The Beaches’ viral rise in 2023 was only the beginning. This year is proving to be their biggest year yet — and they’re ready for it.

After spending the summer having their songs screamed back at them by tens of thousands of fans at Coachella, Osheaga and Pukkelpop in Belgium, the Toronto band recently released their critically acclaimed new album, No Hard Feelings, which debuted in the top 25 of the Billboard Canadian Albums chart. Before they play their first-ever headlining show at their hometown Scotiabank Arena on November 6, they mark another career milestone.

The Beaches are this year’s Billboard Canada Women of the Year — the first time Billboard’s prestigious flagship award will go to a whole group rather than a single artist.

“We’re so honoured to be celebrated alongside so many incredible women who have done so much for the music industry,” says Kylie Miller. “Our team is built around women working together, so anytime we get to celebrate communities of women uplifting one another, it feels amazing,” adds her sister Jordan.

The Beaches have been grinding on the road and in the industry since they were kids, so they were ready for their moment when it hit. They’ve refused to coast on momentum, levelling up with every move. And they’ve finally found their people — an increasingly young, queer and diverse fanbase that represents them and the often painfully relatable heartbreak songs they sing about.

“We’ve garnered a new fan base that represents who we are,” says Leandra Earl. “We’re now seeing ourselves in the audience and they’re seeing themselves on stage.”

The Beaches are the kind of band Billboard Women in Music was made to celebrate.

Read Billboard Canada’s cover story on The Beaches here.

Lights is shining bright. For almost two decades, Lights has redefined what it means to be an artist — blazing across genres from alt-rock to pop to EDM, writing and drawing comics and collaborating with some of the biggest global artists. Now, she makes history as the first-ever Billboard Canada Visionary Award recipient.

Initially from a punk/alt-rock background, the artist — born Valerie Anne Poxleitner-Bokan — made her name in synth-pop, but never stopped there. Since her debut in the late 2000s, Lights has become a mainstay in Canadian music. She's had 10 songs on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 and eight charting albums on the Canadian Albums chart, including three in the top five: 2011's Siberia, 2014's Little Machines and 2017's Skin & Earth.

Lights has remained a force in the industry, with this year's A6, which put her in heavy rotation on the radio. The deluxe version, A6EXTENDED, will be released at the beginning of 2026, followed by a North American tour that will take her across the country. The newly released “Education” shows just how infectious her electro-pop can get.

Outside of music, she has used her platform to advocate for music education and mental health, becoming a voice for the next generation of rising artists. It’s an enviable career that Lights has never taken for granted.

The Trailblazer Award honours an artist who acts as a music industry pioneer by using her platform to spotlight unheard voices and break ground for future generations of performers. Quebec singer-songwriter and international star Coeur de pirate encapsulates everything the award represents.

Born Béatrice Martin, Coeur de pirate has become a mainstay in music, with dedicated fan bases in Canada and Europe. Martin has just released her eighth record, Cavale — her first in four years, and is already spawning radio hits. It shows off her emotional and intimate songwriting skills, imbuing every piano note with big, universal emotions you can't help but feel deeply.

Still under 40, Martin has become a role model for many in the industry to look up to. She serves as president and artistic director of Montreal-based independent record label Bravo Musique — previously known as Dare to Care Records. In 2021, Martin bought the label when a musician on the label faced allegations of sexual misconduct and domestic violence and the label head stepped down amidst accusations of fostering a toxic work environment.

Now, she’s committed to making it a positive home for artists, including many talented young women like Laraw, Naomi, Lou-Adriane Cassidy and many more. It's one of many ways she's changing the music industry for the better.

In 2025, Charlotte Day Wilson has been everywhere: on-stage, at the Grammys and even in a sandwich shop.

The Toronto singer-songwriter — already a star in her hometown — took her talents globally when she was nominated for her first-ever Grammy at this year’s ceremony in the engineering category for her 2024 album Cyan Blue. Wilson has long been an advocate for women in the studio, where they are often underrepresented in technical roles.

At the beginning of the year, she reimagined her catalogue in a wide-ranging Red Bull Symphonic concert with a full orchestra at Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall. Calling it “a dream opportunity” in her hometown, Wilson approached the show with a full-career scope, also thinking about the future it will lead into. "In an industry that is ruthlessly obsessed with youth, how do we graduate into a next chapter of life and still maintain our integrity and relevance?” she mused to Billboard Canada. “That's something I think about all the time, and it's something I want to approach really deliberately."

For over a decade, Wilson's soulful voice and immersive soundscapes have charmed many renowned musicians who have become her collaborators, including Kaytranada, Daniel Caesar, Nelly Furtado and BadBadNotGood. Adding to her multifaceted talents, she opened the buzzy Italian sandwich shop, Tutto Panino, alongside three friends this past August. As Wilson carves out her new path in the music industry, it’s clear she isn’t afraid to keep innovating.

Ebony Naomi Oshunrinde, better known as WondaGurl, has built a career on turning instinct into impact. The Brampton, Ontario native went from teaching herself the music recording software FruityLoops (now FL Studio) at nine to winning Toronto’s Battle of the Beat Makers as a teen, where Boi-1da took her under his wing. She was a producer on Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail by the time she was 16 — a breakthrough that foreshadowed her role as one of the most influential producers of her generation.

