Seventeen years after selling out its inaugural festival, Bonnaroo is once again on top.

The 2019 edition of the Manchester, Tennessee music festival is certain to sell out, organizers confirmed. With 80,000 attendees, it's Bonnaroo's first sellout since 2013, when Beatles great Paul McCartney headlined.

It's also a considerable rebound, coming three years after ticket sales hit an all-time low of roughly 46,000 in 2016.

This year's Bonnaroo is headlined by Phish, Childish Gambino and Post Malone, but co-founder Ashley Capps said the festival was seeing an uptick in sales before the lineup was even announced.

In November, Bonnaroo opened a six-week "pre-sale," offering a special rate to fans before they revealed the performers.

"We had, by a huge margin, the biggest pre-sale in Bonnaroo history," Capps says.

He chalks up that early enthusiasm to Bonnaroo being "an experience" for fans. Almost of all of the attendees camp on site for four days, and last year, the festival made huge overhauls in the campgrounds, offering round-the-clock entertainment and activities.

"There's been a lot of focus on the 24-7 Bonnaroo experience, and making the festival an unforgettable weekend outside of having a great lineup musically," Capps says. "Seeing that huge surge in the pre-sale during the month of December, I think spoke to that focus."

But the lineup is also a point of pride, particularly the return of jam band Phish, whose own festivals in the '90s inspired the first Bonnaroo.

Capps says he lets his team handle most of the booking these days, but bringing Phish back was something he was very much invested in. He says this year's lineup is "true to our roots."

"There's a continuing thread of Bonnaroo history, but there's also (something) that's very vital, and very much the moment."

Bonnaroo's also returning to its roots as a sold-out event. The first festival was an immediate success, selling 70,000 tickets in 19 days. Before 2016, Bonnaroo had never sold less than 65,000 tickets. After that rough year, they largely bounced back, selling 65,000 in 2017. Last year's audience appeared to be equal in size, though an official figure wasn't released.

Capps acknowledges the "dip in attendance," but points out that even in their worst year, Bonnaroo was the largest camping festival in North America.

"We're going into year 18, and as with any enterprise, there's always a little bit of ebb and flow," Capps says. "It's inevitable. But it's certainly great to feel like we're back on top of our game at this point. It's exciting."

A sold out Bonnaroo means big business for the Coffee County economy and the county government coffers.

Tickets and on-site sales at the four-day festival generate about $1.2 million, which comes out to about a quarter of Coffee County's annual sales tax collections. The most recent economic impact report showed that Bonnaroo generates about $56 million overall for the regional economy.

And the farm is on track to generate even more revenue since organizers plan to bring more events there starting with the Exit 111 rock festival this fall. The lead owner of Bonnaroo is the concert and ticketing giant Live Nation.

Stakeholders largely attributed the dip in ticket sales in 2016 to the rising competition in summer music festivals combined with a questionable lineup of headliners. Pearl Jam, LCD Soundsystem and Dead and Company were the headliners that year.

Attendance rose in 2017 to about 65,000 before reaching a sellout this year. Although the event will be considered a sellout, a limited number of select tickets including single-day tickets remain available.

"The competition has gotten stiff out there," said AC Entertainment vice president of strategic partnerships Jeff Cuellar. "There's events popping up every year and there are events that are changing and adapting in different ways.

"For us, it's always about putting out the most quality event we can from the highest level of talent to what we do in the plazas, infrastructure and those types of things."

Ticket sales at Bonnaroo were a matter of public record until last year. Bonnaroo previously paid a ticket tax of $30,000 per year, plus $3 per ticket sold. That agreement with Coffee County expired and the two sides are in ongoing talks about what their arrangement will look like in the future.

Bonnaroo pays for the government's staffing costs including police, fire and emergency medical workers.

Reach Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 and nrau@tennessean.com. Follow on Twitter @tnnaterau.