Elton John breaks BBC record with Glastonbury set watched by 7.6 million

Deadline has reported that this figure was just behind that for Happy Valley earlier this year.

In comparison, live figures for Sir Paul McCartney's headline set at last year's festival saw an average of 2.7 million viewers tuning in and peaked at 3.9 million.

Meanwhile, the BBC's Glastonbury TV coverage as a whole was watched by a record 21.6m people, with the audience up 7% on last year across linear television.

John's performance was billed as being the star's last ever live performance in the UK, as his final tour, called Farewell Yellow Brick Road, draws to a close in Sweden in July.

It was John's first time performing at Glastonbury, and during the show he was joined on stage by the likes of The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers and John Wick: Chapter 4 star Rina Sawayama.

Read more:

• Strictly It Takes Two confirms Fleur East as new host and Rylan responds to replacement
• Too Hot To Handle confirmed for season 5 - and start date is just weeks away

Lorna Clarke, Director of Music at the BBC said: "What an incredible way to end this year’s Glastonbury festival! Elton John’s set will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the most epic performances ever to light up the Pyramid Stage and was watched by a record 7.6 million people on BBC One."

Other notable performances across the weekend came from The Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, Guns N' Roses, Lizzo, Lewis Capaldi, Yusuf/Cat Stevens and Blondie, as well as many more.

Another notable performance came from Billy Nomates - real name Tor Maries - who requested that BBC Radio 6 Music remove footage of her set from their social channels after she received online abuse.

A spokesperson for the BBC told RadioTimes.com in a comment: "We want 6 Music to be a place where brilliant artists such as Billy Nomates are celebrated and supported, and we have respected Tor’s request to have the clip posted on our social channels removed."

Meanwhile, Billy Nomates said: "The level of personal abuse on @bbc6music socials for [going] to work today is insane."

She continued: "I know lots of people don’t rate me. But the level of personal abuse on that public page is too much. There will be no more shows after this summer. You wouldn’t stay in a workplace that did this to you. Why should I."

Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

Take part in the Screen Test, a project from Radio Times and the Universities of Sussex and Brighton, to explore the role of television and audio in our lives.

Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.