Billboard Canada Women In Music 2026: All of the Honourees and Performers Announced So Far

Billboard Canada's celebration of the music industry's most influential women has already begun.

Billboard Canada Women In Music returns to Toronto on Nov. 24 with a star-studded celebration at Rebel, and Billboard Canada is spending the next month recognizing this year's list of powerful honourees: women who are making strides in their professional careers, checking off milestones and driving the music industry forward.

Tickets are available here.

2026 marks the third edition of the third celebration in Canada and it is already shaping up to be the biggest edition yet. This year's event will honour the first-ever Billboard Canada Global Woman of the Year, along with a host of other Canadian female musicians and global stars who will receive awards and perform throughout the night.

Kylie Miller and Leandra Earl of The Beaches Will Host Billboard Canada Women In Music 2026

Billboard Canada's 2025 Women of the Year are returning to Billboard Canada Women In Music to usher in this year's honourees.

The Beaches accepted the prestigious Women of the Year Award at last year's Billboard Canada Women In Music celebration. The band celebrated the major breakthrough that began in 2023 with "Blame Brett" and continued through their 2025 album No Hard Feelings and their graduation to an arena-level band. They have remained true to themselves and proudly worn their home country on their sleeve, all while continuing to build an impact that transcends beyond it.

Leandra Earl and Kylie Miller of The Beaches will host Billboard Canada Women In Music 2026, bringing charismatic chemistry to the stage of the star-studded celebration.

Cardi B is Billboard Canada's First-Ever Global Woman of the Year

Cardi B has been on a nonstop victory lap since returning with her sophomore album I Am the Drama last year, following a seven-year wait. The Bronx native will come to Toronto to accept Billboard Canada's first-ever Global Woman of the Year award.

The accolade comes after embarking on a sold-out arena tour earlier this year, her first major headline trek which made her the first female rapper to play a sold-out arena tour (also becoming the first woman to headline and sell out the newly-renovated TD Coliseum in Hamilton).

She's racked up eight top 10 hits and 46 entries on the Canadian Hot 100 over the years, adding to her record-breaking history on the Billboard Hot 100, where she became the first female rapper to go No. 1 in the 21st century (second all-time) and the first to notch several chart-toppers. From her chart debut with "Bodak Yellow" — her first No. 1 in the U.S. — to her bold and enthusiastic NPR Tiny Desk Concert released this week, Billboard Canada is celebrating a decade of Cardi B's global success and impact.

Read more here.

Melissa Bubb-Clarke Named Executive of the Year

Live music continues to scale at a rapid rate, and Live Nation's chief commercial officer Melissa Bubb-Clarke has been at the heart of a massive growth for Live Nation since stepping into her role in 2024. Bubb-Clarke has been instrumental in each moment, and she is being crowned Executive of the Year at Billboard Canada Women In Music 2026. Read more here.

This year, RBC Amphitheatre reopened under its new name ahead of its planned overhaul into an eye-catching, year-round destination over the next few years. Live Nation also inaugurated History Ottawa this summer, a new mid-sized destination that is bringing buzzing and burgeoning acts to the Canadian capital, filling a big gap for live shows in the city. The 50,000-capacity Rogers Stadium also hosted an even bigger concert lineup in its second year of operations, building off Live Nation's record year in 2025.

Summer Walker Will Accept the Global Visionary Award

Summer Walker has broken barriers to build a modern global R&B success story. She's played by her own visionary rulebook to craft a career-long body of work that has resonated in a big way.

Her debut album ‘Over It’ has spent over 329 weeks on the Billboard 200, and its chart-topping sequel, ‘Still Over It,’ made Walker the second female to ever chart 18 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, joining Taylor Swift. 'Finally Over It' completed a historic trio of No. 1 debuts for Walker on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, closing the final chapter of a story that has been told across three LPs over six years.

This year, the R&B star embarked on her first arena tour, starting in Toronto and culminating in a sold-out, two-night grand finale at The O2 Arena in London. She celebrated with the bold and loyal team that has helped her build her own modern, radically vulnerable blueprint for success in the industry.

Read more here.

Bebe Rexha Recognized as Global Hitmaker

Bebe Rexha will be recognized for her chart-topping success across genres, as both an artist and a songwriter.

Rexha has remained a definitive voice in hits across genres for over a decade, ever since her breakthrough in 2013 with a co-writing credit on Eminem and Rihanna's chart-topping hit "The Monster."

Working between pop, EDM, hip-hop and country, she's earned No. 1s on the Billboard Canada charts with David Guetta, and continued to reach the top as a newly-independent artist. Rexha partnered with EMPIRE this year to launch her visual album Dirty Blonde, her most creatively ambitious project to date, which topped the Billboard Top Dance Albums chart and earned her two new Billboard Dance Airplay chart-toppers with "New Religion" and "Sad Girls."

Read more here.

Chxrry is Billboard Canada's Rising Star

Chxrry will be the third artist to receive Billboard Canada's illustrious Rising Star award.

Her momentum has been growing exponentially since signing with fellow Torontonian The Weeknd's XO Records in 2022. She launched her debut album U, Me & My Ego this year, releasing viral tracks like "Main Character" which boasts over five million streams and has been used in over 200,000 TikTok videos.

