Tomorrowland voted the World’s No.1 Festival for 2024

Tomorrowland has been voted the World’s No. 1 Festival in the DJ Mag Top 100 Festivals poll 2024.

Record-breaking numbers had their say in this year‘s poll — which opened on 1st May, and closed on 12th June — with the Belgian festival coming out on top for the fourth time, and a third consecutive year. 

After topping DJ Mag’s first ever Top 100 Festivals back in 2019, when the poll was voted for by top DJs, Tomorrowland returned to the No.1 spot in 2022 following the shift to a public vote for the first time. Last year, in 2023, the festival secured the triple, boasting a brand new stage and the return of its One World Radio station.

Now, in 2024, the Belgian mega-festival has retained its crown once more: a testament to its continued commitment to pushing the boundaries of production, imagination and curation. Stretching across not just one, but two, jam-packed weekends each July, Tomorrowland brings together the biggest names in electronic music, alongside groundbreaking stage design and world-building concepts.

At last year’s Adscendo event, more than 400,000 revellers celebrated love, music, and unity across 16 stages, and danced to the sounds of over 750 electronic music artists. Tomorrowland 2024 is shaping up to be equally spectacular, with over 800 artists — including headliners Armin van Buuren, Amelie Lens, David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike — set to descend on the city of Boom next month. See the full 20th anniversary line-up here.

“Tomorrowland is a passion, a passion of over 200 people working every day to create the magic,” Debby Wilmsen, Tomorrowland’s press relations and internal communications lead, shared when finding out about the festival topping the poll. “This year we will celebrate LIFE, the theme is a prequel of the Spirit of Life from 2016. A brand new Main Stage will be introduced at the Belgian festival but also other themes will relive and their stories will be told.

“Every year we try to offer a broad range of new talents, international top DJs, local artists, new stage hosts and special performances and back to back. We try to represent all styles and sub-styles in electronic music.”

Tomorrowland is also furthering its commitment to spotlighting the future of electronic music, in collaboration with the Tomorrowland Academy. Spread over the two festival weekends, seven young talents — aged 9 to 17 years-old — will have the opportunity to perform across different stages at Tomorrowland 2024. “Tomorrowland Academy, which also organises kids and adults bootcamps throughout the year, as well as around the festival, wants to inspire and empower talents from all corners of the globe to produce, release, create and perform music,” Wilmsen shared.

Find the full list of events voted into this year's Top 100 Festivals here.

With over 40 UK festivals cancelled, postponed or permanently dissolved ahead of 2024's season, according to a report from the AIF, it’s never felt more important or timely to celebrate all that festivals both large and small bring to our lives through their celebration of music, dancing and togetherness.

The latest numbers from AIF, which represents 202 festivals across the UK, ranging from 500 to 80,000 capacity, show that 172 events have ceased operations completely over the past five years. This includes 96 lost to the pandemic, 36 in 2023, and another 40 so far this year — 21 of which had been called off by late-March. Many more are now thought to be on the cusp of collapse, with analysts warning that unless targeted support is provided up to 100 could bow out by December. 

"The speed of festival casualties in 2024 shows no sign of slowing. We are witnessing the steady erosion of one of the UK’s most successful and culturally significant industries not because of a lack of demand from the public but because of unpredictable, unsustainable supply chain costs and market fluctuations,” said AIF CEO John Rostron. "In asking for a temporary reduction in VAT related to ticket sales, we have provided the Government with a considered, targeted and sensible solution, which would save this important sector. We need action now.”

Find out more information and donate to the 5% For Festivals campaign here, and read the full Top 100 Festivals list here. Read DJ Mag's new feature examining some of the issues faced by the festival sector, and some possible solutions being explored, here.