2024–present: Eternal Sunshine, Wicked, and Petal
Grande's seventh studio album, titled Eternal Sunshine, was released on March 8, 2024. It was preceded by its lead single, "Yes, And?", released on January 12. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, topped the Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. US charts for two weeks, and was followed by a remix featuring Mariah Carey on February 16. The second single, "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)", was released in tandem with the album. Grande's first album in over three years, Eternal Sunshine marked her first major foray into dance and house music. Met with universal acclaim, critics dubbed it one of her most mature and sophisticated records yet. Both the album and its second single debuted atop the Billboard 200 and the Hot 100 respectively, achieving Grande's third-largest sales week (227,000 units) and making her the woman with the most Hot 100 number-one debuts (7). Elsewhere, the album debuted at number one in thirteen countries, including Australia, Canada, and the UK. With Eternal Sunshine and Thank U, Next, Grande became the first woman to have two albums produce multiple number-one single debuts in the US. It also marked her first instance of reaching the top of both the Billboard Hot 100 Songwriters and Hot 100 Producers charts. Topping the Pop Airplay chart for two weeks, "We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)" marked Grande's tenth number-one. On May 6, 2024, Grande performed at the Met Gala and was joined on stage by Cynthia Erivo to close out her performance. "The Boy Is Mine", which reached the top 20 on the Hot 100, was issued as the third Eternal Sunshine single in June; a remix featuring Brandy and Monica followed later that month. On August 22, 2024, Grande released a reissue of her second studio album, My Everything, for the tenth anniversary of the record. Two extended editions of Eternal Sunshine containing the pre-released single remixes, guest vocals from Troye Sivan, and live versions of several tracks, were surprise released in March and October 2024. Grande appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on March 9, 2024, to promote Eternal Sunshine. She featured on the remix to "Sympathy Is a Knife" on Charli XCX's remix album Brat and It's Completely Different but Also Still Brat, released on October 11, 2024. On the Las Culturistas podcast, Grande acknowledged that she would likely scale back her pop music output compared to earlier in her career, shifting her focus more towards acting. Eternal Sunshine was ranked as 2024's thirteenth-best-selling and ninth-most-streamed album globally by the IFPI.
At the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, Grande was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album (Eternal Sunshine), Best Pop Duo/Group Performance ("The Boy Is Mine" remix), and Best Dance Pop Recording ("Yes, And?"). Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead, a reissue of Eternal Sunshine, was released on March 28, 2025. Grande starred as the protagonist Peaches in the accompanying short film Brighter Days Ahead, which she directed and wrote with Christian Breslauer; it was released on the same day. Her directorial debut, the short film won the Video of the Year award at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards. With the release of the reissue, Eternal Sunshine became Grande's longest-running number one album in the US (three weeks). Aided by Brighter Days Ahead, the album returned to the top of the charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand, over a year after its release. The bonus track "Twilight Zone" was released as the reissue's lead single in April 2025, reaching the top ten on the Billboard Global 200 and the UK singles chart. Later that month, Grande featured on Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra's jazz album Still Blooming for a rendition of the song "I Don't Know Why (I Just Do)". She and Mariah Carey joined Barbra Streisand on "One Heart, One Voice" for Streisand's album The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, released on June 27, 2025. While describing the three as "the holy trinity of glorious sound", Melissa Ruggieri of USA Today called the track an "otherwise generic ballad [that] showcases a trio steeped in restraint".
Grande starred as Galinda Upland alongside Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp in the two-part film adaptation of the fantasy musical Wicked, directed by Jon M. Chu. She was cast in November 2021 after auditioning five times for the role. She was credited with her birth name, Ariana Grande-Butera, which was her name when she first saw the stage musical at age ten. Grande reported that she began taking acting and singing lessons months before she auditioned for the role of Glinda because she wanted to be cast "so badly". The first part, Wicked, was theatrically released in November 2024, followed by the second part, Wicked: For Good, in November 2025. Critically acclaimed, Wicked was regarded amongst the best musical films of the 21st century and declared a pop culture phenomenon by various media. For Good was met with lukewarm reviews and less enthusiasm than its predecessor. Both parts were listed among the top ten films of 2024 and 2025 by the American Film Institute. The two parts grossed $759 million and $540 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing and third-highest-grossing musical adaptation films of all time, respectively. Grande's performance and comedic timing received praise from critics; she was nominated for supporting actress categories at the 97th Academy Awards, the 82nd and 83rd Golden Globe Awards, the 30th and 31st Critics' Choice Awards, the 31st and 32nd Actor Awards, and the 78th British Academy Film Awards.
