The Society's closing release of 31 August 2026 reported 2,805,395 tickets issued as of 11:30 on the final day, an 8 per cent increase on 2025, and BBC News carried the same figure (Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, 31 Aug 2026; BBC News, 31 Aug 2026).
The market resolves on the tickets-issued figure in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society's closing release on edfringe.com, published on the final day of the festival, 31 August 2026, on the first published number rather than any later restatement; YES if above 2,500,000. Issued tickets only; attendance estimates including free shows do not count. If that source has not published in time, BBC News and The Guardian reports of the release settle it.
Five of the ten Fringes since 2015 passed 2.5 million tickets. We used every festival for which the Fringe Society published a ticket total at the close. The 2020 festival was cancelled and 2021 was a smaller, part-online event, so neither is counted. The last eight are shown below.