She's graced stages of all sizes over the past year, embarking on a solo theatre tour after opening for stadium-sized crowds for The Weeknd during his After Hours Til Dawn tour. Following co-signs by Offset, Rema and Billboard, which recently named her Up-and-Coming R&B Artist of the Month, Billboard Canada is celebrating Chxrry's noteworthy rise and growing success. Read more here.

Kristy Fletcher Will Receive the Impact Award

Kristy Fletcher will be recognized for her positive influence on the Canadian music industry and its next generation of creators with the Impact Award.

The president of MusiCounts and chief operating officer of CARAS, the organization behind the Juno Awards, Fletcher continues to celebrate the music creators of today while empowering young musicians through equitable access to musical education.

This year, MusiCounts made its biggest-ever donation through its MusiCounts School Funding Programs, investing $1.4 million to support music education programs across 96 Canadian schools. It adds to a decade of change-focused commitments made by the organization since Fletcher joined in 2016, including donating $20 million worth of instruments over the past decade and another $1.1 million donation through the School Music Program in 2025.

Read more here.

Blond:ish Wins The Innovator Award

Blond:ish has big-picture vision, both on and off the stage. On Nov. 24 at Billboard Canada Women In Music, she will be presented with an honour recognizing that impact: the Innovator Award.

Born Vivie-Ann Bakos, the Ontario-born DJ, producer and environmental activist has made her name as one of the world's most prolific and successful dance musicians right now. She's notably the first ever female resident DJ at clubbing insitution Pacha Ibiza, and recently soared to No. 1 on the Billboard Dance Airplay chart for her hit "Lovers On The Dancefloor."

She's also mixed at many of the biggest stages globally, including festivals like Coachella, Tomorrowland and Burning Man and she's collaborated with the industry's biggest names, producing an official remix of Taylor Swift's chart-topping single "Fortnight" and collaborating with Madonna on "Sorry."

Blond:Ish uses nightlife to build community as well as advocacy. Her non-profit organization Bye Bye Plastic Foundation is fervently dedicated to the elimination of single-use plastics in nightlife spaces, and has prevented the use of 12.7 tons of plastic across 55 venues and festivals in the last year alone. Read more here.

Tia Wood to be Honoured With the Trailblazer Award

Tia Wood has broken down barriers for Indigenous representation in the music industry. She will be celebrated with the Trailblazer Award.

Hailing from Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta, the R&B/pop singer has been making major strides. After making history in 2023, as the first Indigenous woman signed to Sony Music Entertainment, she delivered a star-making performance at the inaugural Billboard Canada Women In Music event in 2024, and she's gone on to reach even bigger stages since.

The Cree and Salish singer proudly wears her culture on her sleeve while creating an inclusive environment on any stage she graces. She made her Osheaga festival debut in Montreal this year, where she shared the stage with Indigenous drag queens and wore clothes designed by Indigenous designers.

In 2025, she took the stage with Shawn Mendes in Vancouver to perform a new version of "Youth," paying tribute to murdered and missing Indigenous girls and women. She also invited the singer to Saddle Lake Cree Nation where she introduced him to her culture and shared her personal history through different rites and traditions. The pair sat in ceremony and ate moose stew, and Wood showed Mendes the residential school where her parents were sent.

Sofia Camara to Perform

Sofia Camara is one of Canada’s hottest young pop singers. Her music has amassed more than 242 million streams, she’s played festivals all over the world, garnered Juno Awards nominations and comparisons to major artists like Tate McRae, Gracie Abrams and Nelly Furtado.

Her viral 2025 track “Girls Like You” spent over 20 weeks on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100. And she’s done all this before even releasing her debut album. Hot on the heels of her new EP Still Somewhere Here, Camara will take the stage at Billboard Canada Women In Music on Nov. 24, 2026.

SadBoi to Perform

Sadboi is a rising star, fashion icon and a genre-bending tastemaker pushing hip-hop in new different directions while the world catches up. Hailing from Toronto, she blends reggae, baile-funk, Caribbean influences and adventurous production to create a global sound all her own. She’s your favourite artist’s favourite artist, collaborating with everyone from Jorja Smith to Major Lazer, Smiley, Moliy, Cash Cobain and Loud Luxury.

After taking home a Juno Award for rap album of the year earlier this year, SadBoi will perform at Billboard Canada Women In Music on Nov. 24, 2026.

Sophie Powers to Perform

Sophie Powers has been making waves in Canada and in the K-pop music scene in South Korea, cultivating a devoted audience that has expanded across borders.

Following a standout concert at NXNE, the Toronto-based singer is now hot on the heels of her debut chart entry on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 as part of virtual ‘League of Legends’ group K/DA alongside members of i-dle and Mimi Webb. It’s part of her global rise that shows no signs of slowing down. After freshly earning a chart milestone, she will return to her hometown to perform at Billboard Canada Women In Music on Nov. 24, 2026.

Billboard Canada will continue to announce exciting additions to this year's celebration at ca.billboard.com and at @billboardca.

Tickets are available here.