Sugar Mountain will return to the centre of Naarm in 2026, reclaiming its roots as an independent festival and bringing its celebrated 360-degree stage back to Melbourne's CBD on Saturday, 21 February 2026. The festival will take over The Paddock, an urban oasis tucked between Federation Square's car park, Birrarung Marr and the city's train line, marking a homecoming for one of Melbourne's most forward-thinking music events.

Australia has farewelled one of its most influential and distinctive voices with the passing of John Laws, who died peacefully at home in Sydney's Woolloomooloo at age 90. Known nationally as the “Golden Tonsils”, Laws transformed Australian talkback radio across a career that spanned 71 years, shaping political debate, public conversation and broadcasting standards for generations.

Fifty years after it first washed up from the surf at Point Dume, Neil Young's Zuma remains one of his most quietly volatile records, a bruised and beautiful return to Crazy Horse that mixed pastoral reflection with jagged electric bursts, and gave the world the towering epic Cortez The Killer.

When Patti Smith walked into Electric Lady Studios in New York in September 1975, she was not trying to chase radio hits or craft a commercial product. She was trying to breathe life back into rock, fuse it with poetry and performance art, and speak directly to outsiders who felt like music had stopped speaking to them. On 10 November 2025, her debut album Horses reaches its 50th anniversary, standing tall as one of the most influential recordings in modern music.

Australia will be well represented at the 2026 Grammy Awards, with Perth's Tame Impala, Sydney's RÜFÜS DU SOL and Melbourne's Amyl & The Sniffers earning nominations across major contemporary categories. The awards will be announced on 1 February 2026.

The SoundMerch Australian Music Prize has named Ninajirachi the winner of its 21st annual award, recognising the most creative and artistically significant Australian album of the year. Ninajirachi takes home the coveted title for her album I Love My Computer, along with the $50,000 cash prize.

Spotify has been pushed into the spotlight again, facing multiple legal challenges that question how music is recommended, promoted, and paid for on streaming platforms.

The Northern Territory's flagship music festival BASSINTHEGRASS has locked in a massive 2026 bill, bringing a powerful mix of homegrown talent and international names to Darwin's Mindil Beach on Saturday 16 May 2026. The NT's biggest day in live music will once again transform one of Australia's most recognisable coastal backdrops into a celebration of contemporary music, tropical lifestyle, and Territory spirit.

Bondi Beach will reclaim its place as one of Australia's great outdoor music locations in February 2026 when Crowded House headline the inaugural Golden Hour series, the first major concert staged on the sands of Bondi in more than ten years. On Friday 20 February 2026, Sydney's most recognisable shoreline will transform into a twilight stage for thousands of music fans, celebrating summer's close with one of the region's most storied bands.

Sixty years ago this week, Motown released a landmark that would define the sound of soul for generations. Smokey Robinson And The Miracles' ‘Going To A Go Go', issued on 1 November 1965, stands as one of the signature albums of the golden Motown era, and six decades on its legacy still rings loud.

Sydney Festival will hit a milestone in January 2026, marking 50 years as one of Australia's most culturally defining events. From 8 January to 25 January, Sydney will once again become a living stage for theatre, dance, visual art, literature, cabaret and music, with this year's program celebrating five decades of artistic change while imagining the city's creative future.

Alan Niven, the former manager who guided Guns N' Roses through the most explosive years of their career, has filed a lawsuit in the United States seeking to unblock the release of his memoir Sound N' Fury: Rock N' Roll Stories. The action was filed on 3 November 2025 in the District Court of Arizona, with Niven requesting a jury trial and a declaration that a 1991 confidentiality agreement cannot be used to stop his book.

Leslie Kong's name rarely appears on the marquee, but his fingerprints are all over the songs that made Jamaica's music a global language. A Chinese-Jamaican businessman who began life running an ice-cream parlour, a restaurant and a record shop on Orange Street in Kingston, Kong turned a chance audition outside his shop into Beverley's Records and effectively launched modern reggae. His label and production work took ska and rocksteady, polished them, and helped shape early reggae into an exportable sound that found listeners from London to New York.

Dark Mofo, Australia's celebrated mid-winter solstice festival, will return to Lutruwita/Tasmania from Thursday 11 June to Monday 22 June 2026, once again transforming Hobart into a city drenched in red light, fire, ritual and sound.

Two decades after reshaping Australian hip hop with their landmark 2005 album The Sun Never Sets, The Herd will reunite in February 2026 for a national tour to celebrate the record's 20th anniversary. The Sun Never Sets 20th Anniversary Tour will bring the influential collective to stages in Thirroul, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Hobart.