Over the past decade, WondaGurl’s sound has anchored hits for Travis Scott, Rihanna, Drake, and the late Pop Smoke, while her company Wonderchild Music has become a launchpad for new voices through her publishing partnership with Cactus Jack and Sony Music Publishing. With multiple awards and accolades, she has proven she can dominate in a space long closed to women.

Julia Wolf is on a rapid ascent. The Long Island-born, Los Angeles-based singer has catapulted into the spotlight — with a major impact on a global stage.

Since 2019, Wolf has steadily been releasing music. She garnered fan and industry attention with her breakthrough indie-pop project, 2023’s Good Thing We Stayed, before delving into a more emo-inspired sound on her 2025 album, Pressure. The project features the hit “In My Room,” which spent five weeks on the U.S. Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, peaking at No. 44, and entered the U.S. Alternative Airplay at No. 40 chart in June.

Her hard-to-classify mix of pop, punk and hip-hop styles has found some major fans. This month, Wolf’s bubbling pop status reached a boil when she collaborated on Drake's new single "Dog House," with Los Angeles rapper Yeat. A major showcase of the young singer, the track sits at No. 39 on the Canadian Hot 100, marking Wolf’s first entry on the chart.

“I feel like when I put my last album out just a couple months ago, I couldn’t get anyone to notice it or any PR looks [...] to have the biggest artist reach out and want to work with me has just been insanely validating,” she told Rolling Stone of linking up with Drake. “He just really believes in the music, so it’s been insane.”

As Wolf continues to push forward, she says it’s the act of patience that has kept her sane, telling Wonderland: “The years that I’ve been doing this has set me up and prepared me for this moment that’s happening right now.”

Now featured as the opening act for MGK’s upcoming Lost Americana tour, it’s clear she’s turning heads among some of the biggest names in music.

Noeline Hofmann is still in her early twenties, but she’s building a serious name for herself. Last year, the Bow Island, Alberta native turned heads with a moving performance of her breakthrough hit “Purple Gas” that reached the ears of one especially influential fan: country star Zach Bryan. He liked it so much, he recorded a collaborative version with Hofmann and included it on his No. 1 album, The Great American Bar Scene. The new version gave Hofmann her first Billboard Hot 100 hit, and her debut Purple Gas EP surpassed 100 million global streams.

"I've been almost waiting for the last year to happen all my life," Hofmann told Billboard Canada at the beginning of the year. "It's what I've always been working towards and it kind of materialized right under my fingers, which was just really unbelievable."

The accolades haven’t stopped. She’s been tapped by both Apple Music and Spotify as an artist to watch, recently won SiriusXM’s Top of the Country contest and even played the famed Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

A rancher at heart, Hofmann brings her rural upbringing to all her songs, which infuses her Alberta cowgirl perspective into her music. "I'm so proud of where I'm from and proud to tell those stories,” she says. Whether she stays in Alberta or moves into the heart of Nashville, Hofmann’s gift for songwriting and performance will keep her breakthrough going long past this year.

Julie Adam is having a milestone year — and it's getting even bigger.

Adam was promoted to the top role at the beginning of this year, and is now the only woman heading a major label in Canada. But her trailblazing influence didn't start this year. Adam’s rise comes after decades of breaking barriers. She started in radio, becoming Canada’s first female vice President of radio programming, and spent more than 20 years at Rogers Sports & Media before moving to Universal in 2023 as EVP & GM. It wasn't long before she stepped into the top role, taking charge of Canada’s largest record company during a moment of change.

UMC is the market share leader amongst labels in Canada (the label has seven of the top 10 albums year to date), with both domestic success for international artists and rising stardom for homegrown Canadian acts. The past year has seen chart breakthroughs for artists like Josh Ross (who was among the most nominated artists at the Junos and CCMAs) and Toronto pop artist Sofia Camara, who hit the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 for the first time this week. Other artists, like Mae Martin and Owen Riegling, continue to make a big mark.

What makes Adam stand out — and what this award underlines — is not just the business, but the way she leads. Her book Imperfectly Kind doubles as her philosophy: that empathy and generosity can fuel success. Colleagues and artists alike point to her ability to create space for others to thrive, a rare quality in an industry often driven by competition.

It’s a crucial moment for Canadian music, and Meg Symsyk has been there as a champion for artists and the industry.

As the country implements the Online Streaming Act, the first update to Canadian content regulations in a generation, the president and CEO of FACTOR has been a crucial voice – making sure that Canadian artists and content are supported and promoted, not just at home but throughout the world.

The ongoing CRTC hearings and court cases will have far-reaching implications that will set the tone for how digital music streaming companies support Canadian content well into the future. Symsyk is there behind the scenes, ensuring the legislation is fair and equitable and that homegrown artists are supported.

It’s also a crucial time for FACTOR itself, one of the most important and impactful funders of Canadian music. Last year, the non-profit organization was the victim of an alleged $10 million cybertheft. Symsyk has led the fight to recover the funds, but also to hold Scotiabank accountable during a time when fraud more Canadians than ever before. It’s bigger than FACTOR – it’s a case that will affect both the arts and everyday citizens.

Symsyk will be the first recipient of the Champion Award, an accolade that fits her perfectly. Canadian music needs champions like her.