Pop Culture Happy Hour - 2026 Pop Culture Predictions

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

What does 2026 have in store for pop culture? Today, we’re back for another year of pop culture predictions. We’ll touch on A.I., the future of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and what’s to come for the Law & Order Universe. Plus, we check in on our prognosticating for 2025 and see how things worked out.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Hi, Linda Holmes here. Somehow we are almost at the end of 2025. And I'm going to be honest with you, it's been a pretty challenging year for NPR and local stations. But here's the thing. Despite losing federal funding for public media and despite all the attacks we've seen on the free press, we're still here for you. We are still independent, a critical right guaranteed by the First Amendment. And with your support, NPR will not be silent. Here at Pop Culture Happy Hour, we're will continue keeping you company with thoughtful, engaging conversations about all the movies, TV, music, and more 2026 has in store. If you're already an NPR Plus supporter, thank you so much. We see you, and we're so grateful for you. If not, please join the community of public radio

supporters right now before the end of the year at plus.npr.org. Signing up unlocks a bunch of perks like bonus episodes and more from across NPR's podcasts. Plus, you get to feel good about supporting public media while you listen. End the year on a high note and invest in a public service that matters to you. Visit plus.npr.org today. Thanks. What does 2026 have in store for pop culture? It's impossible to know for sure. But we are always willing to make our best guesses anyway. That's right. We are back for another year of pop culture predictions.

We'll touch on AI, the future of Rupal's drag race, and what's to come for the Law and Order universe. And of course, we'll check in on our prognosticating from last year and see how things worked out. I'm Stephen Thompson. And I'm Linda Holmes. And today we're talking about our 2026 predictions on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. Joining us today are our Pop Culture Happy Hour co-hosts, Glenn Weldon.

Hey, Glenn. Hey, let's just get on with us. Okay. And Aisha Harris. Hello, Aisha. Hey, I'm just glad we've made it through this year. We made it. We're still here. We're all still here together. Thank goodness. It's wonderful to see all of you. I'm going to start right off with Aisha Harris. I would say historically a good predictor relative to the rest of us. Really good track record. Batting what 150?

Okay. All right. Well, I don't know what that means. Great time to be saying all that because this year. The first thing we're going to do is we're going to listen to Aisha's prediction from last year. I don't know if either of these things will actually happen. but their predictions, so who cares? I think that in 2025, Bob Eiger is going to extend his CEO contract for Disney. As you may know, he stepped down as CEO and Bob Chepec took over. And then Iger came back because he just couldn't let go of the reins. But he has his contract extended through to the end of 2026.

But I feel as though he's probably going to find a way to extend it past that. The other part of this is that David Zasloff, the Warner Brothers Discovery CEO, is going to be unceremoniously ousted or resign from the company. How'd you do, Aisha? Well, no. Yeah, how'd we go? How'd that go for you? Oh, for two.

Oh, for two. Yeah, no, none of these things happened. In fact, a lot of other things happened. Yeah. So Bob Eiger, to that point, as of this taping, has not extended his CEO contract. He is still scheduled to be in this position until, December 31st of 2026. But just in early December of 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that Disney's board, basically they plan to announce Iger's replacement in quote unquote early

26. So, you know, it's possible. Like my prediction could still, who knows, in 2026. Good, sure. But it seems unlikely at this point. So that was wrong. As for Zazlov, man, oh man, Zazlov is somehow coming off even better financially. than anyone could ever thought of. You've got this bidding war happening between Netflix and Paramount for Warner's assets. You know, as of this taping, things are still kind of up in the air. Who knows what this will turn out to be? But Zazlov could walk away with hundreds of millions in equity in this sale.

Okay? So he's doing fine. So the rich keep getting richer and the rest of us are just here. So my predictions were completely, completely off. Yeah, but don't beat yourself up because, I mean, when you're trying to predict this part of the industry, it's brownie in motion, dude. It's random atomic bombardment. Don't beat yourself up. I agree.

