Top Global Artists Who Have Never Played Coachella (and Why)

Top Global Artists Who Have Never Played Coachella (and Why)

By C.M. Ong | Sept. 17, 2025

Coachella is often seen as a milestone for musicians, with its massive stage, global livestreams, and influence on pop culture. For rising stars, performing there can be career-defining. Yet, some of the biggest global artists in the world have never set foot on the Coachella stage—and their absence is no accident.

Behind the decision to skip the festival are financial, logistical, and brand-related considerations that outweigh the prestige of performing at the California desert event. Here are the top artists who have strategically chosen not to play Coachella—and the reasons why.

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Taylor Swift

By iHeartRadioCA, CC BY 3.0, wikimedia commons

Despite her unmatched star power, Taylor Swift has never headlined or performed at Coachella. For Swift, the issue is less about opportunity and more about brand alignment and safety.

• Coachella’s “edgy” and unpredictable festival atmosphere is considered a poor fit for her carefully managed, family-friendly brand.
• Security is another factor: Swift’s massive fanbase, and her well-documented experiences with stalkers, make a stadium tour—where her team has full control—a safer option for both artist and fans.

Instead of a festival set, Swift’s business model favors global stadium tours, which not only maximize profits but also allow her to deliver the kind of highly produced performances her fans expect.

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BTS

By Samsung Saudi Arabia - YouTube  CC BY 3.0

The biggest K-pop group in the world, BTS, has also avoided Coachella. Their reasoning is both financial and logistical:

• A full solo stadium tour generates significantly more revenue than a one-hour festival set.
• The ARMY, their massive fandom, could overwhelm a festival setting, posing crowd-control challenges.
• Coachella’s strict “radius clause”, which prevents artists from performing in the region for months around the festival, disrupts BTS’s global touring schedule—a key part of their success.

By focusing on their own tours, BTS retains full creative control and keeps their fans’ experiences exclusive.

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Dua Lipa

By Raph_PH - Glasto24_28_300624 (259 of 545), CC BY 2.0 

Unlike others on this list, Dua Lipa’s absence from Coachella is rooted in principle.

• She has voiced opposition to Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), Coachella’s parent company, due to the political donations of its leadership.
• As an outspoken advocate for inclusivity and social justice, aligning with a festival owned by a company criticized for controversial funding could clash with her public image.

For Dua Lipa, avoiding Coachella is less about finances and more about protecting her values and brand integrity.

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Kendrick Lamar & Rihanna

By Eli Watson from Austin, United States - Kendrick Lamar 16, CC BY 2.0,

By Danilo Lauria - Vimeo: Met Gala 2017 , CC BY-SA 3.0, 

Both Kendrick Lamar and Rihanna have reportedly turned down offers to headline Coachella in recent years. The reason? The festival simply doesn’t hold the same value for them anymore.

• At their level, they don’t need Coachella to reach new fans—their existing fanbases are already global.
• A solo world tour brings in far more revenue and allows them to design a performance entirely around their music and vision.

For these A-list superstars, Coachella offers prestige, but little else they can’t achieve on their own terms.

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Stray Kids

By 티비텐, CC BY 3.0

Another K-pop powerhouse, Stray Kids, has also skipped Coachella for strategic reasons.

• Like BTS, their career heavily relies on touring and fan engagement worldwide.
• Coachella’s non-compete radius clause would block their ability to tour in key U.S. markets around the festival dates, cutting into both revenue and fan opportunities.

For Stray Kids, stadium tours are not just more profitable but also better aligned with their fan-focused approach.

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Final Thoughts

Coachella may be one of the most iconic music festivals in the world, but for today’s biggest artists, prestige isn’t everything. Financial returns, creative freedom, security, ethics, and logistical flexibility often outweigh the exposure the festival promises.

As music continues to globalize and artists command stadiums on their own, expect more superstars to follow the same path: skipping Coachella not as a loss, but as a calculated business choice.