Best Kept Secret
Beekse Bergen (Hilvarenbeek, the Netherlands), June, drie dagen. Officiële website: www.bestkeptsecret.nl.
Profile
Size of the line-up: on average 121 acts per edition (2024: 124, 2025: 109, 2026: 130).
Calibre: the three biggest acts per edition score 49 on average on the historical scale (0 to 100), half of the bill is above 8. An A act starts here at 23.
Genres: Indie 25%, Electronica 17%, Overig / onbekend 14%, Pop 9% of the acts.
Home acts: 25% of the acts are known almost only in Belgium and the Netherlands (for example a Dutch-language act): at least a quarter of their worldwide Google search volume comes from those two countries.
Returning acts: 14% of the 918 acts since 2016 played more than one edition; 20 of them reached level A at least once: Christine And The Queens, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Personal Trainer, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Wolf Alice, Amenra, Beach House, Big Thief, Black Country, New Road, Blck Mamba, Caribou, Cigarettes After Sex en nog 8.
Every act measured in the twelve months before its edition, against the strongest acts of all editions. The only scale on which 2017 and 2027 can sit side by side.
How big an act is today, on more sources than there is a history of (listeners, airplay, own venues). Only for 2027. The difference explained.
All editions
Click a column header to sort.
| Edition | Acts | Top 10 average | Exceptional | Biggest acts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best Kept Secret 2027 (in opbouw) | 51 | 29 | 50 | Fontaines D.C., Phoebe Bridgers, Jungle (op punten) |
| Best Kept Secret 2026 | 130 | 37 | 68 | Gorillaz, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Jack White |
| Best Kept Secret 2025 | 109 | 32 | 74 | Michael Kiwanuka, Deftones, Wilco |
| Best Kept Secret 2024 | 124 | 32 | 73 | Paolo Nutini, PJ Harvey, Tamino |
| Best Kept Secret 2023 | 114 | 28 | 67 | Christine And The Queens, The 1975, The Chemical Brothers |
| Best Kept Secret 2022 | 121 | 36 | 66 | Nena, Novastar, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds |
| Best Kept Secret 2019 | 129 | 29 | 74 | Kraftwerk, Christine And The Queens, Charlotte Gainsbourg |
| Best Kept Secret 2018 | 113 | 33 | 75 | Arctic Monkeys, Tyler, The Creator, The National |
| Best Kept Secret 2017 | 92 | 32 | 74 | Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Spinvis |
| Best Kept Secret 2016 | 89 | 38 | 80 | Editors, Beck, Jamie XX |
How the line-up grew
2027: 39 namen, 7 maanden voor het festival. Op hetzelfde moment: 2026 33, 2025 16, 2024 20.
How many acts were known in the year before the festival. The thick line is 2027. Hover a step for the acts of that day.
Strongest bookings
The fifty biggest bookings since 2016, on the score at the time. An act below the headliners never ranks above the smallest headliner of that edition.
Radio
Above 1: that station plays more acts of this festival than average. We only follow the other stations since late October 2026.
| Station | Acts of Best Kept Secret | Four festivals combined | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| KEXP | 46% | 35% | 1,3x |
| BBC Radio 6 Music | 44% | 37% | 1,2x |
| NPO 3FM | 32% | 36% | 0,9x |
| BBC Radio 1 | 31% | 45% | 0,7x |
| Studio Brussel | 28% | 40% | 0,7x |
| KINK | 15% | 17% | 0,9x |
| Willy | 15% | 17% | 0,9x |
| VRT Radio 1 | 7% | 7% | 1,0x |
| egoFM | 6% | 5% | 1,1x |
| FluxFM | 2% | 2% | 1,2x |
| FM4 | 2% | 2% | 1,0x |
| Qmusic NL | 1% | 6% | 0,2x |
| MNM | 1% | 6% | 0,1x |
| Radio X | 1% | 3% | 0,3x |
| 1LIVE | 1% | 3% | 0,2x |
| Qmusic | 1% | 7% | 0,1x |
| Kerrang! Radio | 0% | 3% | 0,1x |
| delta radio | 0% | 2% | 0,1x |
Most booked acts
Who played Best Kept Secret most often since 2013 (current edition included; line-ups before 2016 from festivalinfo.nl, not measured).