I wouldn't even try because I tried not to even pay attention to who the names are that are involved in stuff like this. Appreciate it. Feel for you. We'll get to mine. But I'm sure for 2026, Aisha, you're just going to crush it. Yeah. You're going to crush it. Okay.

So this is a prediction. that I think Stephen especially will have thoughts on, and I will be very curious to hear what you think about this. I'm predicting in 2026 that a fully AI-generated song that we are aware of, that we are aware of, will crack the Billboard Hot 100. I feel like it's coming. I bet you're right. You have Suno and UDO, these two big AI companies that have sort of entered into the mainstream.

Suno especially, it's this generative artificial music creation platform, and they have a partnership with Warner Music Group. So they've already been sort of adopted into the establishment of the music business. And in this past year of 2025, we've seen actually quite a few AI artists, quote unquote. The songs may not be fully AI generated, but they are at least in part AI generated, have hit Billboard charts, not the Billboard Hot 100, but they've hit, you know, the very specific ones. Subcharts. The subcharts. So you have Zinaya Monet.

Like an animated avatar that was created by a songwriter named Talisha Nikki Jones. A couple of her songs have reached like the Hot Gospel songs, the Hot R&B songs, Kane Walker, this AI-assisted country artist, hit the country digital song sales chart. And then on top of that, if you're following Timberland on Instagram as I do and you, like, it's a very sad thing to watch. But Timberlin has gone full down the rabbit hole. His character, Tata. You have all of these people and these big.

big industry titans adopting AI generated music very quickly against many artists who are like, what are we doing here? So I just feel as though it's very possible that this will happen, that we will see one of them actually crack into the Billboard Hot 100. And what a sad day it will be. I guess I'm just, I'm all for cynical predictions these days. I'm sorry, guys. Unfortunately, Aisha, I suspect your cynical prediction will be right on the money. We're certainly heading in that direction. You acknowledged the several artists who have kind of cracked these genre charts. They're not artists. They're not artists.

I just want to say they're not artists. Artist in air quotes. Right now it is often kind of AI assisted where it's a little bit of a hybrid. But man, the opportunities there are, you know, so many people are trying to make this happen that it feels like a foregone conclusion. Also, when you factor in that like these streets, streaming services have playlists where a lot of people are just hitting play on a playlist, and then everything on that playlist, particularly around the holidays, just kind of naturally hits the billboard charts. So all it's going to take is a song like that just kind of landing on the right playlist for it to happen.

I suspect you're right, Aisha. I'm not going to boo your prediction, Aisha, because it would sound like I was booing you. Oh, I would never boo you. Love you. Hope you're wrong. Yes. Me too. Boeing the situation. All right.

Me too. Speaking of booing the situation, Glenn Weldon. I cannot wait to be reminded. What was your prediction for 2025? I think the widespread acceptance of AI of specifically generative AI like ChatGPT is going to hit a roadblock. I think the thing it has going for right now is its usefulness. I mean, we're all professional writers. We don't use it.

But every single one of our friends do every day in their lives at work. And I think it continues to be used for the kind of writing that I would call task-oriented or functional, you know, cover letter. applications, grant proposals, technical manuals, any email you have to send that is, you know, has to do with procedures or systems, you know. So the reason people use it is because it's so efficient. They've convinced themselves that there's a kind of writing that is most efficient when it adheres to strict guidelines and formatting, and that's what computers can do, right? I think what's going to happen is that people are going to begin to acknowledge that kind

of writing was never really about adherence to guidelines and formatting, that there always a human voice was behind it and there needs to be. I think what we're doing now is producing final products that are so anodyne, so uniform, so generic that it's, it's usefulness. AI's usefulness is going to come into question. I mean, guys, I don't know about this one. I'm going to defer to you all to make the judgment. I think your horizon is just too short. Yes. Yes. Because I think what I was focusing on there was the technical writing aspect of AI. And I tried to make the case that all writing is and should remain a human endeavor. I still believe that. But I think that was kind of a stand-in for me predicting

