Elton John pulled in a huge crowd estimated at 120,000 for his Sunday headline slot at Glastonbury.
According to overnight ratings, he also commanded a significant TV audience of 7.3 million viewers live on BBC One, peaking at 7.6m. That number will be swelled by catch-up viewing.
A record 21.6m people watched the BBC’s Glastonbury TV coverage with over 40 hours of linear programming available to audiences. The result was up 7% on last year across linear television.
Lorna Clarke, director of music, said: “What an incredible way to end this year’s Glastonbury festival! Elton John’s set will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the most epic performances ever to light up the Pyramid Stage and was watched by a record 7.6 million people on BBC One. I’m so delighted the BBC and our superb teams were able to share every bit of the magic from Worthy Farm during the weekend with audiences at home. People can catch Elton John’s unmissable set and all our other content now on BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer, which also has over 90 other sets from across the Glastonbury stages.”
In 2022, Paul McCartney pulled in 2.7m viewers and Diana Ross had 3.1m.
Elton John’s debut at the festival was part of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour. The music legend’s two-hour show, featuring special guests including Rina Sawayama (a duet of Don’t Go Breaking My Heart), Brandon Flowers and Jacob Lusk of Gabriels, was billed as his final UK performance.
Arctic Monkeys' performance saw a record result for a Friday night headline set - broadcast on BBC One for the first time - with a peak audience of 2.6m and an average of 1.5m. Audiences for Saturday’s headliner Guns N’ Roses on BBC Two peaked at 2.1m, with an average audience of 1m. Lewis Capaldi's and Lizzo’s Pyramid Stage performances on Saturday had a BBC One audience peak of 2.4m and average 2.3m viewers.
The Legends programme with Yusuf/Cat Stevens on Sunday reached the biggest BBC Two audience this year with an overnight peak audience of 3m and an average of 2.3m. The BBC One show with Rick Astley and Blondie had a peak audience of 2.5m and an average of 2.1m.
The initial chart impact for Glastonbury acts will be revealed later today in the Midweek Sales Update.
Spotify has revealed that Glastonbury resulted in a streaming surge for performing artists.
Streaming of Elton John tracks increased 294% in the UK in the hour after his set.
Rina Sawayama’s streams increased by 55% (globally) and 99% (UK) comparing the hour after her set with the previous 60 minutes’ consumption. STFU! by Rina Sawayama saw a week-on-week streaming increase of 522% (UK) and 399% (global).
Lewis Capaldi’s performance saw a spike of 42.4% (UK) on Sunday, based on comparing streaming data with the previous day.
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