The Top 10 Music Festivals in the World
Have you ever wondered, “What are the best music festivals in the world?” or “What is the most popular Music Festival?” Maybe you just wanted to know if there was an awesome music festival in a country you want to visit, or wanted to find the best music
festivals closest to you. If you’ve wondered these things and come up empty handed in your searches for enlightenment, we have too. It’s incredibly frustrating that there isn’t an accurate and unbiased online source for real music festival rankings and
reviews. Our larger goal with festival fling is to create a ‘Yelp’ or ‘Rotton Tomatoes’ of music festivals, concerts, and performances, but before we begin working on the complex API for such a monstrous task we have begun to compile a database of information
on Music Festivals.
FAQ: How is this list is ranked?
more ‘likes’ obviously translates to the greater popularity of the music festival. These festivals below represent the 10 most popular around the world and range from from 100,000 likes, to the largest festival’s amazing 2,000,000 likes and follows on
facebook and twitter. So there it is, the top music festivals in the world, starting with number 10!
10. Austin City Limits (Austin, Texas)
Austin City Limits was actually inspired by a PBS TV series by the same name, which used to broadcast live music from Austin, Texas. The TV series focused mainly on folk, country, and rock. Today the music festival boasts some of the most popular
artists across all genres. Austin City Limits is one of the best music festivals in the Southern US. Get more information on ACL at it’s Festival Fling Page.
9. Glastonbury (UK)
Glastonbury is a music festival in England and is held the weekend of June that falls closest to the Summer solstice (Mid Summer) and was founded in 1970 making Glastonbury one of the oldest mega music festivals that is still being produced. It is regarded as
one of the best music festivals in Europe. For more information visit the Glastonbury Page.
8. Rock In Rio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Rock in Rio is the largest music festival held in the Latin world. The festival originated in 1985 and was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rock in Rio has since expanded across the atlantic to Lisbon (Portugal) and Madrid (Spain). In 2013 the festival
is scheduled to expand once again to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Rock in Rio is widely considered to be one of the best music festivals in the latin world.
7. Lollapalooza (Chicago, Illinois)
Lollapalooza bends more towards Pop-Rock, Alternative, and Metal. The festival was born out of the 90′s Alternative Rock craze and toured North America in the summer for a few years. It has since taken a hit in attendance and ended it’s multi-city
tour after finding a good residence at Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois, where it has remained since 2005. Lollapalooza is one of the best rock festivals in the US.
6. Burning Man (Black Rock Desert, Nevada)
Burning Man is not the most attended music festival on this list, however it is one of the most notorious. The event is a gathering of more than 50,000 participants in the middle of the Nevada desert. It is almost as much of a social experiment in
community, art, and radical self-expression as it is in its functionality as a music festival. By far one of the most unique and different festivals the world has to offer. One of the best music festivals in the US.
5. Bonnaroo (Manchester, Tennessee)
Bonnaroo has become the East Coast of America’s answer to Coachella. Bonneroo has a similar lineup as Coachella consisting of a mix of Indie, Electronic, and Hip Hop artists that draw huge crowds from the East Coast and South of the United States.
The festival is held over 3 days in the 2nd weekend of June in Manchester, Tennessee. This festival has quickly established itself as one of the best music festivals in North America. Learn more at the Bonneroo Festival Fling Page.
4. Electric Daisy Carnival
Electric Daisy Carnival (also known as EDC) began in Los Angeles, but has since moved to Las Vegas after running into issues with hosting the event in LA. It has also expanded into a touring festival that covers East Rutherford, New Jersey, Dallas,
Texas, Orlando, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The music festival used to be the largest Electronic Dance Music Festival in North America, however Ultra Music Festival (held in Miami) has given EDC some stiff competition for that title over the
last few years. EDC remains to be one of the best music festivals in the US.
3. Coachella (Indio, California)
Coachella has rapidly become the most notorious music festival in the world and is known for it’s trend setting music lineup and amazing sculpture and art displays. The festival, which is held in Indio, California over the 2nd and 3rd weekends of
April, has sold out for the past 3 years. With nearly 1 million combined followers on facebook and twitter, Coachella is the undisputed #1 Music Festival in North America. Learn more at the Coachella Festival Fling page.
2. Ultra Music Festival (Miami, Florida)
Ultra Music Festival used to be held in conjunction with the Winter Music Conference in Miami, Florida. UMF has since continued to establish itself as the largest and most respected EDM music festival in North America. Ultra is widely regarded as
hosting nearly every relevant name in Electronic Dance Music on their roster. Ultra Music Festival is considered to be one of the best music festivals in the world for Electronic Dance Music. Learn more at the Ultra Music Festival Fling Page.
1. Tomorrowland (Belgium)
Tomorrowland is the undisputed social media heavyweight in the Music Festival world. It is undoubtedly one of the most famous global music festivals, with ticket demand so high that it sells out instantaneously every year making it one of the more
difficult events to snag tickets to. If you are ever in the European area when Tomorrowland is scheduled, make your way to Boom, Belguim and try your best to obtain a pass, because this festival is unreal. For more information on this festival, check
out the Tomorrowland music festival review on Festival Fling.