The films' soundtracks were co-billed to Grande, who performed several songs from the musical and an original track titled "The Girl in the Bubble", written by Stephen Schwartz for the Wicked: For Good soundtrack. Both albums received positive reviews and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 139,000 and 122,000 units, tying for the highest debut for a soundtrack to a stage-to-film adaptation. Grande and her co-star Erivo's rendition of "Defying Gravity" won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards. To promote the Wicked films, Grande hosted Saturday Night Live on October 12, 2024 and December 20, 2025. Her 2024 episode drew the show's highest ratings since May 2021, at the time, and became its most-watched episode on Peacock and across social media; the 2025 episode was season 51's highest-rated and SNL's most-watched holiday episode since 2020. She and Erivo opened the 97th Academy Awards with a medley of "Over the Rainbow", "Home", and "Defying Gravity". It was reported in October 2025 that Grande was set to appear in the thirteenth season of the horror anthology series American Horror Story; her involvement was later canceled due to scheduling conflicts. In November 2025, Grande appeared in the special Wicked: One Wonderful Night, performing music from the Wicked films alongside the cast; a live album of the special was released in tandem with the broadcast. For her and Erivo's role as principal performers and co-hosts in the special, they were nominated alongside the producers for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) at the 78th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
In May 2026, Grande released a special edition of her album Dangerous Woman for its tenth anniversary, containing a new track, "Knew Better Part Two". She then headlined the Eternal Sunshine Tour, her first concert tour since 2019, spanning 41 arena shows across North America and England, between June and September 2026. The tour was met with critical acclaim for its production, storytelling, and Grande's vocals. It grossed $107.9 million and sold over 638,000 tickets, becoming her second-highest-grossing tour. Grande's eighth studio album, Petal, was released on July 31, 2026, and is her first album under the imprint Babydoll Music, which she founded. All her future releases are to be owned by Babydoll and licensed to Republic Records. Revolving around themes of romance, self-worth, fame, and public scrutiny, the album delves into atmospheric production and an electronic-R&B soundscape. It received generally favorable reviews from critics. Petal debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 295,000 units, marking Grande's seventh album to do so and the second-largest sales week of her career. With 168,000 pure sales (comprising 96,000 vinyl sales), it was her second-largest pure sales debut and largest week in vinyl sales. The album topped the charts in nineteen other countries, becoming her sixth number-one in Australia and the UK, and her first number-one in France and Germany. It was preceded by the lead single, "Hate That I Made You Love Me", on May 29. It debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 and UK singles chart, marking her tenth US number-one and eighth UK number-one, extending her record for the most number-one debuts as a woman in the UK. The song also became her eleventh number-one on the US Pop Airplay chart and topped the Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. US charts for three and two weeks, her fourth and fifth chart-toppers on each tally. The title track accompanied the album's release as the second single and reached the top three and top five on the Global 200 and Hot 100 charts. All twelve tracks from the album charted within the top 40 of the Hot 100; Grande occupied five of the top-ten spots on the Global 200.
She was set to star in the 2027 Barbican Centre production of the stage musical Sunday in the Park with George opposite her Wicked co-star Jonathan Bailey; however, her involvement was canceled in August 2026, which a representative described as part of a plan to "[take] a step back from visibility" following the Eternal Sunshine Tour. Grande's upcoming film projects include Focker-in-Law (2026) and an animated film adaptation of Dr. Seuss's 1990 book Oh, the Places You'll Go! (2028).
