Fiction Has Never Been More in Tune With Music

One could argue that since Ann Patchett’s seminal novel Bel Canto was released in 2001, the world of music has captivated fiction fanatics. But the runaway success of 2019’s Daisy Jones and the Six, penned by Taylor Jenkins Reid, pushed that thematic material decidedly into pop culture zeitgeist territory. And while every year brings some books focused on the industry, we’ve probably never been more blessed with riveting works about music and musicians than in 2026—and I should know, as I wrote one myself. My debut novel, The Encore, takes place in both the rarefied air of conservatories and the rollicking excess of a rock tour bus, but the below titles cover every music genre from boy band to folk music, and are set as far back as the Romantic era all the way up to the present day.

Authors working in this space include recent Pulitzer Prize winners like Barbara Kingsolver and Yiyun Li, as well as fellow debuts such as Delphine Seddon and Benny B. Peterson. As a writer whose interest in words is probably only matched by my love of a live concert, I was delighted to research and read this year’s best titles that feature music, musicians or both. Below, you’ll find my top picks for this year’s best music novels.