Yesterday I drove from Los Angeles to Indio for this year’s Coachella festival. Interstate 10 is a great route when you’re surrounded by dinosaurs and windmills, but, once you make it beyond Palm Springs, the traffic swells with each exit passed. Suddenly it’s 100 degrees outside and the mini-van in front of you has BIEBERCHELLA painted onto its back window with a Blue Lives Matter sticker sitting beneath it. But the further into the Colorado Desert you get, the better the view is. The billboards decorating the roadsides between Palm Springs and Indio are, in their own commercial way, a performance themselves. Artists—many, but not all—welcome you into the valley and urge you to come to their Coachella sets. Some billboards are beautiful, even with pockets of garbage scattered on the ground beneath them, while others preside over the highway like obligatory signposts.
Before leaving for Indio, I thought it’d be fun to take pictures of my favorite billboards and compile them into a “best of” list. The headliners went all out: Justin Bieber rented out a strip of billboards, pilling drivers with a painted pastel “SWAG,” and I think Karol G had more billboards than anyone else, with ten. Sexyy Red went against the grain and put a billboard up at least 40 or 50 miles before the next artist’s. I really liked Ethel Cain’s, which featured a red illustration of her and a “GO SEE ETHEL CAIN Or the Devil Will Get You” message. Laufey’s looked like it was made in PicsArt. One of KATSEYE’s signs had the Mona Lisa drinking tea with her “Pinky Up.” All things said, I give this year’s roadside art a 6 out of 10. The great ones stood out, while a few were indistinguishable from the Sweet James and Yaamava Casino signage scattered all over SoCal.
For two of these entries, I was unable to get a picture of my own for one of two reasons: human error or, more damningly, the “billboard” in question showed up after I drove through the area. Please do not judge the camera quality on some of these images. They were taken on an iPhone 15 from the passenger side of a moving vehicle. I am not a professional photographer, nor any kind of authority on graphic design. Also: I did not grab a picture of it, but my favorite billboard was the pro-immigrant “Real Coachella” one. Here are the ten best Coachella 2026 billboards, ranked.
10. Addison Rae
“The United States of Addison” has a great ring to it, but I do think her $1,000,000 bill billboard is a tad too busy. Design-wise, the graphic feeds into the “dance whore” aesthetic that she’s been going for, which is a great touch. Actual dollar-bill printouts like this would make a cool merch item.
9. Major Lazer
Major Lazer kept it simple and funny, posting a billboard with a lone blue iMessage bubble on it. The text reads: “come shake that lil ozempic ass sunday 6pm at major lazer.” Easy enough.
8. TURNSTILE
I’m giving TURNSTILE a nod here because their billboard is one of the few that actually captures an artist’s vibe. It’s a photograph of the band playing to a moshing crowd. Not to mention its symmetry and all-primary-color palette makes for some serious eye-candy. Here’s hoping they bring out Blood Orange, who’s also performing on Friday night, to sing “ALIEN LOVE CALL.”
7. Geese
DOMINIC DIGESU MENTIONED! Geese’s billboard is very Geese. “GEESE / SAT 6PM / GOBI TENT / LET’S DRIVE” is the message around an image of the band’s bassist wearing an Ice Spice shirt next to a graffiti-covered wall. It ain’t rocket science, people.
6. CMAT
“Coachella, don’t be a bitch!” reads CMAT’s billboard, accompanied by a cutout of her mouth, tooth gems included, done all Rocky Horror-style. With this big dose of cherry red, it was maybe the most vibrant out of all the advertisements. This signage was, unfortunately, placed along a part of the highway I missed because of a lunch-stop detour. But thanks to CMAT’s team, I can include it in this ranking.
5. Sombr
My caravan went crazy over Sombr’s billboard, so this placement is for them. In a Microsoft Paint-style graphic, the text reads: “It’s ‘somber’ now. The e is for excited.” The picture of Sombr that gets used is quite funny and, I hope, was taken on a Lenovo laptop webcam.
4. Holly Humberstone
No one else in my caravan thought Holly Humberstone’s billboard was great, but they’re all wrong. Holly’s billboard is gorgeous and simple, giving serious showgirl vibes with text that reads: “You’re not in the Midlands anymore… Welcome to Coachella.”
3. Teddy Swims
The funniest billboard on the drive belonged to Teddy Swims, an artist whose music does absolutely nothing for me. But shoutout to his graphic design team for putting this one together. An unfortunately derpy selfie of Teddy is accompanied by a powerful message: “this fat fuck will make you lose control.” As my partner perfectly put it: “I had no interest in seeing him play, but now I might.” Somebody at Warner Records aced Marketing 101.
2. Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter having a great Coachella billboard? Fork found in kitchen, really. She’s the pop star with the best visuals (see: her recent “House Tour” music video), and no one is doing it like her. Sabrina rented two billboards this weekend. The first had “THIS NEXT BILLBOARD IS GONNA BLOW YOUR” on it with “MIND” removed. Right behind that, a second billboard boasted a giant image of Sabrina in a sparkly minidress with the tagline “She told you she’d come again!” plastered across it. The coolest part about her billboards, however, are that they turn on at night. It doesn’t matter what time of day you’re driving down to Coachella, you won’t miss Friday’s headliner.
1. Slayyyter
Funnily enough, Slayyyter gets the win here without having a billboard at all. Instead, three bunnies stood on the side of Interstate 10, near the windmills, and held up two signs: “SLAYYYTER IS THE WOR$T GIRL AT COACHELLA” and “I COULD NOT AFFORD A BILLBOARD.” It’s very cool that three people agreed to wear bunny suits in nearly 100-degree weather and advertise for Slayyyter. I drove by the spot moments before the bunnies emerged, so this pic is courtesy of Slayyyter’s IG, but I couldn’t make this list without it. The idea is creative and, honestly, a bit unnerving. Happy Easter to all desertgoers.
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