The iconic ‘business in the front, party in the back’ hairstyle took centre stage in Copenhagen on Saturday, as a boisterous Danish crowd celebrated the enduring, if often maligned, mullet. Denmark’s raucous 2026 Mullet Championship, held on an outdoor stage in the capital, drew over a thousand spectators and 12 impeccably styled competitors to the evening’s ‘mane’ event.
Organiser Steffen Stiw Weber, a 37-year-old electrician, explained the championships, now in their fourth year, began after he had a hair transplant and chose to grow a mullet. Unable to compete in a US mullet competition as a non-citizen, Mr Stiw Weber launched his own in Denmark.
“I was like, OK, I have to do it on my own here in Denmark,” he said while smiling.
Competitors in Saturday’s championships were evaluated on their cuts’ style, uniqueness, and overall performance and “mullet moves,” explained judge Bobby Agren.
Contestants were given 60 seconds each to perform on stage to showcase their cuts.
“I like the finesse, the twist, the nostalgia. I like it if it looks ridiculous or maybe ugly in a beautiful way,” said Agren, who owns two hair salons in Copenhagen.
“I think in our culture, when everything must … be perfect on social media and everything like that, I think that’s why people have to stand out from the crowd,” said Stiw Weber.
The event featured an array of over-the-top performances, including beer-swilling, body-popping, and a live saxophone show. One competitor even wore a mullet haircut styled to resemble the Danish flag.
The crowd screamed and chanted with their energy seemingly feeding directly into the various performers on stage.
After every performance, judges held up scorecards to distribute points to the competitors.
Forty-three-year-old construction worker Thomas Berg eventually took home the top prize after wowing judges by frantically jumping on a trampoline while clad in neon green gym wear. He completed his mullet haircut with an orange headband. “I think it’s just funny. It’s just a big party,” said a smiling Berg after collecting his prize. “It’s just nice to be a bit outside the box.”
Though mullets have likely been around longer than there have been barbers, the Oxford English Dictionary cites hip-hop legends the Beastie Boys for helping popularize the term mullet with the song “Mullet Head” on their 1994 recording “Ill Communication.”
The short-in-the-front, long-in-the-back coiffure was popularized by ice hockey players and ’80s musicians, but later fell out of favor.
Fashion magazine Vogue reportedly once described the mullet as “history’s most divisive hairstyle.”
