob Marley has been named the most frequently referenced historical figure in song lyrics, according to a new study examining how musicians draw inspiration from history. The reggae icon sits comfortably at number one with 927 separate lyric mentions, placing him well ahead of philosophers, criminals, political leaders and fellow musicians whose names have also been woven into popular music over decades.

Liam Gallagher has revealed he spent Christmas sober for the first time in decades, marking a personal milestone for the former Oasis frontman. The 53-year-old rocker, who has long been associated with a hard-living lifestyle, shared the news on X, writing, “1st Christmas sober since I was 3 absolutely incredible stats LG x.”

Harry Styles has made an unexpected return to social media, delighting fans with a nine-minute YouTube video titled Forever, Forever. Released on Saturday, December 27, the clip revisits the final night of his Love On Tour series at Italy's RCF Arena Campovolo in Reggio nell'Emilia in July 2023.

Melbourne punk provocateurs Private Function have announced they will be breaking up after nearly a decade of high-energy performances, larrikin humour and unorthodox releases. The news came as a surprise to fans worldwide in a Christmas Day post from the band, who described the last nine years as “the best time of all our lives.”

Vinnie Vincent, the former Kiss guitarist famed for his “Ankh Warrior” persona, has reignited discussion among fans by announcing a limited-edition CD single priced at $225. Titled Ride The Serpent, the track is the lead release from Vincent's upcoming album, Judgement Day: Guitarmageddon Part 1, and will be issued in a strictly limited run of 1,000 CDs globally if he meets his quota. Each copy is individually numbered and personally signed by Vincent, who insists the pricing reflects both the collectible nature of the release and the realities of the modern music industry.

Neil Young has never hidden from uncomfortable truths, especially when they intersect with his music. Few examples illustrate that candour more starkly than Borrowed Tune, a fragile piano lament that openly acknowledges its melodic debt to The Rolling Stones' 1966 recording Lady Jane. Rather than obscuring the connection, Young placed it front and centre, turning a moment of creative exhaustion into one of the most disarming confessions in his catalogue.

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot, the French actress, singer, model and activist whose presence reshaped cinema, popular music and the image of women in post-war culture, has died at her Saint-Tropez home La Madrague on 28 December 2025, aged 91.

Morrissey has shared the tracklisting for a new album on his official website, alongside the Sire Records logo, signalling a fresh chapter for the former Smiths frontman after years of record label limbo.

Jerry Kasenetz, the New York born songwriter and producer who helped invent and commercialise bubblegum pop in the late 1960s, has died aged 82. Kasenetz passed away on December 6, 2025, in Tampa, Florida, following complications from a fall at his home.

Howie Klein, one of the most influential and artist-friendly record executives of the modern era, has died aged 77. Klein passed away on December 24, 2025, following a long battle with pancreatic cancer. His death marks the loss of a rare figure who bridged underground music culture, major label power and uncompromising political activism, leaving a legacy that continues to shape how the music industry understands creative freedom.

Queen have once again opened the vaults, with Brian May confirming that an unreleased track titled Not For Sale (Polar Bear) will finally receive an official release as part of a major 2026 reissue of Queen II. The song, shared publicly for the first time in a rough, work-in-progress form late last year, predates the formation of Queen itself and reaches back to the band's earliest creative roots.

Pink Floyd have unveiled the first official music video for Wish You Were Here, marking 50 years since the song's release on the band's landmark 1975 album of the same name. The video arrives half a century after the track first appeared, a reminder of how different the music landscape was in the mid-1970s, when promotional clips were rare and MTV was still years away.

Perry Archangelo Bamonte, the quietly influential guitarist, keyboardist and long-time creative force within The Cure, has died aged 65. The band confirmed Bamonte's death on their official website on 26 December 2025, revealing he passed away at home over Christmas following a short illness.

It's been another busy year for The Lemon Twigs, and in just the past fortnight alone they've delivered an almost absurd embarrassment of riches.

Sean “Diddy” Combs has launched a fresh legal bid that could dramatically alter the course of his incarceration, with attorneys filing an expedited notice of appeal seeking his immediate release from federal prison. The filing asks the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to either enter a judgment of acquittal or vacate his conviction and return the case to the trial court for resentencing.

The Kennedy Center Honors television broadcast has recorded its lowest audience in the history of the event, with the 2025 ceremony attracting significantly fewer viewers than the already diminished audience of 2024. Early ratings data indicate that the CBS broadcast averaged approximately 2.65 million viewers, a steep fall from the 4.1 million who tuned in last year, representing a decline of more than 35 percent.

Barry Manilow has revealed he has been diagnosed with lung cancer and will undergo surgery to remove a cancerous spot from his left lung, a condition his doctors believe has been detected at an early and treatable stage.

Lady Gaga is marking Christmas Eve with an unexpected gift for fans, the global premiere of Lady Gaga In Harlequin Live: One Night Only, an intimate concert film capturing a singular moment in her evolving career. The performance, filmed at the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles, strips her presentation back to its musical core and places full attention on the songs, the voice and the space between performer and audience.

Australia's festival season is heating up, but for music fans, the cost of entry is rising faster than ever. New analysis by Culture Kings of ticket data from 11 major Australian music festivals shows that prices have surged dramatically beyond inflation and are projected to continue climbing over the next decade.

Spotify has confirmed that a third party unlawfully scraped large volumes of music data from its platform, after an activist group claimed it had backed up almost the entire Spotify catalogue. The incident centres on Anna's Archive, an open source “shadow library” project, which says it has assembled metadata for 256 million tracks and accessed 86 million audio files spanning music uploaded between 2007 and 2025.

Chris Rea, the English singer songwriter, guitarist and one of the most distinctive voices in European rock and blues, has died aged 74. Rea passed away in hospital on 22 December 2025 after a short illness, closing the book on a career that spanned more than five decades and sold over 40 million records worldwide.

Scottish hard rock band Nazareth have announced a major lineup change, parting ways with singer Carl Sentance and bringing in Italian vocalist Gianni Pontillo as their new frontman. The announcement comes ahead of what founding bassist Pete Agnew has described as “one of the busiest years in Nazareth's history” in 2026.

The Recording Academy has unveiled the lineup for its 2026 Special Merit Awards, highlighting music icons whose influence spans decades and continents. Among the honorees for the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award are Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Fela Kuti, Carlos Santana, Cher, and Paul Simon. The awards will be presented during Grammy Week on Saturday, January 31, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, the day before the main ceremony at the arena.

Morrissey has signed a new recording contract with Sire Records, closing a long and unsettled chapter in which completed albums repeatedly failed to reach the public. The deal places the former Smiths frontman back on a label with deep roots in alternative music and signals renewed institutional support after years of stalled releases.