Pinkpop is an annual music festival held in Landgraaf, Netherlands. It is usually held on the Pentecost weekend (Pinksteren in Dutch, hence the name). If Pentecost falls on an early date in May, the festival is held later in June. The festival started in 1970, at Burgemeester Damen Sportpark in the city of Geleen, and is a three-day festival, from Saturday through Monday when on Pentecost weekend, or Friday through Sunday otherwise, with a 60,000 people per day capacity, and with performances on four separate stages. From 2006 through 2011, Pinkpop sold out six years in a row. During 44 editions, more than two million people have attended Pinkpop. Some 700 music acts have played at the festival.

In 2010 it was claimed that Pinkpop was in The Guinness Book of Records as "the world’s oldest annual pop festival", though The Guinness Book of Records lists Reading Festival as the first, and therefore the oldest, pop music festival.

The name consists of two parts. 'Pink' comes from the Dutch word for Pentecost (Pinksteren) and 'pop' comes from pop music (or 'popular music'). But a later creative interpretation for the name combines the English word pink and the Dutch word pop, which means doll, thus forming the origin for the logo, a doll in a pink dress.

The precursor to Pinkpop was held on Pentecost Monday in 1969. It was completely free, and called Pinknick because people were supposed to bring their own food. Only a free pig roast and free apples were provided by the organizers. Inspired by the Monterey festival from 1967, a number of hip local bands were persuaded to come and play unpaid. Almost 10,000 visitors were attracted, ranging from pop music lovers to grandparents and their grandchildren. And families with empty shopping bags, loading up on apples. A young journalist Wim Wennekens and a youth group director Hans van Beers organised the event because they felt there was very little for young people to do in Limburg.

In 1970, two men joined the duo to organise the first Pinkpop, including a 23-year-old named Jan Smeets. Over 10,000 people stood in front of an improvised stage built in the stands of the sports park in Geleen. The music was held on 18 May from 1 to 6 pm but still received noise complaints. In 1976, the festival reached its maximum capacity of 40,000 for the first time.

In 1994 (the 25th edition), it was decided to sell only 60,000 tickets, to prevent overcrowding due to the popularity of the festival. In 1995, it was made into a two-day festival. Two years later this was further expanded to three days.

In 2005, Pentecost was held earlier and keeping with tradition, the festival was held from 14 to 16 May. This was a month earlier than usual, so many bands' summer tours had not started yet because they usually stop at Pinkpop along other festivals such as Rock Werchter and Rock am Ring. Thus the headliners were three electronic acts: The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and Faithless. Ticket sales were a low 22,000: 16,000 fewer than 2004 and 40,000 fewer than 2002. As a result of the low turnout, founder Jan Smeets almost "pulled the plug" on the festival but decided to keep going.

2007 saw a spin-off, later in the year, on 11 August, called Pinkpop Classic, for an older rock audience, with bands that had previously performed at the festival in past decades. This spin-off was held again in following years, with the exception of 2011, when the organisation was not able to book enough artists.