On Worthy Farm, the tents have all been removed, the rubbish cleared from the site, and the cows have returned to the fields. Glastonbury 2024 is well and truly over, and now, our thoughts can turn to next year’s edition.
Bookmakers are already taking bets on 2025’s headliners, and rumours about secret talks have started to swirl. Emily Eavis has confirmed she’s “already in talks with some acts” for next year but is, of course, keeping shtum over exactly who could be on the bill. But, with 2026 confirmed as a fallow year, we’d expect next year’s line-up to be packed with huge headliners. Here are some of the top potential candidates to take on the Pyramid in 2025 to send Glastonbury off with a bang.
Olivia Rodrigo
The first time Olivia Rodrigo played Glastonbury, she was a rising star in her ascendance. Back then, she pulled a mammoth crowd to her afternoon slot on the Other Stage. Now, she’s an arena-headlining established household name rumoured to be in the running to headline the US’ Glasto equivalent, Coachella. She’s one of the bookies’ favourites to top the Pyramid Stage in 2025, too – a feat she could easily pull off thanks to the success of her second album ‘Guts’.
Sam Fender
Sam Fender’s big Glastonbury moment in 2022 was similar to Rodrigo’s – except he took an assured place on the Pyramid. The welcome the indie star received felt like he was already headlining, so it’s only a matter of time before he takes that step up to close out the stage. Fender has confirmed he’s working on his third album, but whether it’s ready in time for festival season 2025 is another matter – he’s said he doesn’t want to rush it, preferring it to be “late and great than early and shite”.
The Rolling Stones
It took The Rolling Stones until 2013 to play Glastonbury, when they headlined the Pyramid Stage. In the 11 years since, they haven’t returned to Worthy Farm, but are certainly willing. In 2023, guitarist Ronnie Wood told NME it was “a must” to headline the festival again: “If not next year, then…” Could 2025 be their year? So far, there have been no UK dates in support of their latest album ‘Hackney Diamonds’ – saving them for the biggest British booking of all could make perfect sense.
Green Day
The fact that Green Day have never played Glastonbury is surprising. Sure, historically, the festival has largely not booked acts from the rockier end of the music spectrum until recent years, but the punk trio feels of the same general lineage as Queens Of The Stone Age, who performed on Worthy Farm in 2023. After a rumoured secret slot this year didn’t pan out, fans are hoping they’ll be an official booking in 2025. They’re certainly big enough and with enough history behind them to headline the Pyramid; all that remains to be seen is if Emily Eavis agrees.
AC/DC
AC/DC are another genuinely legendary band that have yet to step foot on Worthy Farm. Fans were hopeful 2024 could be their year after their European tour dates revealed they’d be on the continent and free when the festival was taking place. Alas, no performance came to fruition. The band are certainly willing – in 2014, they said they’d play if the festival asked them to – so hopefully, one day, we’ll see Angus Young and pals ripping through ‘Highway To Hell’ on the Pyramid.
Harry Styles
Since Harry Styles was preparing his second album, ‘Harry’s House’, rumours suggested that he was on the cusp of being announced as a Glastonbury headliner. In 2022, he was said to be guesting with Billie Eilish – a mini run-through before he would top the bill the following summer. This year, it was suggested he might guest with Shania Twain. None of those appearances materialised, but with the star working on a new album and having already proven he can more than handle a festival headline at Coachella, the timing seems right for Styles to step up to the top spot.
Raye
Raye’s story is a classic underdog tale. Stifled by her label for years, she finally got out of her contract and proved exactly what she’s capable of – both on record and in her phenomenal live shows. It’s rare artists are given the opportunity to headline Glastonbury on just one album, but walking out on the Pyramid Stage under the cover of night would be the ultimate fairytale ending to this record’s run.
Liam Gallagher
Immediately after Beady Eye’s split, few would have predicted that a Liam Gallagher solo career could potentially reach the dizzy heights of headlining Glastonbury. But the Oasis frontman has defied all odds and proved his worth – not least with a slot before The Killers’ headline set at the festival in 2019. Since then, he’s sold out tons of arenas and returned to Knebworth on his own, showing whatever Oasis can do, he can do on his own. That said, were he and Noel to make up and get the band back together, they should be an immediate shoo-in for Glastonbury headliner.
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift hasn’t performed at Glastonbury yet, but she was meant to – the pop superstar was set to headline in 2020 before the pandemic forced that edition of the festival to be cancelled. Since then, she’s become even more of a cultural phenomenon, somehow bigger than she ever was with the Eras Tour. Swift on the Pyramid would certainly be a spectacle – and would surely draw one of the biggest ever crowds to that field – but is she also now too big for it?
Eminem
Eminem is an early frontrunner in the rumours for 2025, with reports suggesting discussions between the rapper and the festival are already underway. It makes sense – Marshall Mathers is about to release his new album, ‘The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)’, so it’s more than likely he’ll be on the road by next summer. He’s also one of the biggest modern artists not to have performed at the festival and could bring with him a set bursting at the seams with greatest hits.
Rihanna
Over the last eight years, Rihanna fans have learnt the art of patience – and holding on to hope. While the star has been busy building a beauty empire with Fenty and starting a family with A$AP Rocky, they’ve kept waiting for the follow-up to her last album, ‘Anti’. Just when they might have started to think it was never going to materialise, Riri said she was “starting over” on the record and was “prepared” to go back in the studio. Having the record ready in time for Glastonbury 2025 might be wishful thinking, but headlining the Pyramid Stage would definitely be an iconic, emphatic way to make your return.
Ed Sheeran
In 2017, Ed Sheeran headlined Glastonbury with a one-man show – just him, his guitar and a loop pedal. That performance won him critical acclaim across the board, and so, with a point proved, his next return to the top of the Pyramid could be a much bigger affair. It could also come quite soon – the star recently announced a run of European stadium shows for next summer with a suspicious break over Glasto weekend.
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