The 2026 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has officially sold out both weekends, sparking debate about what made this year the one that got the festival back on track as a sell-out event.
Related Articles
Coachella 2026 full lineup just dropped: Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter and more
On Monday, Sept. 22, the Goldenvoice-produced event happening in Indio’s Empire Polo Club on April 10-12 and April 17-19, posted on social media, “She’s gone, dance on. See you in April.” The announcement confirmed that all GA and VIP passes had sold out just seven days after the complete lineup was revealed, with Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, and Karol G topping the poster.
Procrastinators and contemplators were left with the option to join wait lists for both weekends. General admission tickets started at $649 for Weekend One and $549 for Weekend Two, while VIP tickets were priced at $1,299 for Weekend One and $1,199 for Weekend Two. The VIP pricings are now closer to the StubHub resale rate, which is nearing $1,000 for general admission for Weekend One.
The news of a quick sellout comes after recent years of the festival struggling to sell out both weekends, when it had previously had a pre-pandemic reputation of selling out before the lineups were even announced. In 2022, it sold out on the first weekend, and the remaining tickets were sold out within a few days. In 2023, it followed the same trend, selling out the second weekend leading up to the event.
RELATED: Stagecoach 2026: Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson and Post Malone top bill
However, in 2024, although the first weekend was sold out, the following one still had available tickets leading up to the event. This year’s festival also didn’t sell out, but for the first time, its sister festival, the Stagecoach Country Music Festival, sold out before Coachella.
On social media sites like Reddit, which hosts the popular informational r/Coachella subreddit, fans of the festival voiced their opinions about the festival selling out.
One user posted, “It’s just surprising that the past few years they’ve been struggling to sell out. What’s the sudden change? Does Justin Bieber / Sabrina / Karol G really have that pull? AirBNBs and hotels seem to be aligned with this data as well.”
Another Reddit user replied, pondering that it could be because in September, “consumers have more money” as opposed to in November and December because of holiday spending.
Another user theorized it was because Bieber was likely leading the charge, saying, “Had a feeling this would happen once I saw Justin on the lineup and saw the reactions across social media to his name being there. Everyone severely underestimated his pull, especially since it’s his first show back in 4 years.”
Others are still holding out hope, with one user posting a theory that it hasn’t sold out despite only second-hand markets having tickets for sale. The user and author of the post predicted that the festival is “going to magically announce more passes” and announce more tickets in the future.
In the meantime, fans can join the waitlist for both weekends at coachella.com.