Method
How the chart works
Every act on every festival bill is one booking. Each booking scores its billing points times the festival’s weight, and an act’s chart score adds up all its bookings. The chart is published every Thursday, so every move you see is week on week.
Billing points
| Headliner: the day’s top name | 10 |
| Second on the bill | 5 |
| Rest of the main stage, and the top act on every other stage | 3 |
| Everyone else | 1 |
| Billing not shown yet | 2 |
Some posters print three names a day on the top line. Each day’s headline is worth 10 and any extra top-line names score 7, with the festival’s top-line points shared between them. Rock am Ring’s ten top-line names score 7.9 each, for example.
Festival weight
Bigger festivals count for more. The weight rises smoothly with daily capacity rather than jumping between size bands, so a 49,000 festival and a 51,000 festival score almost the same.
We use the festival’s own published capacity where there is one. Otherwise it is our estimate, and every festival page says which.
Where line-ups come from
Every line-up carries one of three labels.
- Confirmed by the festival The festival sent us its running order, day by day and stage by stage. Billing comes straight from the slot each act plays.
- Estimated from the poster We read the billing from the official poster or line-up page: the size and order of the names.
- Estimated from an announcement A press release, news post or A to Z list that names acts with little or no billing. These score 2 points until a poster or running order turns up.
Confirmed line-ups don’t score extra points. They make the numbers more accurate, and the same scale applies to all three.
Running orders
When a festival sends its running order, we read billing from the slots. On each day, the main stage’s closing act is the headliner and the act before them is second on the bill. The rest of the main stage and the closing act on each other stage count as main stage, and everyone else as other stage. Festivals can mark co-headliners, special guests, DJ sets and cancellations.
How sure we are
Each act’s page shows the range its score could fall in if any of our estimated billings are a step too high or too low. Chart entries where most points come from confirmed line-ups are marked Confirmed.
House rules
- One booking per act per festival, however many days the act plays.
- Tribute acts, karaoke, talks and other non-music items are left out.
- Cancelled bookings come off the chart.
- Every submission is checked by a person before it goes live.
- Paid listings and advertising never affect the chart.
Spotted a mistake, or a line-up we haven’t got? Send it to us.