Glastonbury 2019 headline rumours, from Madonna and Fleetwood Mac to Stormzy and Taylor Swift

Glastonbury Festival has announced that tickets to next year's event will go on sale this October.

The music festival's official Twitter account said tickets would be available from Thursday 4 October. The news follows its traditional fallow year in 2018, to allow time for the site, village and festival team at Worthy Farm, Somerset, to recover.

Standard weekend tickets are priced at £248 each, plus a £5 booking fee – up £10 per ticket from 2017.

The festival is aiming to combat touts by asking festival-goers to register before buying. Fans who have already registered will need to update their entry to include a photo taken within the last two years.

Glastonbury Festival 2017 featured Foo Fighters, Radiohead and Ed Sheeran as headliners. Speaking at the NME awards earlier this year, founder Michael Eavis revealed there would be "two or three [acts] that have never played" the festival before.

Here are some of the rumoured headliners:

Madonna

Last year's Glastonbury came under fire over its trio of white male headliners, with critics urging them to do better when it comes to diversity in 2019. The ultimate female pop icon could do just the trick, particularly given Madonna celebrated her 60th birthday this year and shows no sign of slowing down her music career.

Arctic Monkeys

Reading & Leeds fans were pretty gutted after months of rumours anticipating a headline slot from Sheffield's finest, only to find out they wouldn't be performing (at least not this year). However, there's surely an Arctics-shaped space on the Pyramid Stage following the success of their latest album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. They'd definitely put on a good show.

Kendrick Lamar

It's strange to think, but Kendrick Lamar hasn't actually appeared at Glastonbury Festival before. This year he topped the Coachella bill and also appeared as a headliner at Reading & Leeds, so he's no stranger to festivals. Glastonbury seems as though it'd be a great fit for the hip hop star, but perhaps he'll be too busy working on a follow-up to 2017's acclaimed album, DAMN.

Kylie Minogue

The Australian pop star recently said she would love to get a headline slot, after she was forced to pull out in 2005 to undergo treatment for breast cancer.

"I think I would have been the first solo female to headline in however many years it was, so I was really proud of that at the time," she told the Press Association.

"Obviously it didn't happen. So yes, it would be amazing and very emotional to be standing there and doing what I didn't get to do all those years ago, for sure."

Fleetwood Mac

Michael Eavis has been after Fleetwood Mac for years, but said in 2016 that unfortunately he just couldn't afford what its members were asking for.

"Adele did it for less, Rolling Stones did it for a reasonable rate," he said. "We can't afford to spend £4-5m on people to play. Mick Fleetwood said he would do it himself, but come on. I'd like the rest of the band and they all want to be paid a lot of money."

He then suggested in 2017 that Stevie Nicks as a solo performance would be a good alternative: "Maybe I could get her on her own."

However, things may be looking up – despite the band's split from Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac recently announced tour dates for 2019. Mick Fleetwood also teased an appearance last year, suggesting: "One day we'll just get on a plane and come over and do it."

Taylor Swift

The pop megastar's Reputation world tour runs until the end of 2018 with a closing date at the Tokyo Dome in Japan, but there's scope for it to continue beyond that if Swift decides to return to Europe next summer.

Her close friend and fellow pop star Ed Sheeran, who headlined last year, suggested she may not be keen on a Glastonbury slot because she "doesn't like festivals". However, given the success of her headline appearance at the BBC's Biggest Weekend festival in Swansea – dubbed the "Glastonbury replacement" for 2018 – perhaps she'll reconsider. There's no doubt whatsoever that she'd put on an amazing pop spectacle – earlier this year The Independent gave her opening Reputation show in Manchester five stars and called it the "biggest event on the 2018 pop calendar".

Paul McCartney

One person who might convince Swift to appear at Glastonbury is another rumoured performer: Sir Paul McCartney. The Beatles legend recently revealed that one of the songs on his new album Egypt Station was inspired by Swift and her positive anti-bullying messages to fans.

"I was actually thinking about Taylor Swift and her relationship to her young fans and how it's sort of a sisterly thing," he told the BBC of his song "Who Cares". "I was imagining talking to one of these young fans and saying: 'Have you ever been bullied? Did you get bullied?'

"Then I say: 'Who cares about the idiots? Who cares about all this? Who cares about you? Well... I do."

Asked by Jo Whiley about the potential of Macca getting his own headline set, Michael Eavis said: "Oh we always want him – he's top of our list. We'll have to see." He last headlined in 2004, and with his 17th solo album Egypt Station now released and topping the charts in the US, a Worthy Farm visit doesn't sound completely beyond the realms of possibility.

Liam or/and?? Noel Gallagher

It wouldn't really be Glastonbury without another Oasis reunion rumour flaring up, as unlikely as it still appears to be. However, with both the Gallagher brothers releasing solo albums this year, perhaps the festival will find space for both of them. Although it's probably safer to keep them on separate stages.

Stormzy

The grime king released his debut album Gang Signs & Prayer in 2017, receiving critical acclaim and a spot on the Mercury Prize shortlist. He also delivered an incendiary performance at the Brit awards. Considering he is one of the hardest-working people in the music industry, no one could say Stormzy doesn't deserve a spot on the Pyramid Stage.

It was Stormzy himself who sparked the rumours of his potential Glastonbury headline slot, after he shared a cryptic Instagram story which showed a quote by Noel Gallagher on previous Glasto headliner Jay Z: "No, I'm not havin' hip hop and Glastonbury. F***in' no chance."

The comment is a slight mis-quote from the former Oasis star who was asked how he felt about Jay Z's watershed moment at the festival in 2008.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," Noel said. "If you start to break it then people aren't going to go. I'm sorry, but Jay Z? no chance. Glastonbury has a tradition of guitar music and even when they throw the odd curveball in on a Sunday night you go 'Kylie Minogue?' I don't know about it. But I'm not having hip hop at Glastonbury. It's wrong."

Festival organiser Emily Eavis contradicted Noel earlier this year, explaining that genre was "irrelevant" when it comes to booking a good act.

"It's about who is going to produce the most exciting show and is making the best music," she said. "We always encounter debate, which is great, that's what it's all about. Most music fans are open minded and many discover new music by coming to festivals and getting blown away by some amazing artists that they've never seen before."