Ticketmaster's website was hit by an outage after demand for Harry Styles tour tickets "exceeded expectations".

Reports shot up on Down Detector, a service for reporting website outages, shortly before 9am on Thursday, January 27.

The issue peaked at 9.14am with more than 400 people unable to access the site.

The Ticketmaster website crash reportedly affected around 84% of customers, according to Down Detector.

Ticketmaster website crash

Anyone visiting the Ticketmaster website on Thursday morning were met with the "Error 503 first byte timeout" warning.

The issue affected customers across the country, according to Down Detector.

It came on a big ticket day with fans eagerly waiting to buy tickets for pop icon Harry Styles and Manchester's Parklife festival.

Writing on social media, one customer said: "Why does ticketmaster crashes when selling tickets this is literally what it is built to do."

Some customers have reported issues while waiting in the queue for tickets.

One told social media: "I went back on and it said ur place has expired please join again. Then it crashed."

Another, who appears to be in line for Harry Styles tickets, said: "I literally had the mindset it would be a civil war to get a ticket but this is literally outside of my imaginary."

Ticketmaster confirmed the website was facing issues - citing "unprecedented demand" for former One Direction star Harry Styles' tour.

The ticket selling website said: "It seems @Harry_Styles has exceeded everyone’s expectations and ticket outlets are currently down under unprecedented demand. We're working hard to rectify issues and will keep updating you here as we work to get things back up and running."

The multi-platinum recording artist will be supported by special guest Mitski on the UK leg of the tour.

Harry Styles' 2022 UK Arena tour will stop by three venues in the UK while he is also performing across Europe and South America.

Harry Styles Love On Tour 2022 UK dates

Saturday 11 June  - Ibrox Stadium (New Show)

Wednesday 15 June - Emirates Old Trafford (New Show)

Saturday 18 June - Wembley Stadium Connected by EE  (New Show)