Pulp will return to Australia in February and March 2026, marking their third visit to the country and their first since 2011. The Sheffield icons, fronted by Jarvis Cocker, last performed in Australia 15 years ago, having first toured the country in 1998 at the height of the Britpop era.

The Michael Cassel Group, the powerhouse behind Hamilton and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, is wrapping 2025 with a burst of theatrical brilliance and heart. The company will present its second annual A (Very) Musical Christmas, continue its Australian run of MJ The Musical, prepare for the return of Beetlejuice The Musical and bring Whispering Jack: The John Farnham Musical to the stage for the first time.

Bernard Fanning will celebrate two decades of his landmark debut solo album Tea & Sympathy with a national Australian tour in February and March 2026. Following the lightning-fast sell-out of his anniversary concert at Brisbane's QPAC, Fanning will bring the full album performance to stages across the country, performing Tea & Sympathy in its entirety for the first time in twenty years, along with a selection of fan favourites from his career.

After a year of career-shaping moments and mounting acclaim, Australian alt-pop artist Fletcher Kent has unveiled his most intimate release to date. His new single, ‘Blindspot', is a sweeping and cinematic duet featuring the soulful vocals of his fiancée, Lil, marking both a musical and personal milestone in Kent's fast-rising career.

Sam Fender's 2025 Australian tour won't just be about the Brit Award winner himself - it's set to be a showcase of some of the most exciting rising artists from both sides of the globe. Joining Fender on select dates are Australian acts Esha Tewari, Beddy Rays, Sycco, and Day We Ran, alongside British singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone.

Open Door Management has relaunched as Immortal Music Group, marking a bold new era for one of Australia's most active heavy music management companies. The rebrand, announced this month, introduces a broader creative vision, an expanded roster, and new senior hires that reinforce the company's commitment to longevity, innovation, and artist growth.

The next generation of Victorian music talent will take centre stage this November when SongMakers LIVE makes its debut at one of Australia's most iconic live music venues, The Espy in St Kilda. On Sunday 23 November, sixteen emerging bands from across the state will showcase their original songs in a special all-ages event designed to give young artists their first taste of performing on a professional stage.

New Zealand's acclaimed indie-rock outfit The Beths have made their long-awaited U.S. late-night television debut, performing the title track from their latest album Straight Line Was A Lie on Jimmy Kimmel Live! The appearance marks another major milestone for the Auckland quartet, who are currently riding high on the success of their fourth studio record and are set to bring their biggest-ever Australian headline tour to fans in April 2026.

It's been a long time coming, but UK alt-rock heavyweights Maxïmo Park are finally returning to Australian shores - and they're bringing a milestone celebration with them. The Newcastle-upon-Tyne trio will perform a series of intimate headline shows across Australia in April 2026, marking the 20th anniversary of their acclaimed debut album A Certain Trigger.

Australia's most diverse and globally celebrated music and arts festival, WOMADelaide, has revealed the first 49 artists for its 2026 edition, promising a journey across continents, cultures and sounds. Returning to Adelaide's Botanic Park/Tainmuntilla from 6 to 9 March 2026, the festival's 29th year will once again transform the city into a melting pot of rhythm, art and discovery.

The Horrors will make a long-awaited return to Australia in April 2026 for their first national headline tour in more than a decade, marking the band's most extensive run of shows in the country since 2012.

The 2025 Screen Music Awards celebrated the best in Australian screen composition at a glittering ceremony at Brisbane's Fortitude Music Hall last night, recognising a powerful year in music for film, TV and games.

A monumental new book will bring the full story of Australia's most loved music television program, Countdown, to life. COUNTDOWN - A Complete Episode Guide, a lavish 460-page hardcover coffee table book, will be released in the first week of December 2025, paying tribute to the show that shaped a generation and forever changed Australian pop culture.

Australia's own Ocean Alley will hit the road again in March 2026 for AUS Coastal 2026, a new SummerSalt series presented by Face To Face Touring and Live Nation. The run of outdoor shows promises to bring the band's sun-drenched sound to some of the country's most picturesque coastal locations, joined by a stacked bill featuring Skegss, Babe Rainbow, Allah-Las, The Grogans, Mid Drift, Le Shiv and Seaside.

Angus and Julia Stone, Vika and Linda Bull, Mark and Nick Seymour, Donna Simpson and Vikki Thorn, and Elroy and Liam Finn made for a very family affair at Berry's biggest Red Hot Summer ever.