This Just In: Kylie Minogue Is Headlining the 2026 AFL Grand Final Pre-Game Show
Tune in to the big game this September to see the legendary Australian musician make an overdue AFL Grand Final debut.
It's taken decades for this news to break, but after four decades of stardom in Australian music, Kylie Minogue is finally making her AFL Grand Final debut this September. Announced as the headline performer for this year's pre-match performance, she joins a Hall of Fame that includes stars like Snoop Dogg, Katy Perry, Mike Brady, Robbie Williams, Delta Goodrem, Ed Sheeran, INXS and many, many more.
It's been a big year in almost every sense so far, and Minogue's appearance will supposedly be "one of the biggest and most unforgettable" AFL Grand Final pre-shows in history.
"The Toyota AFL Grand Final is the biggest event on the Australian sporting calendar – and this year, we welcome home an Australian icon." AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said. "Kylie has been on our wish list for a long time, and there is no better artist for headline the performance prior to our biggest game of the season."
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Minogue will be the first Australian since 2021 to headline the event. In 2021, due to Covid restrictions, the Grand Final was played in Perth with a medley of Australian artists taking on the performance, including Baker Boy and Eskimo Joe.
Minogue said of the announcement: "The AFL Grand Final at Melbourne's one and only, forever iconic MCG? Yes please! As a Melburnian, I'm so excited to be coming home for the biggest day in the Aussie sporting calendar. I'll not only be performing, but I'll be one of 100,000 fans at the 'G, watching the wonder that is footy."
Minogue's career has seen her amass over 80 million record sales internationally, five billion streams, and nine No. 1 Australian albums. She has won 18 ARIA Awards, four BRITs, two MTV Awards, and two Grammys.
Last year, her 2001 hit "Can't Get You Out of My Head" came in at second in Rolling Stone AU/NZ's Best Australian and New Zealand Songs of the 21st Century So Far list. The track, off Fever, also landed Minogue her first-ever No. 1 spot on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart. It was the first of fourteen No. 1s she would go on to achieve on that chart, a run which saw her eventually tie in tenth place for most No. 1s.
"It signalled yet another shift in Kylie's musical direction. Here she was serving sharpened club beats that wouldn't have sounded out of place in a German electro cut from the '80s, a style so ahead of its time it still seems futuristic now," we wrote of it.
The show will be produced by Mushroom Group's CEO Matt Gudinksi, who said they've tried "for some time" to make this a reality. "Mushroom is so excited to welcome Kylie home to perform at Australia's biggest day in sport at the MCG. We're working closely with Kylie's team to create and produce what will be one of the most memorable Telstra Pre-Game Entertainment shows yet."
More entertainment announcements regarding the Toyota AFL Grand Final Day will be made later this year.
This article first appeared on Rolling Stone AU/NZ.
Image: Jim Dyson/Getty
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