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.
Yet last year’s lineup included Colombian reggaeton artist Feid as headliner, along with DJs Deorro, Funk Tribu and Sara Landry, who boosted the Latino community’s presence at the event.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Kemp said that, alongside Saturday's headliner Raye, the weekend's line-up had "spanned a generation of divas".
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Trump then announced himself as the headliner, boasting online that he could draw larger audiences than Elvis Presley and promising music chosen to suit his supporters.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Please run your imaginary hand across the microfiber suede-wrapped headliner, interrupted only by the corner-to-corner sunroof.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 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.
