By External Source
Here is this week's Nielsen Market Watch report which features Canadian music stats for the current week and YTD with comparisons to last year. This chart is published every Tuesday. The abbreviation "TEA" is a term used to describe the sale of music downloads or singles. A track equivalent album is equal to 10 tracks, or 10 songs.
This lineup follows the fest’s running formula with two contemporary solo headliners and one rock duo or group. Last year’s top-billed artists were The Killers, Tyler, The Creator and Olivia Rodrigo.
As one of Gen Z's biggest stars, the Calgary-born hitmaker has been at the top of her game, earning her first No. 1 album in Canada with 2025’s So Close to What. In support of her chart-topping record, she embarked on a global trek that grossed nearly $111 million, including two sold-out shows in Toronto. While she has no other shows on the books for this year, headlining a major music festival in her home country is icing on the cake for the Grammy-nominated singer.
Twenty One Pilots return to the festival for the first time in over a decade. The band, which includes Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun to take the main stage, have graduated to headliners as their popularity has skyrocketed.
Hot on the heels of her charting fourth studio album, Virgin, Lorde returns to the festival to close out the three-day event. She takes headliner duties for the second time after previously leading the 2017 lineup, following acclaim for her sophomore record, Melodrama. Two months earlier, the New Zealand singer is set to headline the Toronto edition of queer and female-led festival All Things Go in June.
As one of the country’s biggest music festivals, Osheaga reflects an array of genres. The three-day event will see indie rockers The XX, Turnstile and Geese, electronic duo Empire of the Sun, indie chart breakthrough Sombr, rapper Gunna and dance music group Major Lazer take the stage.
Osheaga is known for booking artists right before they get big — like Doechii, Chappell Roan and Gracie Abrams — so all eyes are on this year’s festival.
“We never want it to be a festival that once you get past the top line, it isn’t relevant,” the festival’s founder, Nick Farkas, told Billboard Canada last year. “For me, the wow factor, that’s the thing that makes Osheaga special."
On the Canadian side of the lineup, Wolf Parade will return to the festival for the first time since 2016. The Montreal group is on a red-hot streak, following their 2005 hit “I’ll Believe In Anything,” soundtracking multiple moments in the queer Canadian hockey show Heated Rivalry. The group was one of the performers at the inaugural edition of Osheaga in 2006.
The festival tapped multiple emerging Canadian acts from across the country — from Vancouver-born electronic duo Bob Moses to Toronto indie rock outfit Valley to east coast native Baby Nova. The lineup also includes Finn Wolfhard, Mother Mother, Tia Wood, Billie Du Page and more.
Other acts hitting the Montreal stage include: Wet Leg, Clipse, Wolf Alice, Max McNown, Franz Ferdinand, Little Simz, Of Monsters and Men and Oklou — to name a few.
Find the full lineup below:
In total, 87 artists were announced, with 26 Canadian artists and 14 homegrown acts from Québec.
Three-day festival tickets go on sale this Friday (Feb. 27). More information here.
