This year's list, which honours the most powerful people in the music industry, includes executives from companies like Live Nation, REPUBLIC Collective, XO Records, Reservoir and more.
Every year, Billboard puts together a ranking of the music executives revolutionizing the music landscape, from technology partnerships and innovation to fan experience and music rights ownership. From spearheading the biggest tours of 2025 to the biggest music releases, the Canadian executives featured on the 2026 Billboard Power 100 span a diverse range of categories including the top 40 leaderboard, labels, live music and multisector.
Michael Rapino, president and CEO of Live Nation, is the highest-ranking Canadian on the leaderboard at No. 3. The live music company's success in 2025 largely stemmed from blockbuster stadium tours by artists like Coldplay, Oasis and Kendrick Lamar, attracting 160 million fans and over $18.9 billion in revenue. Rapino, who started his career on the hardscrabble Canadian live music scene, sits at the head of the company, which also had a record-breaking year in Canada. With upcoming tours like Bruno Mars' Romantic Tour already breaking show and sales records, Live Nation is looking at another monumental year.
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Arthur Fogel, the company's chairman of global music and president of global touring, earns a nod along with Rapino in the Power 100's Live section, where Live Nation holds the top spot. The live music powerhouse produced nine of the top ten best-selling concerts on Billboard's 2025 Year-End Boxscore charts. Fogel was Billboard Canada's inaugural Power Player of the year in 2024, and accepted the award in Toronto where he also started his storied career.
Wassim "Sal" Slaiby, SALXCO founder and co-founder of XO Records, lands at No. 33 and joins Rapino as the only other Canadian on the leaderboard. He is joined by Amir "Cash" Esmailian and The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) in the multisector category, where XO Records ranks at No. 6. The management company and the label saw immense success through The Weeknd's chart-toppingHurry Up Tomorrow and the return of the After Hours Til Dawn tour.
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It was the fourth biggest tour of 2025, crossing the $1 billion gross mark in November and becoming the highest-selling R&B tour in history since kicking off in 2022. With another leg set to pass through Latin America and Europe in 2026, the tour's historical success is set to grow even further. SALXCO also saw a viral hit with Shenseea's appearance on "Shake It to the Max (FLY)," which hit No. 61 on the year-end Billboard Canadian Hot 100. (Another XO co-founder, La Mar Taylor, is also Billboard Canada's first-ever 40 Under 40 Visionary).
Jeffrey Remedios of REPUBLIC Collective is one of three names from REPUBLIC Collective in the top spot in the Labels category on the Power 100. Remedios was the longtime president and CEO of Universal Music Canada before moving last year to this new position. The company oversaw some of the biggest juggernaut albums on the charts, from Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl to Morgan Wallen's I'm The Problem. "We set our own ambitious bar and then bested it,” Remedios says. “That spirit defined the year — my first with this incredible group.”
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Golnar Khosrowshahi has been helping Reservoir make major moves over the past year as the company's CEO. From acquiring publishing rights (Miles Davis) and catalogues (Musicraft Entertainment), as well as investing in the British entertainment company Lightroom, Reservoir earns the No. 8 spot in the Multisector category as it continues to expand and diversify its repertoire both locally and internationally. Khosrowshahi was No. 1 in the Publishing category of Billboard Canada Power Players in 2025.
