EDM Surges Past Rock, Leads Major Festival Bookings Across America, Study Says

Electronic dance music has officially dethroned rock as the dominant genre at America's premier music festivals, according to new data analyzing a decade of bookings.

The data was compiled by Booking Agent Info from artists who were officially booked on the lineups of Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Outside Lands, Governors Ball and Summerfest from 2015 to 2025. The site utilized its own genre classifications and used Apple Music as a tiebreaker in multi-genre edge cases.  The analysis, they said, "measures programming trends—not artist performance, attendance, or ticket sales."

The study says electronic acts claimed 192 unique artists and 220 performances in 2025, marking the first time the genre has surpassed rock in major festival programming. The genre's resurgence began in earnest in 2022 with 205 performances by 169 unique artists, climbing steadily to reach historic highs by 2025 with 227 performances and 199 unique artists, the most in the dataset's 10-year span. Rock music lost over 90 unique artists and nearly 150 performances in that timeframe, according to the research.

The numbers paint a picture of festival organizers responding to post-pandemic audiences craving the escapism and euphoria that electronic music uniquely provides.

"This trajectory mirrors the broader post-pandemic appetite for high-energy, immersive live experiences," the analysis notes. "Electronic music — from EDM to techno to bass-heavy hybrids — offered festivalgoers the escape and euphoria they were craving."

Dance and electronic artists took the lion's share of the 2025 Coachella lineup, EDM.com reported back in April. They commanded 39% of the iconic festival's billing, nearly doubling the 21% clip for indie, rock and alternative acts.

You can find the full study from Booking Agent Info here.