U2’s Carnaval De Luz is out today, Friday, November 13, 2026. It is the Irish band’s 16th studio album and their first record of new material in nine years, and it arrives with a Rosalía song title, three Brian Eno co-writes and a closing duet between Bono and Dolly Parton.
Island Records first announced the 12-track album on September 24. The band’s own site says the record is “a collection of 12 songs” about spirituality, friendship, freedom and endurance, produced by Jacknife Lee and “recorded all over the place.”
The Carnaval De Luz tracklist
Here is the running order U2 published on its official store page:
- Go (Carnaval De Luz)
- La Reina
- Street Of Dreams
- The Mirror Maker (Rosalía)
- Superficiality
- If The World Is At War We Better Not Be
- Silencio
- The Greatest Show On Earth
- Glorify
- Midnight Sunshine
- Can’t Stop Us Now
- Torn (Feat. Dolly Parton)
Two of those songs are already familiar. “Street of Dreams” came out in July as the first taste of the album, and “Silencio,” a two-minute-35-second burst the band calls a nod to early surf-punk, followed on announcement day with a video shot in Mexico City by the directing duo Cliqua.
Eno, Lanois, Garrix and Tedder in the credits
The guest list reads like a map of U2’s career. Brian Eno, who shaped The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby in the 1980s and 1990s, co-wrote and played synthesizers on “Go (Carnaval De Luz),” “The Greatest Show On Earth” and “Can’t Stop Us Now.” His old production partner Daniel Lanois plays pedal steel on “Torn.”
The newer names are the surprise. Dutch DJ Martin Garrix has a co-writing credit on “Glorify,” and Ryan Tedder added production to “Silencio.” The Edge’s own selling point is smaller and nerdier: he says the album “features the first-ever use of flat-wound strings on a U2 recording. Just saying.”
Why the album is called Carnaval De Luz
The title links the album to the two six-track EPs U2 surprise-released earlier in 2026, Days of Ash and Easter Lily. Those were named for points in the church calendar, Ash Wednesday and Easter. Carnival comes before both of them, so the band frames this full album as the opening chapter of the sequence, even though it was released last.
The band’s release notes spell out the idea: carnival as “a celebration of the flesh” before Lent’s reflection and Easter’s rebirth. Bono’s own pitch is louder: “There will be loud guitars, deep bass, some ecstatic rhythms and, yes, some silver tears will make an appearance!”
The closing song “Torn” is the thread that ties the album to the EPs. U2 describes it as a tender country song about broken family ties, co-written by the band, Parton and Johnny McDaid, and calls it her last recorded vocal performance. Readers who know Parton mostly from her chart years can revisit how “I Will Always Love You” topped the US country chart a second time in 1982, or the story of her former Hollywood Hills home going on sale.
U2’s 50th year, by the numbers
The timing is deliberate. The album was announced in the week marking 50 years since Larry Mullen Jr. pinned a note reading “Drummer Seeks Musicians To Form Band” on a noticeboard at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in north Dublin in September 1976. Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton answered it, and the same four are on this record.
Add it up and 2026 is one of the busiest years of their career: two EPs of six songs each plus the 12 album tracks makes 24 new U2 songs in a single year, the figure the band itself gives.
Early critical reaction is warm. Reviews gathered so far average 76 out of 100, and several critics singled out “The Greatest Show On Earth” as the standout. The whole record runs 47 minutes and 26 seconds.
Formats include standard CD and black vinyl, deluxe vinyl and CD box sets, a limited Blu-ray and a cassette. The next date on the calendar is April 26 next spring, when The Greatest Show On Earth World Tour opens its European leg in Stockholm.
Further reading
Image: Remy, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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