Elton John’s headline set at Glastonbury received the biggest ever overnight audience for a Glastonbury set on BBC One.
According to the broadcaster, the music legend attracted a 5 min peak overnight audience of 7.6 million and an average of 7.3 million for his entire set. The performance was also broadcast on BBC Radio 2, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds.
Lorna Clarke, Director of Music, says: “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.”
Elton opened his set with Pinball Wizard before playing The Bitch Is Back, admitting: “I never thought I would ever play Glastonbury and here I am.
“It’s a very special and emotional night for me because it might be my last show ever in England, so I had better play well, and I had better entertain you, you’ve been standing there so long, and I really appreciate all the outfits and everything.”
During the show he was joined by Jacob Lusk of Gabriels and The London Community Gospel Choir for Are You Ready For Love?, while Stephen Sanchez for a rendition of Sanchez’s song Until I Found You.
Meanwhile, The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers took to the stage to help him perform Tiny Dancer – the track he recently reworked with Britney Spears – while Rina Sawayama took the place of Kiki Dee on Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.
His set also included classics such as I’m Still Standing, Crocodile Rock and Candle In The Wind, with footage of Marilyn Monroe playing in the background, and a tribute to George Michael on what would have been his 60th birthday with Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.
Elsewhere in the ratings, Friday’s headliner Arctic Monkeys saw a record performance for a Friday night headline set – broadcast on BBC One for the first time – with a 5 min peak audience of 2.6 million and an average of 1.5 million.
Audiences for Saturday’s headliner Guns N’ Roses on BBC Two peaked at 2.1 million, with an average audience of 1 million. And Lewis Capaldi’s and Lizzo’s Pyramid Stage performances on Saturday had a peak BBC One audience of 2.4 million and average 2.3 million viewers.
The Legends programme with Yusuf/Cat Stevens on Sunday reached the biggest BBC Two audience this year with an overnight 5 min peak audience of 3 million and an average of 2.3 million, and the BBC One show with Rick Astley and Blondie had a 5 min peak audience of 2.5 million and an average of 2.1 million.