| Artist | Times | First time | Editions |
|---|---|---|---|
| DJ St. Paul | 11 | 2013 | 2013, 2014, 2016 … 2024, 2025, 2026 |
| Wolf Alice | 5 | 2013 | 2013, 2015, 2018, 2022, 2026 |
| Altın Gün | 4 | 2018 | 2018, 2022, 2024, 2027 |
| Alt-J | 3 | 2013 | 2013, 2015, 2022 |
| Kurt Vile & The Violators | 3 | 2013 | 2013, 2019, 2023 |
| Two Door Cinema Club | 3 | 2013 | 2013, 2016, 2023 |
| Caribou | 3 | 2014 | 2014, 2016, 2025 |
| Circa Waves | 3 | 2014 | 2014, 2015, 2017 |
| Fat White Family | 3 | 2014 | 2014, 2016, 2019 |
| Interpol | 3 | 2014 | 2014, 2019, 2023 |
| Metronomy | 3 | 2014 | 2014, 2017, 2022 |
| Slowdive | 3 | 2014 | 2014, 2018, 2024 |
| Badbadnotgood | 3 | 2015 | 2015, 2016, 2024 |
| Rats on Rafts | 3 | 2015 | 2015, 2022, 2025 |
| STUFF. | 3 | 2015 | 2015, 2017, 2018 |
| Waxahatchee | 3 | 2015 | 2015, 2018, 2025 |
| Weval | 3 | 2015 | 2015, 2017, 2026 |
| Christine And The Queens | 3 | 2016 | 2016, 2019, 2023 |
| DIIV | 3 | 2016 | 2016, 2022, 2027 |
| Julien Baker | 3 | 2016 | 2016, 2019, 2027 |
| Unknown Mortal Orchestra | 3 | 2016 | 2016, 2018, 2023 |
| King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | 3 | 2017 | 2017, 2022, 2027 |
| Nilüfer Yanya | 3 | 2018 | 2018, 2022, 2025 |
| Pip Blom | 3 | 2018 | 2018, 2022, 2024 |
| Pitou | 3 | 2018 | 2018, 2023, 2026 |
| Sef | 3 | 2018 | 2018, 2022, 2026 |
| Sudan Archives | 3 | 2018 | 2018, 2023, 2026 |
| Personal Trainer | 3 | 2019 | 2019, 2023, 2025 |
| French II | 3 | 2022 | 2022, 2023, 2024 |
| Merol | 3 | 2022 | 2022, 2024, 2026 |
| Sophie Straat | 3 | 2022 | 2022, 2023, 2026 |
| The Haunted Youth | 3 | 2022 | 2022, 2024, 2027 |
| Tramhaus | 3 | 2022 | 2022, 2024, 2026 |
| Unruly Phoenix | 3 | 2022 | 2022, 2023, 2024 |
| YIN YIN | 3 | 2022 | 2022, 2025, 2026 |
| Kaat van Stralen | 3 | 2025 | 2025, 2026, 2027 |
| Agnes Obel | 2 | 2013 | 2013, 2017 |
| Arctic Monkeys | 2 | 2013 | 2013, 2018 |
| Balthazar (Be) | 2 | 2013 | 2013, 2015 |
| Bloc Party | 2 | 2013 | 2013, 2016 |
Around the longest
The longest span between the first and last time at Best Kept Secret, since 2013.
| Artist | First time | Last time | Years in between | Times |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DJ St. Paul | 2013 | 2026 | 13 | 11 |
| Wolf Alice | 2013 | 2026 | 13 | 5 |
| Caribou | 2014 | 2025 | 11 | 3 |
| DIIV | 2016 | 2027 | 11 | 3 |
| Julien Baker | 2016 | 2027 | 11 | 3 |
| Weval | 2015 | 2026 | 11 | 3 |
| King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | 2017 | 2027 | 10 | 3 |
| Kurt Vile & The Violators | 2013 | 2023 | 10 | 3 |
| Rats on Rafts | 2015 | 2025 | 10 | 3 |
| Slowdive | 2014 | 2024 | 10 | 3 |
| Two Door Cinema Club | 2013 | 2023 | 10 | 3 |
| Waxahatchee | 2015 | 2025 | 10 | 3 |
| Joy Orbison | 2017 | 2027 | 10 | 2 |
| Altın Gün | 2018 | 2027 | 9 | 4 |
| Alt-J | 2013 | 2022 | 9 | 3 |
| Badbadnotgood | 2015 | 2024 | 9 | 3 |
| Interpol | 2014 | 2023 | 9 | 3 |
| Antal | 2016 | 2025 | 9 | 2 |
| De Staat | 2014 | 2023 | 9 | 2 |
| Iceage | 2013 | 2022 | 9 | 2 |
| Leroy Rey | 2014 | 2023 | 9 | 2 |
| Palmbomen II | 2016 | 2025 | 9 | 2 |
| St. Paul & The Broken Bones | 2015 | 2024 | 9 | 2 |
| The 1975 | 2014 | 2023 | 9 | 2 |
| Wilco | 2016 | 2025 | 9 | 2 |
| Young Fathers | 2014 | 2023 | 9 | 2 |
| Metronomy | 2014 | 2022 | 8 | 3 |
| Pitou | 2018 | 2026 | 8 | 3 |
| Sef | 2018 | 2026 | 8 | 3 |
| Sudan Archives | 2018 | 2026 | 8 | 3 |