2026 has been a heavy year for pop culture, and Us Weekly has been keeping a running list of every celebrity we’ve lost. It reads like a timeline of the last fifty years of entertainment. Dolly Parton died August 25 at 80 in Nashville, leaving behind a music catalog and an Imagination Library program that mailed free books to millions of children. Days later, on September 2, feminist icon Gloria Steinem died at 92, and Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson died the same day at 70.
September kept delivering blows. AEW wrestler Pac, also known as Andy Williams, died September 5 at 48 after collapsing during an Enjoy Wrestling tag-team match. Friends remembered him as a musician, a wrestler and one of the best people they ever met. Naked Eyes singer Peter Byrne died September 14 at 74 after a brief illness, taking with him the voice behind“Always Something There to Remind Me.”The year’s losses also include Clive Davis, Tim Curry, Sam Neill, Vincent Pastore, Peter Cullen, Hayden Panettiere, Yayoi Kusama and Barry Melrose.
What ties these names together is range. Country, new wave, jazz, film, activism, wrestling, sports. Whatever you grew up loving, 2026 probably took a piece of it. The best tribute is to keep the work in rotation: play the record, rewatch the movie, share the memory with someone who wasn’t there the first time. So tell us, which loss this year hit you the hardest, and what’s the one song or movie you’ll always associate with them?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.