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More and more, K-pop concerts are becoming a hot topic.

As the genre becomes more popular in the States and across the globe, artists have begun expanding their horizons, taking their tours beyond Asia to stop in North America and beyond. That’s not even including the K-pop acts headlining music festivals or conventions that are going down this year.

On the docket for 2026, we’re already seeing big names embarking on massive world tours and even Las Vegas residencies a la BLACKPINK’s Lisa. BTS, ENHYPEN, IVE and aespa are just a few big names headed out on tour, with more artists announcing tours all the time. To keep you in the know, we’ve compiled a list of K-pop concerts happening in 2026 so far and where you can buy tickets. As always, keep in mind that the official spot to grab tickets to all of these events will be via Ticketmaster. That being said, we’ve also included links to resale and third-party sites. Keep reading to learn more.

K-Pop Concerts 2026 (Updated)

May 2026:

June 2026:

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November 2026:

Spotify has announced the launch of “Verified by Spotify,” a new verification badge designed to distinguish human artists and provide greater transparency for users. To qualify, artists must be in good standing with Spotify’s platform policies, have consistent listener activity and prove their identity as an artist on and off platform.

A press release announcing this badge points to “the AI era” and says, “It’s more important than ever to be able to trust the authenticity of the music you listen to.” As part of the new program, the company notes that now “more than 99% of the artists Spotify listeners actively search for will be verified,” which “prioritiz[es] artists with active fan interest, or who have made important contributions to music culture and history, rather than functional music creators whose content is primarily designed for passive or background listening.”

The badges are part of a string of recent Spotify roll outs, designed to provide users with more context, transparency and trust with artists on the platform. This includes the recent announcements about tools like “artist profile protection” (which guards profiles against accidental uploads by incorrect users or malicious AI deepfakes), AI credits (which allows users to disclose AI assistance in song making), SongDNA (which lets listeners explore the connections between creative collaborators), About the Song (which provides context and storytelling for songs) and more.

To distinguish verified profiles, Spotify will list a light green checkmark icon and text that reads “verified by Spotify.” This will slowly roll out over the coming weeks and be approved on an ongoing basis to ensure accuracy and consistency.

Additionally, profiles, regardless of Verified by Spotify status, will begin to list more information about an artists’ career milestones, release activity and touring activity to provide additional information — something which the press release compares to “nutrition facts” to offer “a quick, reliable snapshot.”

This feature comes at a time when streaming services have been receiving a rapidly growing number of AI songs. According to a recent report by French streaming service Deezer, 44% of daily uploads are now 100% AI-generated, which amounts to 75,000 new AI songs every day. Apple Music executive Oliver Schusser also recently discussed the topic on Billboard‘s On the Record podcast, revealing that about a third of monthly uploads for Apple Music are fully AI-generated. While Spotify has not revealed exactly what their daily count of AI music is, the company’s global head of policy, music business Sam Duboff was asked about whether he is seeing similar metrics to Deezer’s on the On the Record podcast and he replied: “We have no reason to disbelieve it’s a similar amount on any streaming service. That said, I think they shared the point that .5% of streams is all those songs were getting.” 

While all streaming services speaking out about the topic have similarly agreed that the volume of streams on AI songs remains incredibly low, the onslaught of new AI-generated material can pose other potential issues for platforms — like increasing issues with discoverability for human talent, impersonation, spam and storage issues. Spotify announced policies in September 2025 to target some of these harms, which largely stem from AI-generated material, strengthening their safeguards around impersonation, transparency and spam in particular.

Few, if any, pop stars throughout history have had a more incredible run than Janet Jackson at her peak. From 1986 to 2001, she released five full-length albums — each of which topped the Billboard 200, each of which generated at least one No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, each of which helped to define their era in pop, R&B and culture in general, and each of which proved enormously impactful on pop stardom, both in real time and for generations to come. And perhaps most impressively: Each of those album eras felt completely separate from the ones before or after, reframing Jackson’s artistry and shaping her legacy in a totally new way.

In honor of the pop icon, R&B legend and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s upcoming 60th birthday (May 16), we’re celebrating a first on the Greatest Pop Stars podcast: A full week of Vintage Pop Stardom flashbacks to each of these peak Janet Jackson album eras. We’ll start in 1986 on May 11 with her Control breakthrough, and go one a day through the rest of the week, hitting the heights of her bar-setting Rhythm Nation era in 1990, her game-changing Janet release in 1993, her boundary-pushing Velvet Rope rollout in 1998 and her legacy-confirming All for You drop in 2001.

And of course, along the way, we’ll answer all the most pressing questions about Ms. Janet during this all-time run: How did she end up making such an astronomical creative leap from her pre-Control material? What did she understand about crafting a full album era that even some of her megastar peers had to catch up to? How did she set the template for modern pop star evolution — and who have been some of her most obvious disciples? What challenges did she have to face in her career that her male and/or white pop peers might not have had to go through the same way? Which album is she most likely to be remembered for in 50 years? Which song? Which video? And why, 40 years after her breakthrough, does it still feel like her work doesn’t quite get the recognition or visibility it deserves?

Listen to a quick teaser explaining more about the series above, catch up on our Vintage Pop Stardom episodes here, and check back from May 11-15 both on Greatest Pop Stars and Billboard.com as we commemorate a pop star who music and culture would never do without!

And as we say in every one of these GPS podcast posts — if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights:

Transgender Law Center

Trans Lifeline

Destination Tomorrow

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe

Human Rights Campaign – In Your Area

Olivia Rodrigo rolled out the dates for a massive world tour in support of her upcoming third studio album, You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love, on Thursday morning (April 30). The 65-date Unraveled Tour will hit arenas for multiple night stands in North America, Europe and the U.K. this fall and winter beginning with a Sept. 25 show at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, Conn.

