Cortis and Kickflip Named Apple Music Shazam ‘2026 Rising Artists’

Cortis. Provided by Big Hit Music

Apple Music’s Shazam announced on January 13 that the groups Cortis and Kickflip have been named as promising newcomers expected to lead the future music market.

The annual list of rising artists, “Shazam Fast Forward 2026,” unveiled by Shazam on this day, features a total of 65 artists spanning 22 countries and 20 genres worldwide. Among the featured artists from South Korea are Cortis and Kickflip.

Cortis, who debuted in August last year, topped the domestic Shazam chart just one month after releasing their track “GO!” and also entered the top 10 in major Asian markets such as China and Thailand. Kickflip’s third mini-album title track, “A Song I Sing for the First Time,” peaked at 48th on the Apple Music Korea popular chart in September last year and remained on the chart for over 50 days.

The Shazam Fast Forward list is curated by Shazam’s global editorial team, based on Shazam’s predictive data and algorithms. The artists selected last year saw their Shazam recognition counts increase by an average of 67% year-on-year, while total Apple Music streams more than doubled.

This year’s list also features rising stars from around the world, including British pop singer Alessy Rose and American hip-hop artist Lim.