a kind of larger backlash against AI. And I don't think there was one. As much as there was in 2025, I felt an entrenchment happening. People dug in. People who were leery of it grew convinced that it sucks. And people like me who already knew it sucks ran to the barricades to try to shore them up. But that's just people who are inside the barricades, right? I'm not just talking about the people whose jobs it's threatening or taking. But I'm also talking about it. But I'm also talking about the people who listen to this show, who have come to realize, I think, how much of their, I don't know, cultural lives, their intellectual lives or aesthetic lives, their artistic diet is getting poisoned by AI. And I say that, and I know how snooty and artsy fartsy it sounds. And it makes me want to beat myself up and take my own lunch money.

But I think it's true. How are you going to, how do you, what grade do I get here? I think what this prediction was missing was some kind of metric. Yeah, that's true. Because the closest I can come to sort of saying, I think you were on the right track here, and I certainly hope you're on the right track here, is essentially measured in, Glenn, I know you're going to love me using this word, vibes. Yeah, sure. Like, I do think there is a vibe shift happening where it is becoming a more commonly held opinion that this stuff is just kind of making everything worse. And that, God, help you if you work in HR.

and you are trying to sift through resumes and cover letters and get a sense of the humanity of any single person applying for a job. There is a sense that is encroaching and that more and more people, I think, are voicing. This stuff isn't really working the way it's supposed to. It's kind of being forced down our throats. If I were to tack something onto your prediction for 2026, it would be a sense that I feel like you're going to see more and more statements from creatives essentially. saying we did not use AI. Right. It's already happening.

We already are. I've noticed this sort of small industry bubbling up, like a cottage industry, of people who, influencers, who their whole entire schick online is to basically break down what is an AI and try to warn people. Like, you know that viral video of dogs going up to, like, at an adoption place and they pick their owners. That's AI. And then let me break it down for you. Want to use on trampolines? Yeah, yeah.

So, like, I think the vibes are correct. It's just that they are not quite as far as I think you had hoped they would be by now. I mean, for me, you know, my revulsion about a lot of this stuff is philosophical. And I acknowledge that it's philosophical. And I have enough trouble making predictions when I understand the tech really well. And I am not an expert on this tech because philosophically I'm so profoundly opposed to it. And nothing people could tell me about the way it operates. is going to change that fact.

But I will tell you, I am going to continue to be a person who mutters, they're not artists, they're not artists. Because I absolutely feel right now like it's an uphill battle to not want this stuff thrown in my face. But I will continue to fight that battle because, you know, philosophically, I feel extremely strongly about it. And I just want to make a quick note that when I talk about this, I'm really talking about large language models used for stuff like writing books or stuff that's used genera. to create art and fake photos and stuff like that. So there's a bunch of, when you use the term AI, it brings a whole bunch of different stuff

all together that isn't one thing. It's a whole bunch of different things. So when I say that I have a revulsion, I'm really talking about generating what are supposed to be creative works. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, if it's any consolation to you all, I remember having a conversation with a friend of mine who has kids who are like, you know, around 12, 13. and their new burn amongst these very small sample size, their new burn anytime they think something is fake is that's AI. So, yeah, you know, the kids. It's become synonymous with slob. Yes. Right.

All right, Glenn, so what is your prediction for 2026? I didn't want to speculate about the industry. I don't know anything about it. I didn't want to speculate about AI, certainly. So I chose the only thing that's left when you eliminate those two things. And you want metrics. Here's a metric. This thing will either happen or it won't.

I predict that the year 26 is the year the icon the legend known as Rupal Charles will step down from hosting Rupal's drag race. Now look. Now look, I can hear the keyboards clacking even as I speak.

I am not saying this is something I want. I hope she goes on forever. But there is such a thing as tea leaves people and I'm out here reading them, does that make me brave? Does that make me a hero? Up to you. But the facts are these.

