Reading Festival has been named one of the UK’s top 10 “must-visit” music festivals for summer 2026 in a new nationwide study.
The Berkshire event ranked fourth overall in research carried out by outdoor retailer GO Outdoors, which analysed factors including ticket prices, social media popularity, search interest, festival length and camping availability.
Reading Festival scored 9.58 out of 10 in the rankings, behind Isle of Wight Festival, Download Festival and BST Hyde Park.
According to the study, Reading Festival generated 289,000 Instagram posts and 66,500 TikTok posts, alongside nearly 780,000 annual Google searches.
The four-day event, which offers camping but is not listed as family-friendly, was also recognised as one of the most popular large-scale festivals in the country.
Researchers said the majority of the top 10 festivals were based in the south of England, highlighting the region’s continued popularity with music fans.
The annual festival, held at Richfield Avenue in Reading, has long been one of the UK’s biggest live music events, attracting tens of thousands of visitors each summer.
This year’s ranking comes as festival-goers look for alternatives following Glastonbury Festival’s fallow year in 2026.
Isle of Wight Festival topped the list with a score of 9.96 out of 10, while Download Festival in Derbyshire came second and London’s BST Hyde Park placed third.
The study also named Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire as the UK’s best outdoor festival, praising its mix of music, yoga, meditation and comedy.
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