Stray Kids will close out Rock in Rio's Palco Mundo in the early hours of Saturday, September 12 (local time), capping a Friday, September 11 lineup that marks the first time in the festival's four-decade history that Korean pop has topped the main-stage bill. The Seoul octet's set, scheduled for 12:05 a.m., follows performances by Japanese-Korean act NEXZ, Mamamoo soloist Hwasa and Brazilian DJ Alok, according to Billboard Brasil's festival FAQ.
The night also reshapes festival logistics: organizers changed the rules on light-up fan wands, a first for Rock in Rio, and Friday's general-admission tickets remained on sale just two days before the show even as the premium viewing area sold out weeks in advance.
The Briefing
- Stray Kids headlines Palco Mundo the night of September 11, going onstage at 12:05 a.m. local time — the first time a Korean-pop group has topped the bill in Rock in Rio's 41-year run.
- The correct stage order is NEXZ (4:40 p.m.), Hwasa (7 p.m.), Alok's "Keep Art Human" set (9:20 p.m.), then Stray Kids just after midnight.
- Battery-powered plastic lightsticks up to 24 centimeters and 400 grams are allowed inside Cidade do Rock for the first time in a Rock in Rio edition.
- The show airs live on Multishow, with Globoplay streaming the same feed for subscribers; Comfort Zone tickets sold out weeks ago, but Gramado general admission was still purchasable on Ticketmaster as of September 9.
- Stray Kids has logged nine straight Billboard 200 No. 1 albums, the most of any 21st-century group, and has shipped more than 40 million albums worldwide.
A lineup built around the Korean wave
Friday's bill opens with NEXZ at 4:40 p.m., followed by Hwasa at 7 p.m. and Alok's electronic-music project "Keep Art Human" at 9:20 p.m., before Stray Kids takes the stage after midnight, per festival scheduling confirmed by Billboard Brasil. Hwasa and NEXZ are both making their Rock in Rio debuts that night; Stray Kids returns to Brazil as a headliner after playing three sold-out arena shows in the country in 2025.
Fan wands — the light-up batons that double as a badge of belonging in K-pop fandoms — were never on Rock in Rio's list of approved items before this year. For the 2026 edition, organizers cleared plastic, battery-powered lightsticks measuring up to 24 centimeters and weighing no more than 400 grams, according to the festival's official item guidelines reported by Exame. Rock in Rio's own social media account framed the September 11 date as a chance to build "the biggest lightstick ocean in its history," a line the festival posted on Instagram and that was picked up by Billboard Brasil.
Tickets: strong demand, with one claim that doesn't hold up
Demand for the date was evident from the November 2025 announcement onward. The premium Comfort Zone viewing area for September 11 sold out weeks before the gates opened, according to Rolling Stone Brasil, and by mid-July the date was described as the next one likely to sell out entirely, trailing only the already-sold-out Calvin Harris and Maroon 5 nights. General-admission Gramado tickets, however, were still listed for sale on Ticketmaster as of September 9 — the day before this article was reported — per Exame. A Stray Kids fan wiki states that Rock in Rio announced a full sellout of the date on July 16, but that claim conflicts with the most recent professional reporting on ticket availability.
Stray Kids, the draw behind the milestone
Formed in 2017 by JYP Entertainment and debuting in 2018, Stray Kids is made up of Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin and I.N. The group's August 2026 mini-album "THIS & THAT" gave it a ninth consecutive Billboard 200 No. 1 — the most chart-topping albums by any 21st-century group, putting Stray Kids ahead of BTS, Linkin Park and Dave Matthews Band, with only the Beatles' all-time group record still out of reach, per coverage of the milestone from Korea JoongAng Daily's Khan Sports desk. The band's combined Korean and Japanese album shipments passed 40 million copies, JYP Entertainment announced, a threshold the group crossed roughly a year after hitting 30 million, according to the same outlet's reporting on the group's cumulative sales.
Hwasa and NEXZ bring their own storylines
Hwasa, born Ahn Hye-jin, debuted with Mamamoo in 2014 and launched a solo career in 2019 with "Twit." She signed with Psy's label P Nation in 2023 and has spent the past year riding the success of "Good Goodbye," a single whose music video topped 100 million YouTube views in January 2026, according to Khan Sports. NEXZ, meanwhile, is a seven-member act formed through JYP Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's "Nizi Project Season 2" talent search; the lineup includes six Japanese members alongside So Geon, its one South Korean member, who grew up in Tokyo, per Korea JoongAng Daily. The group debuted in May 2024 and has built its Latin American following since.
A 41-year-old festival, an unprecedented night
Rock in Rio began in 1985 and has run intermittently in Brazil ever since, most recently in 2024. The 2026 edition spans September 4 through 13 at Rio's Parque Olímpico, with headliners including Foo Fighters, Elton John, Calvin Harris, Maroon 5 and Twenty One Pilots rounding out Palco Mundo's other nights. Stray Kids' set caps a stretch of programming that festival organizers have billed as their most K-pop-forward yet, a milestone that arrives as Brazil cements itself as one of the genre's biggest markets outside Asia.
