Pharrell Williams Becomes World’s Most Streamed Festival Headliner

SPOTIFY UNVEILS PHARRELL WILLIAMS AS WORLD’S MOST STREAMED FESTIVAL HEADLINER

· Spotify analyzed global streams of headline artists at the world’s top festivals pre and following their performances
· World’s most influential festival revealed as UK’s Glastonbury

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 analyzed 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 for each festival were analyzed 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. At number five, California’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was the most-influential US festival of the summer.

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.

In the US, Outkast experienced the biggest streaming jolt from its Coachella performance with a 27% increase in streams among US listeners, followed by Arcade Fire and Muse with an 18% and 5% increase respectively.

Top 10 most globally streamed festival headliners

1. Pharrell Williams, Future Music Festival
2. Deadmau5, Future Music Festival
3. James Blake, Laneway Festival
4. The Offspring, Ruisrock
5. M.I.A., Hove Festival
6. Stevie Wonder, Roskilde
7. Phoenix, Ruisrock and Future Music Festival
8. Outkast, Coachella and Way Out West
9. Arctic Monkeys, Roskilde and Les Vieilles Charrues
10. Imagine Dragons, Hove Festival

Top 10 Festivals according to global impact on streams

1. Glastonbury, UK
2. Future Music Festival, Australia
3. Way Out West, Sweden
4. Les Vieilles Charrues, France
5. Coachella, US
6. Hove Festival, Norway
7. Laneway Festival, Australia
8. Rock Am Ring, Germany
9. Roskilde, Denmark
10. Bilbao BBK Live, Spain

Angela Watts, VP of Global Communications at Spotify, comments “There is a clear link between festivals and global streaming behaviour this season, and great to see streams of certain headliners peak in non-domestic markets following their performances. Festivals are truly becoming international and are creating widening impact on our listening habits.”