Image copyright
Reuters/Getty Images/EPA
Clockwise from top left: The Killers, Stormzy, The Cure and Kylie Minogue at Glastonbury
The dust is settling, the debris is being cleared away and the cows are preparing to reclaim their rightful place on the Pilton pasture.
Glastonbury Festival is over for another year – but who came out on top as the weekend’s true superstars? We looked at the stats and the reactions.
The sales and streaming spikes
Kylie Minogue coincided her Pyramid Stage performance with the release of a greatest hits album, which is on course for top spot this week, according to the Official Chart Company.
Its sales will no doubt have been helped by her crowd-pleasing set – although it’s hard to know how many people bought it because of Glastonbury, and how many would have bought it anyway.
The Killers’ sales were certainly boosted by their electric headline set on Saturday – their Direct Hits album has jumped from 55 to number eight in this week’s chart update, with sales up 375%. And their debut album Hot Fuss is likely to return to the top 100 for the first time in two years, with sales up 357%.
Media playback is unsupported on your device
Gang Signs and Prayer by Friday’s bill-topper Stormzy is on course to jump from 73 to 14, a sales boost of 314%.
The cut-off for the chart update was midnight on Sunday, so it doesn’t fully reflect any bump for that night’s headliners The Cure, whose Greatest Hits had seen a 137% increase by the end of the night and is also now in Apple’s iTunes top 10.
The TV ratings
Kylie had the biggest crowd of the weekend at Worthy Farm, and she also got the prime TV slot, with her joyous Sunday night performance broadcast on BBC One, guaranteeing it the biggest TV crowd too. It was the first time Glastonbury had been on BBC One for at least a decade.
Media playback is unsupported on your device
- 3.0 million – Kylie Minogue, 18:00 BST Sunday, BBC One
- 1.4 million – The Killers, 21:00 Saturday, BBC Two
- 1.2 million – The Cure, 21:00 Sunday, BBC Two
- 1.1 million – Janet Jackson, 19:30 Saturday BBC Two
- 800,000 – Stormzy, 21:50 Friday, BBC Two
Overnight viewing figures
The critics’ verdicts
A string of female stars provided highlights away from the main stage. US teenager Billie Eilish drew “the largest crowd I’ve seen at the Other Stage in years”, according to The Telegraph, and “delivered a performance worthy of a future Pyramid Headliner”, said the Evening Standard.
Pop party-starter Lizzo had “one of the most rapturous receptions of the weekend”, the Guardian declared, and “one of the most frenzied reactions of the festival so far”, according to The Independent.
Christine and the Queens‘ closing set on the Other Stage on Sunday set was “momentous” (Evening Standard) and “a new definition of what a headline set could be” (The Telegraph). And on the the John Peel stage, crossover Flamenco superstar Rosalia offered the kind of performance “a future headliner would provide” (The Independent).
But this year’s Pyramid heroes were also widely praised. On Saturday, The Killers‘ performance felt “genuinely victorious” (The Guardian). Their encore, when they were joined by the Pet Shop Boys and Johnny Marr, was “one of those elusive Glastonbury moments festivalgoers talk about so much, where the atmosphere and what is happening onstage collide to create something it is impossible to imagine happening anywhere else in the world”, the paper’s critic Alexis Petridis added.
The previous night, Stormzy‘s performance seemed “not merely a personal triumph but a victory lap for British hip-hop”, according to Petridis, while The Telegraph described it as “genuinely historic”.
The social media reactions
The Brit Award-winning grime star dominated the social media conversation, with more than five times as many mentions than the next most talked-about act, according to research firm Brandwatch.
Image copyright
Getty Images
- Stormzy – 160,000 mentions
- The Killers – 29,600
- Miley Cyrus – 29,400
- Kylie Minogue – 23,900
- The Cure – 23,000
The company also looked at whether messages about the 15 top-billed acts were positive or negative. The artists with the highest proportion of positive mentions were:
- Christine and the Queens – 96.3% positive
- Vampire Weekend – 93.3%
- The Cure – 91.9%
- Janelle Monae – 90.7%
- The Killers – 88.6%
Stormzy’s score was 64.27% – with the political content in his set accounting for many negative mentions, according to Brandwatch.
But some of the biggest winners weren’t musicians
Two of the breakout stars were not even on the bill.
Sir Lord King David Attenborough made a semi-surprise appearance on the Pyramid Stage shortly before Kylie Minogue’s set, and it was a close call as to who got the biggest reception.
Media playback is unsupported on your device
Later, on the Other Stage, rapper Dave picked out one fan, who is now suddenly rivalling Sir David for legendary status. Alex Mann got up on stage to join Dave for his track Thiago Silva.
The performance even caught the attention of the Brazilian footballer who the song is named after.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.