Eight million watch Commonwealth Games finale

Dougie MacLean, Kylie Minogue and Lulu sang 'Auld Lang Syne' to close out ceremony. Picture: Michael Gillen

The ceremony, which also included performances by Deacon Blue and tributes to the volunteers who kept the Glasgow games running smoothly, was shown live on BBC One and attracted a peak audience of 7.7 million.

That is down from the 9.4 million who watched the opening ceremony, which featured musical performances by Rod Stewart and Nicola Benedetti, at its peak.

Those figures are dwarfed by the huge audiences - more than 23 million - who tuned in to watch the opening and closing ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympics.

Last night’s ceremony at Glasgow’s Hampden Park brought the curtain down on 11 days of sporting action which saw more than 140 Commonwealth and several world records broken.

England ultimately topped the table, with Australia, Canada and host nation Scotland following on with their medal hauls.

Organisers had just 18 hours to transform the arena from the setting for the track and field events into the city’s very own “Commonwealth festival”, with two specially-designed stages inspired by the city’s Barrowland Ballroom.

In keeping with the festival theme, the athletes who took part in the Games emerged from almost 700 tents dotted throughout the stadium to a thunderous Glasgow welcome from the 40,000-strong crowd.

Host Des Clarke described the ceremony, which ended with a mass performance of Auld Lang Syne, as the “biggest party in Scotland’s history”.