In February, Drag Race will have been on the air for 17 years. Season 18 is just about to start. And at this point, drag race is not a series. It's not even a franchise. It is a global, hyper, megalo corporation. I'm not saying it's too much work. I'm saying that when it comes to drag race,

one cannot deny that there is now an infrastructure firmly in place. It is an institution. It is a machine with a format so rigid and so unvarying that like any machine would, it is showing signs of wear and tear. Now, the ratings don't reflect this for recent seasons after it moved to MTV. And look, she has expressly not said she wants to quit. In fact, as recently, as March 2025, she told Entertainment Tonight that in show business, you never leave a job and that they'll have to escort her out of the building. That quote is how I learned that Entertainment Tonight is still going concern in 2025.

Turns out it is. So she doesn't want to do it. There's no signs that she's about to. So give me points for a bold prediction here. It is bold. It has less to do with her age. Yes, she's in her mid-60s now, and she looks great, and she's hilarious, and she's warm, you know, when she wants to be. But here's what's happening.

She stepped away from drag race down under and let Michelle Visage take the reins. She also very deliberately makes appearances both on and off the show in and out of drag to distinguish between Rupal the drag persona and Rupal Charles, the male presenting persona. And Rupal Charles has started showing up on game shows and talk shows, so the drag persona isn't the only persona. But here is what's really changed. Over the last two years, Alan coming and the traitors have usurped her Emmy dominance. And she is smart enough to know that the Emmys don't backtrack. They always chase the new shiny thing, which means her era is over. The Queen is dead.

Long live the Queen. Now, I do think she's in it for the love of the game, but that means that the game is giving less love back to her. And I used to work in nonprofit, right? And I recognize this syndrome. She is like the founder of the nonprofit that never leaves and is keeping the org locked into not just the same mission, but the same structure. With that regard for, you know, the changing landscape, she was the one who changed the landscape. I know that. What she did for the art of drag cannot be denied.

And she showcases a very wide variety of performers on the show. But when it comes to crowning them, her drag aesthetic is very narrow. And you have only to look at the queens who have been crowned in other. countries to see that. So look, I do hope I'm wrong. Right now, when it comes to drag, when it comes to queer folk, when it comes to trans folks, and to be clear, it took her a while to get on the right side of history there, but she's on it now. She is a voice we need. She offers a platform. She's doing good work in the world. And I hope she stays where she is forever. But I have to acknowledge that what she's created is an institution that can carry on that work.

And in fact, it's already doing that around the world. Let's say RuPaul is listening right now. And she's like, you know what? He's right. Maybe the prediction could actually come true because of you, Glenn. And then people might have pitchforks. I'm not trying to get people on you, but. Yeah, no one man should have all this power. I mean, it's interesting because one of her great legacies among many is she has really helped build up a huge bench.

Yeah. You know, you have people who have become icons because they first appeared on that show. and that kind of launched them into wider popularity, there are certainly people who have appeared on that show who could step into that role, or at the very least, step into kind of a farm team system where it's like, okay, I'm going to host drag race Monaco

or whatever. You know, there's enough franchising of that show that you can certainly develop kind of future Rupalls. I don't know if it's going to happen in 2026, but I do like the bowl. I mean, she might wait for a round number after 20 seasons or something like that, But I don't know. I just feel it in the air. Be bold. Absolutely. All right. Thank you very much, Glenn.

It's interesting going from your prediction for next year to my prediction from last year, which we're going to listen to now. My prediction for 2025 is that we are going to start to hear more seriously about Lorne Michael's retiring. S&L is doing its 50th a few years ago in an interview. he said maybe he wanted to stay around until the 50th. That seemed like maybe a good time to retire. He's 80. Now, very often, people say something like that and then they get there and they think, well, I still feel pretty good and I'm actually not going to retire. But as I said, he's 80. Certainly he doesn't have to do it anymore. Certainly he could continue if he wanted to be kind of to have his fingers in all kinds of different pies. without doing the job of being in charge of SNL. But I do think you're going to, at the very least, in 2025, start to hear about succession plans. Like, what is the plan?

