After a year off in 2026, the crown jewel of UK festivals will call its followers back and is preparing for a spectacular return in 2027. The festival, which brings together more than 200,000 fans in Somerset, southwest England, each June, remains one of the most important platforms in the world for music's biggest names.
Glastonbury's periodic rest years—the last took place in 2018, before forced closures in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic—allow the dairy farm where the festival is held to recover from its enormous footprint, while also offering organisers a rare opportunity to recharge. The two-year gap between editions on this occasion has generated more intrigue than usual; since the festival last closed its doors, the careers of many stars have accelerated or re-entered the cultural conversation, meaning the pool of possible headliners has expanded considerably.
Rosalía has established herself over the past decade as one of the most acclaimed live artists of her generation. The creatively bold 2025 album Lux LP confirmed the status of the Spanish star as a true pop innovator, and her subsequent worldwide arena tour has received excellent reviews. Glastonbury itself encompasses a broad programme of arts and culture, incorporating dance and theatrical media across the site, and Rosalía would undoubtedly fit the overall bill.
In 2020, Taylor Swift was announced to headline that year's edition of Glastonbury before it was cancelled due to the pandemic. Her fellow headliners, Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar, both came to Worthy Farm when the festival returned in 2022, while Swift's performance remained unresolved. The superstar has since headlined The Eras Tour, performing the biggest concerts of her career, and released two more albums, though her possible ambitions at Glastonbury remain unconfirmed.
Bad Bunny's electrifying and emotional stadium tour, which came to London in June, was built around an elaborate production setup, suggesting he would have little difficulty commanding the Pyramid Stage. The Puerto Rican superstar has already achieved the kind of global dominance that few contemporary artists can match, becoming a Super Bowl half-time headline performer in February and winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year with Debí Tirar Más Fotos. Bringing him to Worthy Farm would be a statement about the festival's evolving identity.
Jay-Z, the first hip-hop artist to headline the festival in its history in 2008, paved the way for other rappers to succeed at Glastonbury, with future headliners including Kanye West, Stormzy and Kendrick Lamar. He answered critics, including Noel Gallagher, with a tongue-in-cheek rendition of "Wonderball" and performed his hits with a full live band, creating one of Glastonbury's most iconic sets of all time. With a series of stadium concerts in London and Los Angeles in the pipeline, 2027 presents an opportunity for Jay-Z to return to the fields and further cement his legacy.
Glastonbury took a certain risk in choosing Sabrina Carpenter, a former Disney co-star of Olivia Rodrigo's, as a headliner in 2025; a booking that reflected the festival's growing acceptance of young pop stars and its willingness to hand over spaces to artists whose careers are still in relatively early phases. Carpenter looks set for the next level. Since the 2024 album Short n' Sweet, a sales record, took her to a new level of fame, the 27-year-old artist has become an increasingly compelling candidate to headline the bill, bringing the kind of commercial power and catalogue that fits another changing of the guard. She played two sold-out nights at London's BST Hyde Park, with capacity for 70,000, last summer, and since then has released her seventh album Man's Best Friend, though there still seems to be room for her rise in the UK to continue.
It has been one of the most captivating and possibly romantic success stories in contemporary British music: Charli xcx's journey from underdog to one of pop's most defining figures. The artist's performance as Other Stage headliner in 2025 was one of the most attended of the weekend, an apt reflection of the impact her sixth studio album Brat had, earning Charli a long-awaited commercial breakthrough after a decade of releasing innovative material without ever receiving complete mainstream recognition. Music, Fashion, Film, released last month, will be supported by a headline performance at Reading & Leeds, as well as arena dates in North America. Beyond that, Charli's touring plans remain open.
"It's essential to headline Glastonbury again," Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood told NME in 2023, fuelling rumours that the legendary rockers could finally return to the fields. The band's first performance at the event in 2013 remains one of Glastonbury's most talked-about headline sets, with the Stones bringing their decades-spanning catalogue to the Pyramid Stage. During the recent press tour for new album Foreign Tongues, singer Mick Jagger spoke extensively about the band's desire to tour again in the future, leaving fans wondering if the festival could be part of those plans.
