Mark SavageMusic correspondent
BBC
The nominees for 2026 include (L-R): KWN, Skye Newman, Chloe Qisha, Royel Otis and Sombr
The soundtrack to the next 12 months will match cutting-edge pop with jangly guitar anthems. That’s according to the shortlist for BBC Radio 1’s Sound of 2026, which tips new music for the coming year.
The nominees include US singer-songwriter Sombr, whose lush harmonies and yearning pop-rock songs have already earned him a clutch of UK top 10 singles.
Also in the running are Aussie skate-rock duo Royel Otis and nervy post-punk outfit Geese. They’re joined by up-and-coming pop singers Chloe Qisha, Skye Newman and Alessi Rose – who supported Dua Lipa on tour this summer.
Previous winners include Adele, Haim and Chappell Roan. The 2026 winner will be announced in January on Radio 1 and BBC News.
This year’s list was compiled from votes by an international panel of more than 170 industry experts and artists including Sir Elton John, Dua Lipa, Jade, Olivia Dean, Yungblud and Sam Smith.
It is open to acts who have yet to score a number one album or more than three top 10 singles by 31 October 2025. Artists who already have a “significant public profile” are also ineligible.
The remaining nominees for 2026 include breakout rap star Jim Legxacy, Irish rockers Florence Road, R&B singer Kwn and singer-songwriter Sasha Keable – a former collaborator with Disclosure and Jorja Smith.
The list has been running since 2003, when US rapper 50 Cent was the first winner.
Since then, it has also predicted success for Stormzy, Frank Ocean, Wet Leg, Florence + The Machine, Raye, Fred Again, Vampire Weekend and Yungblud.
Here’s what you need to know about the 10 nominees on the Sound Of 2026 shortlist.
Alessi Rose
Getty Images
Derby’s Alessi Rose taught herself the rudiments of music production while working as a barmaid to save up for university.A poetry student, she turned her talent to lyrics – writing universal anthems of infatuation, heartbreak, lust and turning the tables on hopeless men.”If people don’t want me to write songs about them they shouldn’t do bad things,” she explains on her social media bio.Working with A-list pop writers like Amy Allen (Sabrina Carpenter) and Sam de Jong (Gracie Abrams), her sharply-observed pop missives have seen her described as “Derbyshire’s Olivia Rodrigo”.In the last year, she’s gone from playing 300-capacity shows to supporting Tate McRae and Dua Lipa; and recently sold out two nights at London’s 2,500-capacity Kentish Town Forum.Chloe Qisha
Getty Images
Chloe Qisha has a simple, understated goal. “I want to show people I’m the master of all pop,” she told The Line Of Best Fit last year.Born in Malaysia, based in London, the 26-year-old took a convoluted path towards music, studying psychology before realising she was “not emotionally stable enough to be anyone’s therapist”.A voracious pop fan, she started posting “really horrendous covers” to YouTube, where she was spotted by producer Rob Milton, known for his work with The 1975, CMAT and Holly Humberstone.Singles like 21st Century Cool Girl, Sex, Drugs & Existential Dread and So Sad, So Hot have already marked her out as a major talent – with a savvily-mixed cocktail of pop melodies, off-kilter production and compelling lyrics.Florence Road
Warner Music
Named after the street where they went to school, Florence Ro
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