headliner
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of headliner
Explanation
A headliner is the main act. At a rock concert, you usually have to sit through an opening band or two before the headliner comes on stage. The headliner is the biggest star or the main event. The headliner at a jazz festival is the most popular performer, the one most audience members came to see, and the headliner of a musical theater review is the star of the show. In the early 1890's, a headliner worked for a newspaper — the word originally meant "one who writes headlines." By the end of that decade, it had come to also mean "one who stars in a performance."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The “Swag” singer reportedly became the highest-paid headliner in Coachella history last month, and its most lucrative merch seller.
From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2026
It was only when the team had cycled off, she realised she had had a brush with a former Glastonbury headliner.
From BBC • Apr. 22, 2026
"Dinosaurs go from being co-stars to the headliner," Srivastava said.
From Science Daily • Apr. 15, 2026
After West, who now goes by Ye, was announced as the headliner to the festival, major festival sponsors like PepsiCo, Diageo and Anheuser-Busch InBev began dropping out.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
He was the headliner, performing after six other gifted young pianists.
From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