Honorable Mentions
There are far more than 10 best music festivals in the world. Narrowing down only the top ten based on their facebook likes doesn’t give the full picture of what the best music festivals in the world really are. These festivals below deserve just as much
attention as some of those in the top 10, so don’t pass them by! If you are ever going to be in the area where some of these festivals are held, try and time your trip so that you might be able to visit one of the best music festivals in the world.
South by Southwest (Austin, Texas)
South by South West actually is slightly deceiving in it’s numbers. It is technically partly a music festival, however it is mainly the technology trade-show of the Southern United States. This isnot your typical music festival with gigantic crowds around a series of stages. It does have a large musical side to the trade show, primarily with famous artists playing at small venues in Austin, Texas. Aside from bring the best technology trade-show in
the southern US, SxSW is also one of the best music festivals as well.
Stereosonic (Australia Tour)
Like many of the Music Festivals in Australia, Stereosonic is held on a multi-city tour and visits the larger cities in the country including Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, and Melbourne.It is one of the best Music Festivals in Australia and is held in early December (Australia’s summer.)
Roskilde Festival (Denmark)
Roskilde was started in the early 70′s by three high school students and has since grown into one of the largest music festivals in Europe. While it doesn’t compete with the top 10 festivalson this list on the level of social media rank, it is vastly popular with over 100,000 attendees for the three day event. The Roskilde Festival is one of the best music festivals in Europe.
Future Music Festival (Australia Tour)
Future Music Festival is another Australian Music Festival that tours the country. From February to March (Australia’s Summer) the festival roams through thecities of Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, and is one of the few festivals that travels to Asia where it is held in Malaysia.
Sziget Festival (Budapest, Hungary)
The Sziget Festival is another dark horse when it comes to looking at its social media impact. It is one of Europe’s largest and most unique music festivals that the United Statesrarely hears about. Allegedly Sziget has brought in as many as 250,000 attendees over the 3 days festival in some recent years, however it’s standings on facebook show it to be far behind many other festivals on this list. The festival’s uniqueness
stems from it’s title. “Sziget” translates to “Island” which is exactly where the music festival is held: on a wooded island in the middle of the Danube River in Hungary. Sziget is considered to be the best music festival in Europe, however their
facebook page doesn’t stack up to their attendance claims.
Summerfest (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Summerfest claims to be the world’s largest music festival, however for the numbers that it allegedly brings it doesn’t have a very heavy social media impact. Organizers claim that nearly1 million people attend the massively long 11 day music festival. As their like counts and twitter follows indicate, many of those 1 million attendes are likely counted more than once giving the festival and attendance record of around 70,000+
per day, which is on the average side of ‘per-day’ attendance of many other music festivals. Summerfest is considered to be one of the best music festivals in the US.
Sonisphere (European Tour)
Sonisphere is the largest Hard Rock/Heavy Metal music festival in the world, and tours European cities between June and August. The organizers have plans to expand the music festivalto a worldwide-tour for Heavy Metal enthusiasts. Sonisphere is the best music festival int he world for Heavy Metal Music.
Paléo Festival Nyon (Switzerland)
Paléo Festival Nyon is reportedly the 2nd largest music festival in Europe behind Sziget (Hungary.) The festival takes place just outside of Lake Geneva and is a massive 6 days long, taking placein the last six days of July. The festival originated back in the mid 1970′s as a folk music festival, but has grown into a festival covering all of the most popular artists in relevant genres of any given year.
Rock Werchter (Belgium)
Rock Werchter is one of the top 5 most attended Rock Music Festivals in Europe. It is based out of Belgium and is 4 days in length over a weekend in the beginning of July. It covers MostlyRock and Indie Rock music, but has recently begun to feature Electronic dance Music and Dubstep artists as well.
Exit Festival (Serbia)
Exit Festival is one of the most unique festival settings out there. It is held over a 4 day period in the Petrovaradin Fortress of Novi Sad, Serbia (an 18th century fortress on the DanubeRiver.) By far one of the most picturesque settings for a music festival that exist in the world, and since the Exit Music Festival’s founding in 2000, it has been recognized as one of the best music festivals in Europe.
Oxegen (Ireland)
Oxegen is the largest and most famous Music Festival in Ireland and is held over 4 days during the second weekend of July. It usually has a similar lineup as England’s Glastonbury Music Festival.
This just added so many things to my bucket list!
Holy shit, this is a great list of festivals. This just made me want to travel for a living
Hey guys! If you have any questions about this list, let me know in the comments! :)
PRZYSTANEK WOODSTOCK (KOSTRZYN NAD ODRA, POLAND)
Attendance: 550,000 in 2012 & 500000 in 2013
Acts: About 80
Stages: 3
Poland’s homage to the festival of ’79 is another one on the list that sticks largely to one genre: rock. The performers are international representatives of the form, with 2013 headliners including names like Atari Teenage Riot and Kaiser Chiefs. In emulation of its namesake, the festival has a running theme of “Love, Friendship, and Music.” Entry is free and in fact Przystanek Woodstock is held by the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity as a thank you to its volunteers
;/)