BBC TV and digital viewing figures for Glastonbury 2016 reached a record high of 18.7 million over the weekend - up three per cent on the year - with show-stopping turns from Adele and Coldplay among the most popular performances.
Adele’s Saturday night headline slot on the Pyramid Stage proved to be the biggest draw for those watching on their TVs and mobiles, attracting a peak audience (five minutes peak) of 3.7 million viewers. This was the strongest performance on TV for a Saturday headliner since at least 2008 with a 23.7 per cent share.
The Saturday programme (BBC Two, 21.00 start) reached an average audience of 2.0 million (14.4 per cent share), achieving the joint second highest Glastonbury programme audience and improving significantly upon the 2015 slot average of 655,000.
Coldplay, who closed the festival on Sunday night, also drew a record-breaking number of viewers, in what was the highest audience for a Sunday headliner programme (BBC Two, 21.00 start). Their set had an average audience of 2.0 million (12.8 per cent share), equalling Saturday night’s average audience and peaking at 21.00 with 3.4 million viewers.
The band have now headlined the Worthy Farm event four times – more than anybody else – with their previous headline stint on Saturday night in 2011 attracting an average audience of 1.0 million.
Opening night headliners Muse didn't fare quite as well, with the programme on BBC Four (22.30 start) drawing an average audience of 346,000 (3.7 per cent share). The set was re-shown later on BBC Two at 23.30 and attracted a slightly higher audience of 420,000 with a one-minute peak of 796,000 at 00.16.
However, it was the Legend slot that pulled in the highest ever average audience for a Glastonbury programme (BBC Two, 18.30 start), as Jeff Lynne’s ELO pulled in an audience of 2.4 million (12.7 per cent share).
Last year saw Lionel Richie take the Legend slot, attracting an average audience of 1.71 million.
Meanwhile, several Glastonbury 2016 acts, including the likes of Adele, Muse, ZZ Top and ELO have seen physical sales of their music spike since taking to the stage.
Amazon Music has analysed physical sales in the UK to determine the biggest winners from the festival. Friday headliners Muse, for example, saw a 2,056 per cent week-on-week increase in sales on Saturday, continuing into Sunday with a further 1,114% increase in CD and vinyl sales.
Adele saw a next day increase in sales of 1,009 per cent, while Sunday's legendary slot fillers ELO saw a 3,567 per cent increase in same-day sale, presumably from people sat watching coverage at home.
Other noticeable increases came in the form of ZZ Top (next day increase of 2,000%), Mercury Rev (next day increase of 6600 per cent), Disclosure (next day increase of 1,433 per cent) and Chvrches (next day increase of 1,554 per cent).
