Glastonbury’s profits doubled to £5.9 million in 2024

Glastonbury Festival reported profits of £5.9 million in 2024, more than double the £2.9 million in 2023.

The Glastonbury numbers are taken from Companies House accounts filed for 2023-2024 tax year ending in May 2024, the Evening Standard reports. The festival donated £5.2 million to charities including Oxfam, Greenpeace and WaterAid, in accordance with its longstanding policy of donating most of its profits to charity. Glastonbury’s overall revenue in 2024 was £68.4 million, an increase of 20% on 2023.

“We were pleased to enjoy successful, dry Glastonburys in both 2023 and 2024″, a spokesperson for the festival said in a press statement. “This has enabled us to continue to rebuild the event’s vital financial reserves, while also allowing us to continue to support good causes and charities.” The coronavirus pandemic-caused cancellations in 2020 and 2021 resulted in “record losses”, “costing the festival millions”, the statement said. (The festival also plans to take a fallow year in 2026 to allow the Worthy Farm grounds to recover.)

The financial figures come as Neil Young announced he has pulled out of the Glastonbury 2025 lineup, which has not been announced yet, along with his band the Chrome Hearts, criticising the festival being “under corporate control” of the BBC. “We will not be playing Glastonbury on this tour because it is a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be”, he said. BBC has had exclusive broadcasting rights and a partnership with the festival since 1997. Neil Young headlined Glastonbury in 2009.

Glastonbury festival was run by co-creator Michael Eavis, who has passed on the regular management of the festival to his daughter Emily Eavis in recent years. The Companies House accounts show he transferred his company shares to her in October 2024. 

The 2024 edition of Glastonbury was met with criticism as attendees found smaller stages to be more overcrowded than ever. Highly anticipated non-main stage sets like Sugababes on the West Holts stage were closed off early and Bicep’s live show on Block9‘s IICON stage was halted mid-set. Read the Guardian’s report on the 2024 crowd-related frustrations and safety concerts here. 

With a new ticketing system in place, tickets for Glastonbury 2025 sold out within 35 minutes last November.

Watch Glastonbury 2024 sets from the likes of Justice, Little Simz, James Blake, Orbital, Peggy Gou, Nia Archives and more.