The year of 2025 has arguably been one of the best years for female artists. Artists such as Sabrina Carpenter, Charlie XCX, and Zara Larason exploded last year with record-breaking success. However, fans around the world have recently been craving more in terms of building community within music.
While it is great that we are at a time where female artists are able to have successful careers all by themselves, fans still yearn for collective musical experiences, something that is most easily achieved with girl groups. Which leads me to wonder, will 2026 be the year of girl groups?
With the rise of global girl groups like KATSEYE, I think that 2026 will be off to a great start in terms of female music groups. Despite member Manon’s recent hiatus, the group still shows strong promise for success.
The group has done a performance in the Roxy Theater in nearby Atlanta, and tickets were completely sold out. Additionally, they have become only the third girl group in 31 years to be nominated in the Best New Artist category and perform at the Grammys. However, even before their performance, they drew the largest daytime crowd in Lollapalooza history in 2025.
This recent surge of popularity for girl groups does not stop in the real world. It also applies to movies. Netflix’s fictional girl group Huntrix from the hit sensation “K-POP Demon Hunters” has made history with the first number one song since Destiny’s Child in 2001. Girl groups are now experiencing a surge of popularity, arguably the biggest since the early 2000s.
Girl groups are so successful, because they demonstrate solidarity and teamwork, defining the constant narrative within the music industry of pitting females against each other. Dynamics such as these not only bring community to fans, but also are great representation of healthy and supportive female friendships.
Music made from girl groups often tackles themes of female friendship, self-worth, and resilience, great messages for younger fans. The girl group FLO uses this to help inspire their music, with almost all of their songs mentioning female empowerment in one way or another. Additionally, the diversity of talents and personality within the group is yet another big appeal to fans.
Instead of having a solo artist who is great in one area but partially lacking in another, girl groups can effectively divide up the responsibilities of being a music artist in a more efficient way. ILLIT and KATSEYE both strongly use this to their advantage, with each member in the group being assigned to a vocalist, lyricist, or dancer role during performances.
In terms of marketing, girl groups are an easy success. Each member of a group offers a unique point of connection for a fanbase, allowing fans to identify with a specific persona. By taking advantage of these personas–leader, fashionista, smartest, sassiest–companies managing these groups are able to cater to each member’s specific fanbase while also maintaining the image of community and bringing in millions of dollars.
KATSEYE is another great example of this, with each member having their own persona, and successful marking to match. The group has collaborations including fashion, beauty, and food. Their infamous Gap ad reached 400 million views in three days and brought in a 7% year-over-year increase in comparable sales for the Gap brand.
Similar groups have had the same success. Girl group TWICE did a performance during the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show last year that resulted in over 52 million views for content featuring the group and all items worn by members selling out by the end of the week.
In the year of 2026, female empowerment can take shape in many different ways, including supporting upcoming female artists and all of their talents. The music industry has been used as a tool used to connect others and build community, both in song and within the music artist themselves. It is my hope that girl groups will continue to grow in popularity, not just for brand deals and marketing tactics, but because their success will symbolize so much more for women around the world.
Many people will look at girl groups and see nothing more than girly pop songs and cute visuals, and, to some extent, that is what they are supposed to be. But they are so much more than that. Girl groups help show that female musicians can be successful without a man or other bandmates, but instead based on their talent and drive alone.
Based on how the media has treated girl groups in the past, I strongly hope that in 2026 members of girl groups will have more positive experiences with not just the media but fans as well.
Do not hesitate to give girl groups a listen. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised. Afterall, girl groups are reclaiming the spotlight, and now is the time to take notice.
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