Dashed left edge = started before April 2026 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond April 2026
Events in April 2026 17
1933 – 2026Asha Bhosle (1933-2026)Died 12 April 2026, aged 92Indian playback singer who recorded more than 12,000 songs in twenty languages across eight decades.
1934 – 2026David Malouf (1934-2026)Died 22 April 2026, aged 92Australian poet and novelist whose work drew on his Lebanese and English heritage and his Queensland childhood.
1938 – 2026Georg Baselitz (1938-2026)Died 30 April 2026, aged 88German painter, printmaker and sculptor, a pioneer of Neo-Expressionism known for inverting his subjects.
1944 – 2026Michael Tilson Thomas (1944-2026)Died 22 April 2026, aged 81American conductor and composer who founded Miami's New World Symphony and led the San Francisco Symphony, championing contemporary American music.
1946 – 2026Dave Mason (1946-2026)Died 19 April 2026, aged 79British singer-songwriter who co-founded Traffic, the band that brought long, jazz-like improvisation into rock.
1946 – 2026Nedra Talley (1946-2026)Died 26 April 2026, aged 80American singer with the Ronettes, whose Be My Baby remains one of the defining records of the girl-group era.
1946 – 2026J. Craig Venter (1946-2026)Died 29 April 2026, aged 79American geneticist who pioneered new sequencing techniques and led Celera Genomics in the race to map the human genome.
1957 – 2026Afrika Bambaataa (1957-2026)Died 9 April 2026, aged 68American DJ and producer, one of the godfathers of hip-hop and a leading force in spreading its music and culture.
2026Artemis II carries astronauts around the MoonThe first crewed lunar flight since 1972Artemis II launched on 1 April 2026, the first flight of astronauts to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The crew travelled 252,756 miles (406,771 km) from Earth, a record for human spaceflight, returning on 10 April.
2026Michigan wins the NCAA men's basketball championshipUCLA takes the women's title a day earlierMichigan defeated UConn 69-63 on 6 April 2026 to win the NCAA men's basketball championship. The previous day UCLA beat South Carolina 79-51 in the women's final.
2026Rex Heuermann pleads guilty to the Gilgo Beach killingsSeven murders admitted, an eighth acknowledgedOn 8 April 2026 architect Rex Heuermann pleaded guilty to murdering seven women and admitted killing an eighth. The Gilgo Beach serial killings began in the early 1990s and continued to about 2010. He was sentenced to life without parole in June.
2026India holds state elections in four states and a union territoryGovernments change in three statesIndia held elections between 9 and 29 April 2026. Counting on 4 May produced dramatic results: the BJP unseated Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, actor Vijay made a blockbuster debut in Tamil Nadu, and Kerala voted out its communist-led coalition.
2026Viktor Orban defeated in Hungary's general electionPeter Magyar succeeds him in MayHungarian leader Viktor Orban was defeated in the general election of 12 April 2026 amid corruption allegations and mounting frustration with his right-wing populist government. Peter Magyar succeeded him on 9 May.
20262026 World Snooker ChampionshipCrucible Theatre CentennialTournament in progress or recently concluded. Winner: TBD; Runner-up: TBD. Score: TBD.
2026Michael becomes the second highest-grossing music biopicMore than $600 million worldwideMichael, a film about the early career of Michael Jackson, was released in the United States on 24 April 2026 and grossed more than $600 million globally.
2026Abbe Lane dies in Los AngelesDied of natural causes in Los Angeles at the age of 93.
2026Roger Sweet dies peacefully at 91Roger Sweet dies peacefully at his memory care facility on April 28, 2026, after a multi-year battle with dementia — just weeks before the release of the new live-action Masters of the Universe film. He is 91 years old.