Okay. So in making that prediction, I neglected a very important fact, which is that we are in a historical era in which no one ever retired. And if you have been having people kiss your ring for, several decades, there is no reason why you would give it up at any time. You simply wait around until they carry your out feet first. And just like RuPaul could wait for a round number and then retire, probably not. Probably not. I'm just going to say, probably not. And I've given over to the fact that they're never going to freshen that show. It's just going to stay exactly the same

and be, in my opinion, quite uninspired as it is now with a very, very, very familiar formula that they follow pretty much every week. And, you know, occasionally they have something that's fun to watch later and usually they don't. And I give up. It's like if you have attained a certain amount of power, there's no interest in succession plans, there's no interest in what's going to happen to the institution after you can't do it anymore, you just stay there. And you stay in your office and you stay powerful for the rest of your life. predicting that a baby boomer will voluntarily give up power. Yeah.

I see. I spite a flaw. I spot a flaw. Yeah. I do want to say, as far as my prediction for 2026, Aisha's prediction may have seemed cynical. Other predictions may seem cynical. My prediction is the most cynical. Oh.

I am proud to say. Did not know this is a competition, but okay. which is somewhere in the law and order universe, there's going to be a take on political reporter Olivia Nutsi, her alleged affair with then presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And the fallout from all of that. Obviously, if you want to fall down that rabbit hole yourself of what allegedly happened, you can Google it. Now, because it is such a closely watched story, there will be some kind of thing where like the setup, the initial circumstances or some part. of it will make people go, oh, I get who it is. Yes. I get who it is.

I think this is solid. I think this is rock solid. This is a great one. They did an episode, I think it was SVU. It was somewhere in the Law and Order universe, but they did an episode on the Paula Dean scandal. So like, yes, they did. They will find a way. And often it's more than one thing.

Right. They mash them up. That was Sybil Shepard, I think, played this Paula Dean type character. And it was Paula Dean, but it was also other things. It's not usually a straight lift. of one story. Yeah. But somewhere in there,

they're going to do something that's going to make you go, oh, I see. Yeah. I see. It popped into my head and I just couldn't get it out of my head. Linda, I think you win.

Yeah, maybe if this prediction pans out, I'll just make this a sub prediction every year. What from this year is going to show up in the Law and Order universe next year? So that's my prediction for 2026. Stephen, we're going to listen now to your prediction for 2025. I'm going to say, the Oscars take box office into consideration and give Best Picture to Wicked. The Grammys always take box office into consideration.

I think they're going to give album of the year to neither Taylor Swift nor Beyonce. Instead, the trophy's going to go to Hit Me Hard and Soft by Billy Elish, which will make a lot of people very performatively mad on social media. For the Super Bowl, I'm going to go with Bills over Eagles because Detroit Lions fans can never be allowed to have nice things. I'm going to say Rihanna will drop a new album because something good has to happen in 2025. And finally, 2024 was quietly a very good year for K-pop music and fans of K-pop music. I'm hereby predicting that K-pop has a very big 2025 as BTS returns from its pre-planned hiatus

and releases a song. Now here comes the metric that tops the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 plus weeks. Bold. You do get specific. I love it. Yes. I appreciate that. And you're one for five, but that one is just...

Okay, so here's the thing about this prediction. Throughout the year, and especially as the movie K-pop Demon Hunters took off, I thought to myself, finally, for once, I crushed my prediction. And then you go back and listen to what I actually said. If you take out the word K-pop, I got nothing right. I was wrong about absolutely. everything pretty wildly. I love it that you do this.

You stack them up, buddy. Every year, every year. Yeah. You bring a stack of predictions and they are usually all wrong and it does not stop you from doing it over and over again. So what are the odds that I would get it wrong in 2026? Basically, law of averages, these are all going to be 100% right. That's true. You're due.

Yeah. I don't know. Guys, you know that every time you're all die, the probabilities reset. You know that right? Don't tell them. Don't tell them. Don't tell them. I don't do math.

