Dua Lipa will take huge pay cut to headline Glastonbury as reported fee is revealed

You may think that headlining Glastonbury would be a massive payday for artists - however the figure will actually surprise you.

Arguably one of the most famous festivals in the world, topping the bill at Worthy Farm is a massive career milestone for most artists around.

One of the three artists to receive the honour of a leading slot on the Pyramid Stage this year is pop-sensation Dua Lipa, who has promised to 'throw a party' with her set tonight (28 June).

Dua's career has skyrocketed since her last appearance at Glastonbury in 2017, with the 28-year-old since winning a Grammy for her album Future Nostalgia and making her acting debut in Greta Gerwig's Barbie.

Dua Lipa previously played the smaller John Peel stage in 2017. (Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

With a resume this impressive, you'd imagine that Dua would be a charging quite a hefty fee for her time, however the singer is reported to have taken a massive pay cut to headline Glastonbury.

How much does a Glastonbury headliner make?

Festival co-organiser Emily Eavis previously revealed that artists on average get paid less than 10 percent of what they could make at other festivals.

The reason for this is actually because the organisers choose to instead donate around £2 million to charity every year that it runs, which is actually a pretty cool deal.

According to music consultant Lyle Bignon, Glastonbury headliners can expect anything from £35,000 to £300,000 depending on their profile.

"The likes of Elton John and Guns N’ Roses who have decades of global fame behind them, can likely command higher prices running into the £250,000+ range," he told Metro in 2023.

Glastonbury cannot offer the big bucks like other festivals can. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

This figure is somewhat backed up by Bestival organiser Rob Da Bank, who has previously said Glastonbury's budget is less than £500,000 per headliner.

While the exact amount of money Dua and fellow headliners Coldplay and SZA will be making this weekend hasn't been revealed founder Michael Eavis once revealed that he paid Coldplay about £200,000 for a previous set.

This sum of money is still an eye-watering amount to you and I.

In comparison, Beyonce was paid between $8 to $12 million (£6.3 to £9.4 million) for her 2019 Coachella performance, while Paul McCartney reportedly earned $4 million (£3.1million) back in 2009.

As a UK festival of similar size, Reading and Leeds is reported to pay a headliner a maximum of £1million for a headline slot.

Most musicians headline Glastonbury for the prestige of playing such a famous festival. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

So why do big names like Paul McCartney, Beyonce and The Rolling Stones come to Glastonbury then? For the prestige of playing such an iconic festival.

"We're not in a situation where we're able to just give people enormous amounts of money," Emily Eavis told BBC Radio 6 in 2017.

She added: "It's probably less than 10 per cent of what they'd get from playing any of the other major British festivals, [so] Glastonbury relies completely on goodwill."