As the international festival season draws to a close, Spotify today reveals the numbers behind some of the world’s most popular festivals and the headliners to have graced their stages, come rain or shine, this summer.
Spotify analysed the global “festival ripple effect” of streams following headliners’ performances at 14 of some of the world’s biggest festivals to find the festival and headliner with the widest reach and the biggest impact on streams. Streams of the headline acts were analysed for each festival two weeks either side of the date of their festival performance around the world.
Glastonbury achieved the biggest global impact, with an average 78% increase in streams for headliners Kasabian, Metallica and Arcade Fire. Aside from its success in the UK, with an average 57% increase in headliner streams, Glastonbury fared well internationally with an average 60% increase in headliner streams in the US.
Taking second place was Australia’s Future Music festival, which saw an average 70% increase. Future Music also had the biggest impact in the UK for a non-UK festival, with an average 56% increase in streams in the UK for headliners Deadmau5, Phoenix and Pharrell Williams.
Artists
Pharrell Williams saw a 90% average surge in global streams following his performance at Future Music festival. In Australia, streams soared to 102%, and in the Netherlands they were up 173% following his headline performance.
However, the most successful non-headliner was Ed Sheeran at Glastonbury, where he enjoyed a 130% average increase in streams across all markets. In fact, in the UK, Ed Sheeran’s streams spiked at 319% within a week of his Glastonbury performance.
Top 10 Festivals according to global impact on streams:
Glastonbury, UK
Future Music Festival, Australia
Way Out West, Sweden
Les Vieilles Charrues, France
Coachella, US
Hove Festival, Norway
Laneway Festival, Australia
Rock Am Ring, Germany
Roskilde, Denmark
Bilbao BBK Live, Spain
Top 10 most globally streamed festival headliners:
Pharrell Williams, Future Music Festival
Deadmau5, Future Music Festival
James Blake, Laneway Festival
The Offspring, Ruisrock
M.I.A., Hove Festival
Stevie Wonder, Roskilde
Phoenix, Ruisrock and Future Music Festival
Outkast, Coachella and Way Out West
Arctic Monkeys, Roskilde and Les Vieilles Charrues
Imagine Dragons, Hove Festival
Glastonbury Festival's Emily Eavis said “That’s fantastic news. It's amazing to think that the music we hear in these fields in Somerset at Festival time is reaching out to so many people. Hopefully we will carry on bringing the best new music - alongside the legends of course! - to Worthy Farm for many years to come.”