I'd forgotten that you had predicted Rihanna coming out with a new album. Now, do we know, we are coming up in the 10-year anniversary of Antai. And who knows? I doubt it. She's happy. She's not going to. But you're going to say the 10-year anniversary of the first time Stephen predicted. Wow.

If we're really going to split hairs here, I do want to point out, Rianna did have a song on the soundtrack to Smurf. Oh, God. I count. I'm counting. I'm giving you a D-minus. Not an album. But, okay. I'm not counting it.

It was a big year for K-pop. That's my D-M-Nus. It was. Not so much B-T-S, but K-Pop, Divenhunter. As long as you don't delve into the specifics too much, absolutely a huge K-pop year. Gotta love that. All right, what's on your schedule for 2026, bud?

Well, Linda, because I can never learn from past mistakes, I will give you a list. Rams over Patriots. When have I ever been right? I'm just trying to will the Packers to a Super Bowl victory by picking teams other than them. One battle after another wins Best Picture at the Oscars. Kendrick Lamar finally wins Album of the Year.

After Beyonce won album of the year last year, I'm going to stop always predicting that the Grammys will do something stupid. No Rihanna album, no Frank Ocean record. I'm going to stop predicting either ever again. So for the big one, I want to go with some kind of grand overarching prediction about the state of the entertainment industry, maybe about AI. Instead, I'm going to aim smaller. I predict that a major A-list talent, a Taylor Swift, perhaps, will attempt to shock and awe their way into the holiday music canon by releasing a new Christmas album to compete with the glut of old stuff that crowds the charts every December. As a metric, I'm going to say that a new, as yet unreleased holiday song will hit the top 10. by this time next year.

Okay. And as degree of difficulty goes, just know this basically never comes to pass. It's perfect for you. I just feel it. There's such a void there waiting to be filled. You know, Taylor Swift has released some holiday music, but I feel like this landscape is ripe

for somebody really big at the height of their powers to come and do something new. Yeah, so we're talking about a new song. We're not talking about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey releasing a version of Santa Baby. be where he has like a spoken word, part, and then she does all the singing. Why did you conjure that into existence? Why did you do that?

I cannot believe you will that into the universe. I am predicting a new song. It will be a new composition. It's not going to be Taylor Swift covering silver bells. It will be a new song. Huh. And it will be a hit in 2026. The specificity is just awesome to behold, Stephen.

Every year, the specificity is just. If you want specificity and you want specificity and you. want to be wrong. I'm your guy. Well, I mean, they go hand and head. No, you're great. You're great at that. And I admire you. No, I admire you for it. I don't have the confidence to do that. I just choose one. And then I'm just like, you know what? What happens, happens. Ksara, sirrah, as they say. It's just going to be like Santa Baby. And he's going to go, yeah. I would have assumed if you were going to have those two doing a duet, it would be Baby, it's cold outside. No, you can't do that. Too controversial. It's too controversial. It's radio. I don't know. Taylor loves Goddreve. Yeah, well then maybe they'll do it with a, maybe there'll be a, maybe there'll be a Christmas themed Christmas tree version of the Wood song from the record. You see what I'm saying? Like a butt about Christmas tree. He'll be a Christmas tree now. Anyway, well, I love your predictions for next year, Stephen. I loved your predictions for last year.

Someday one of them's going to come true. You just got to keep, you just got to keep piling them on. None of mine came true either, but I went O for one and you went O for like 50. And that is awesome. Hey, I said K-pop. You did. You did. You went one-half for 50. All right.

Well, we'd love to know what your pop culture predictions are for the new year. You can find us on Facebook at Facebook.com slash PCH. That brings us to the end of our show, Aisha Harris, Stephen Thompson, Glenn Weldon. Thank you so much for being here. I predict we will be together many times in 2026. Thank you, buddy. Thank you. This episode is produced by Liz Metzger and Mike Katsif and edited

by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello, come in, provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Linda Holmes, and we'll see you all next time.