A very Long Wave-coded book, a landmark Nigerian film and more Black art, culture and sport on its way in the next 12 months

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The week between Christmas and New Year is a unique time. You’re free to not worry about what day of the week it is, or think too heavily on anything beyond your current state. But as we reach the new year, it is equally fun to think about the things we hope will bring some much-needed collective joy in the year ahead.

This week, our colleagues from across the diaspora have shared the Black cultural events that they are looking forward to in 2026, from books and TV shows to Ghana beating England at the World Cup.

Label claims Danielle entered into arrangements that put her in conflict with her contract

Raye, Deftones and Yungblud do UK tours, Jill Scott returns for more neo-soul, and the classical world gears up to celebrate Hungarian composer György Kurtág at 100

• More from the 2026 culture preview

Seventeen years on from the release of her debut single, Florence Welch finds herself in an intriguingly strong position: while most of her early 00s indie peers are forgotten or in reduced circumstances, she is a major influence on pop, from Ethel Cain to the Last Dinner Party to Chappell Roan. Her recent album Everybody Scream was a strong restatement of her theatrical approach – with more light and shade than you might expect – but it’s on stage that she really comes into her own.
• UK tour begins 6 February at the SSE Arena, Belfast

The rocker defended himself by saying, ‘I’ve created an elite product for elite taste’

Lawmaker Tim Burchett insisted that ‘of course’ he knew the misleading video was generated by artificial intelligence

BPI figures show music lovers listened to equivalent of 210.3m albums by UK artists in 2025 in 11th consecutive year of growth

Nostalgia surrounding the Oasis reunion tour, alongside Taylor Swift fans’ clamour for vinyl, contributed to another boom year for the UK music industry, as physical formats continued their comeback.

Music lovers listened to the equivalent of 210.3m albums by UK artists during 2025, according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) annual report, up 4.9% on 2024 and the 11th year of growth in a row.

The rocker defended himself by saying, ‘I’ve created an elite product for elite taste’

The Cookers on Monday pulled out of a New Year’s Eve jazz gig at the controversially renamed ‘Trump-Kennedy’ center

A second jazz band has pulled out of performing at the controversially renamed “Trump-Kennedy” center in Washington DC, giving just two days’ notice before their New Year’s Eve gig was set to take place.

The Cookers, described as a Grammy-nominated, all-star septet of legendary post-bop jazz musicians, have not given an explicit reason for their decision but in a statement posted on their website said: “Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice.”

Being blasted into space or taking over Venice no longer cuts it. The rich and famous are being punished for their conspicuous vacuity

When Katy Perry and five other women were launched into space in Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket, no doubt they expected to be celebrated as trailblazers. Cast your mind back to April, and the event was getting wall-to-wall news coverage. The crew, also including Bezos’s then-fiancee Lauren Sánchez and CBS presenter Gayle King, were in space for about 11 minutes, during which Perry sang a rendition of Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World and revealed the setlist for her Lifetimes tour. On their return, the pop star kissed the ground and showed a daisy to the camera – a tribute to her daughter, Daisy.

Well, talk about crashing back down to earth. Instead of being hailed as a giant leap for 21st-century feminism, the voyage turned into a colossal PR failure. It was ridiculed for being tone-deaf, an out-of-touch luxury ride for the super-rich during a time of economic hardship. There were so many mocking memes and hot takes that Perry later admitted feeling “battered and bruised” at being turned into a “human piñata”. “I take it with grace and send them love,” she said, “cause I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for the unhinged and unhealed.”

Nadia Khomami is the arts and culture correspondent at the Guardian

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A new Channel 4 documentary aims to provide a fresh perspective on the most critically and commercially tumultuous period of Bowie’s career, and reflect on how this led to his swansong, ‘Blackstar’. Roisin O’Connor speaks with director Jonathan Stiasny

Disillusioned by his early EDM success, Alex Young bought hardware, embraced UK dance culture – and reinvented himself

From Washington, DC
Recommended if you like Floating Points, Jon Hopkins, Joy Orbison
Up next A slew of new music from the vault

It was probably the moment when he was paid $10,000 to DJ a spin fitness class that Alex Young, barely 16 at the time, felt he had lost touch with what music was all about. “At 13, I was like, if I could ever hang out with Skrillex, my life would be complete,” he says, sipping a pilsner on an icy day in Washington DC. “Then by 15, I’m doing it.”

The Netherlands’ guttersnipe answer to French chanson and German schlager is as popular as ever – but has it lost its roots as the defiant voice of the working class? Our writer sways along at the Muziekfeest van het Jaar to find out

‘U doet wat, precies, meneer?’ My chic twentysomething hairdresser throws me a puzzled look: “You’re doing what, exactly, sir?” I am not behaving like an Englishman. I have just told her that I have bought tickets for the Muziekfeest van het Jaar (Music of the Year festival) in Amsterdam’s cavernous Ziggo Dome: a two-night extravaganza that is being recorded to be broadcast on New Year’s Eve as a kind of Dutch equivalent to Jools Holland’s Hootenanny, all dedicated to the brassy, sentimental, often untranslatable and still monumentally popular Dutch pop known as levenslied.

“Levenslied” roughly translates as “songs about life”, and although popular throughout the land, especially in North Brabant, it is commonly associated with Amsterdam, and specifically the formerly working-class district of the Jordaan. A social and local music, levenslied concerns itself with family, friends and close associates. Stylistically, it has a connection to the 20th-century French chanson réaliste of Edith Piaf and, when in a party mood, finds common cause with German schlager.

The Grammy winner is the fifth musician to join the billionaires club

French film star and cultural icon, who died Sunday, sparked outrage later in life with her outspoken views on #MeToo, Islam and homosexuality

The Grammy winner is the fifth musician to join the billionaires club

Topped by Rosalía’s multilingual, ultra-ambitious Lux, here are the best albums of the year as voted for by 30 Guardian music writers
• More on the best culture of 2025

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