The Live Nation-promoted tour promoting the album due out on June 12 will find the “Good 4 U” singer doubling-up for shows in Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Columbus, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Orlando, Sunrise, Fl., Nashville, Vancouver, Seattle, Oakland, Sacramento and Las Vegas, with four shows planned at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles and four more at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in February 2027 before moving on to Europe and the U.K.

The tour, which will feature support on select dates from Wolf Alice, Devon Again, The Last Dinner Party, Grace Ives and Die Spitz, is slated to wrap up on May 2 with the second of two stops at Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain on the follow-up to the singer’s 2024-2025 Guts world tour, which played 95 sold-out shows to over 1.4 million fans.

The first single from the upcoming LP, “Drop Dead,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, giving Rodrigo the distinction of being the first artist to debut lead singles from all of her studio albums at No. 1 on the Hot 100. Rodrigo will be the musical guest and host on Saturday Night Live this weekend.

An American Express presale will kick off on Tuesday (May 5) at 12 p.m. local time through May 6 at 10 p.m. local time, while supplies last; click here for information. A general on sale for North American tickets will begin on May 7 at 12 p.m. local time here, where fans can also find information on European and U.K. ticked presale dates.

Rodrigo will once again be offering Silver Star tickets for the tour, with a limited number of $20 tickets (or local currency equivalent, plus taxes where applicable) available at a later date. A portion of proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the singer’s Fund 4 Good global initiative supporting community-based nonprofits working to build an equitable and just future for all women and girls.

Check out the dates for Rodrigo’s 2016-2027 Unraveled tour dates below.

Support Key

+ Wolf Alice

^ Devon Again

# The Last Dinner Party

~ Grace Ives

= Die Spitz

Songs on the Billboard Hot 100 are sounding more cynical and slower overall over the past five years.

The finding is one among many in ChartCipher’s in-depth trend report about Hot 100 hits, whether they peaked at No. 1 or No. 100, from 2021 through 2025. (“Using AI, ChartCipher extracts granular data for the compositional, lyrical and sonic qualities of songs and delivers insights into the qualities shaping today’s hits,” the company notes in its release.)

Below are three key takeaways from ChartCipher’s latest research.

More Cynical, Slower Songs

Perhaps it’s not the most uplifting revelation, but “the common lyrical moods that increased the most over the five-year period all point in the same emotional direction,” ChartCipher observed. “Cynical rose from 59% to 70%” of all charted songs in that span. “Anger increased from 26% to 36%. Nostalgic rose from 23% to 33%.

“Taken alongside the shift toward slower, less kinetic production, as well as the continued dominance of darker timbres,” the 2025 report spotlighted, “the Hot 100 is increasingly being defined by a moodier, more distant emotional tone.

“The chart as a whole moved toward lower-energy production,” ChartCipher stated. “Songs under 79 BPM increased from 35% in 2021 to 44% in 2025, while songs in the 80 to 99 BPM range fell from 33% to 24%. Darker timbres remained dominant throughout.”

High-profile examples of such hits in 2025 include Tate McRae’s “Tit for Tat,” Taylor Swift’s “Cancelled!” and Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem.”

To be more upbeat, romantics will find comfort in love’s sustained triumphant presence on the Hot 100. Noted ChartCipher, “Love remained the most popular lyrical theme across all five years,” with splendored takes of between 42% and 51%.

Hip-Hop/Rap Rules, Rock Rises

As covered in the 2025 analysis of top 10 Hot 100 hits by ChartCipher sister company Hit Songs Deconstructed, pop last year far outpaced hip-hop/rap in prominence among primary genres, 42% to 19%; the genres have alternated annual wins since 2018.

Among all Hot 100 hits, however, hip-hop/rap has reigned each year in 2021-25. As a primary genre, it claimed a 29% presence in 2025, following showings of 35% (2024), 31% (2023), 42% (2022) and 47% (2021). Despite its declines, it has led in each of those years over runner-up pop, largely steady at 24% (2025), 23% (2024), 25% (2023), 27% (2022) and 25% (2021).

On their heels, rock as a primary genre was “the most notable gainer across the period,” per ChartCipher, with increases each year and more than doubling in that span from 10% of all Hot 100 hits in 2021 to 22% in 2025.

‘Yes, And?’ No, Nothing More

The most common word count for a Hot 100 song title in each of the last five years? Two, continuing a trend toward brevity dating back more than a decade.

“Hot 100 song titles have remained short and consistent across the full 2021 to 2025 period, with one- and two-word titles collectively accounting for the majority of charting songs in every year,” ChartCipher reports.

Over that stretch, 16 No. 1 hits (or 23% of all leaders in that span) were two-word titles, from the first two new No. 1s in that timeframe — “Drivers License” by Olivia Rodrigo and “What’s Next” by Drake — through “Squabble Up” by Kendrick Lamar in 2024. Others in between include “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals, “Last Night” by Wallen, “Cruel Summer” by Swift, “Yes, And?” by Ariana Grande and “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims.

(Rodrigo’s new Hot 100 No. 1, “Drop Dead,” and Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” down to No. 2, are the first such leaders since “Squabble Up.”)

Swift alone contributed to the haul with half of the top 10 on the Hot 100 dated Oct. 18, 2025, when The Life of a Showgirl made its chart entrance. The set that week was represented in the top tier by “Elizabeth Taylor” (No. 3), “Father Figure” (No. 4), “Wi$h Li$t” (No. 6), “Actually Romantic” (No. 7) and “Eldest Daughter” (No. 9).

Even two No. 100-peaking titles in 2025 were that concise: “Cowboy Songs” by George Birge and “Infinite Baths” by Sleep Token.