[NikolaeVarius]

Its a failure because it didn't do what it is supposed to do.

Current first stages do exactly what they are supposed to do extremely well.

[mikeash]

It did exactly what it was supposed to do: deliver the second stage to the right place and velocity, and attempt a landing.

The landing failed, but it's part of a test program, failures are supposed to happen.

They got paid ~$90 million for this flight, and the customer is happy because they got exactly what they paid for.