the march xMAS bracket

The 2026 march xmas Bracket is live!

Here is the tournament bracket as a fillable Google Sheet (if you use the Google Sheet, you must make a copy before filling it out). You can also download it as an Excel file (fillable) or a PDF.

Fill out your bracket (all you have to do is make your predictions for the winner of each game using whatever criteria you want), name the file with your last name first, and email it to marchxness@thediagram.com no later than 9am 11/27/26.

bracket Methodology

The bracket and seeding this year was…difficult. Considering we’re looking at songs as new as 2016 and as old as the 1940s, how do you even compare or seed them, particularly without reliable popularity data. We used a combination of vibes, prioritizing holiday classics everyone knows, giving bumps upwards to more popular acts, and trying to take into consideration metrics of popularity such as youtube listens or recent inclusion in popular films.

The bracket and seeding are NOT based on quality, or how good the Committee or anyone thinks a song or a band is, which are of course subjective. So before you get mad that your obscure band’s favorite track got a 15 seed and Tchaikovsky is rolling strong with a 3, that’s why.

So a 1 seed is a song everyone knows. A 16 seed is typically far more obscure. It gets a lot stickier in the middle of the pack, as you can imagine.

The Committee also values odd matchups, which is why the Beach Boys are playing the Cocteau Twins in round 1, or how Low is going up against RuPaul in that same round.

Historically, the outcomes of games are extremely variable. 1-seeds do not typically win March Xness tournaments, but perhaps this year will be different.

How you choose to fill out your bracket reveals a lot about you. Follow your heart is our advice.