List of most-attended concerts

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Audience view of Vasco Rossi's Modena Park 2017 concert in Modena, Italy. The largest attendance for a ticketed concert (220,000) Modena Park 2017 veduta elicottero.jpg
Audience view of Vasco Rossi's Modena Park 2017 concert in Modena, Italy. The largest attendance for a ticketed concert (220,000)

The following is a list of the most-attended concerts which have drawn at least 100,000 people. The oldest 100,000-crowd show reported to Billboard Boxscore is Grateful Dead at Englishtown's Raceway Park on September 3, 1977, with 107,019 fans. Internationally, 40 paid gigs have surpassed the initial record set by Grateful Dead with some artists appearing two or more times. Currently, Italian singer Vasco Rossi holds the record with his solo concert on July 1, 2017 with a total of 225,173 tickets sold at Modena Park.

Contents

Although the attendance numbers of free concerts are known to be exaggerations, [1] media outlets have registered several concerts with a million people or more. Both Jean-Michel Jarre's concert in Moscow 1997 and Rod Stewart's concert in Copacabana 1994 were reported to attract audiences of more than 3.5 million people. Jarre is the only act to attract a million spectators on five occasions (Paris in 1979, 1990 and 1995; Houston in 1986; and Moscow in 1997). In the 21st century, Madonna's closing performance of The Celebration Tour in Rio de Janeiro, which was free to attend, attracted over 1.6 million people, [2] the most for a free standalone concert. [3]

Most-attended concerts

Key
*Indicates the concert was the most-attended of all time up to that point
‡Indicates standalone free concert

Ticketed concerts

The following are the most-attended single-artist's ticketed concerts (excluding music festivals) with attendance of 100,000 people or more.

DateArtistVenueCityEventTicketed attendanceRef.
1 July 2017 Vasco Rossi *Parco Enzo Ferrari Modena Modena Park 2017 225,173 [4]
28 June 2005 Bijelo Dugme *Belgrade Hippodrome Belgrade 2005 Tour: Sarajevo, Zagreb, Belgrade 220,000 [5]
31 July 1999 Glay * Makuhari Messe Chiba Glay Expo'99 Survival 200,000 [6]
20 April 1990 Paul McCartney * Maracanã Stadium Rio de Janeiro The Paul McCartney World Tour 184,000 [7]
16 January 1988 Tina Turner * Break Every Rule World Tour 180,000 [8]
26 January 1980 Frank Sinatra *Frank Sinatra Live175,000
10 September 2005 Luciano Ligabue Aeroporto di Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia Campovolo165,264 [9]
19 July 1988 Bruce Springsteen Radrennbahn Weissensee Berlin Tunnel of Love Express Tour 160,000 [10]
28 June 2013 Ceca Ušće Park Belgrade Poziv Tour 150,500 [11]
21 July 1990 Roger Waters Potsdamer Platz Berlin Live in Berlin 150,000 [12]
20 September 1997 U2 Aeroporto di Reggio EmiliaReggio Emilia PopMart Tour 150,000 [13]
18 June 1983 Kiss Maracanã StadiumRio de Janeiro Creatures of the Night Tour/10th Anniversary Tour 137,000 [14]
9 August 2003 Robbie Williams Phoenix ParkDublin 2003 Tour 135,000 [15]
20 March 1981 Queen Estádio do Morumbi São Paulo The Game Tour 131,000 [16]
20 August 2022 Helene Fischer Neue Messe München Munich Rausch Live – Die Tour130,000 [17]
29 August 1987 Madonna Parc de Sceaux Paris Who's That Girl World Tour 130,000 [18]
5 August 1995 The Rolling Stones Strahov Stadium Prague Voodoo Lounge Tour 126,742 [19]
11 September 1988 Michael Jackson Aintree Racecourse Liverpool Bad World Tour 125,000 [20]
7 September 1996 Letná Park Prague HIStory World Tour 125,000 [21]
1 August 2003 Robbie Williams Knebworth Park Stevenage 2003 Tour 125,000 [22]
2 August 2003125,000
3 August 2003125,000
17 June 2006 Ceca Ušće Park Belgrade Grom Tour 120,000 [23]
20 May 2022 Vasco Rossi Trentino Music Arena Trento Vasco Live Tour 2022120,000 [24]
21 March 1981 Queen Estádio do Morumbi São Paulo The Game Tour 120,000 [16]
25 July 1982 The Rolling Stones Roundhay Park Leeds The Rolling Stones European Tour 1982 120,000 [25]
9 August 1986 Queen Knebworth ParkStevenage The Magic Tour 120,000 [26]
6 November 1993 Madonna Maracanã Stadium Rio de Janeiro The Girlie Show 120,000 [27]
20 September 1996 Michael Jackson Bemowo, Airport Warsaw HIStory World Tour120,000 [28]
7 September 1994 Pink Floyd Strahov Stadium Prague The Division Bell Tour 115,000 [29]
26 January 2025 Coldplay Narendra Modi Stadium Ahmedabad Music of the Spheres World Tour 111,989 [30]
25 January 2025111,581
15 June 2024 George Strait Kyle Field College Station The King at Kyle Field110,905 [31]
31 October 1993 Michael Jackson Estadio Azteca Mexico City Dangerous World Tour 110,000 [32]
29 October 1993110,000
7 November 1993110,000
9 November 1993110,000
11 November 1993110,000
3 March 2023 Ed Sheeran Melbourne Cricket Ground Melbourne +–=÷× Tour 110,000 [33]
2 March 2023108,000
3 September 1977 Grateful Dead* Raceway Park Englishtown Terrapin Station Tour 107,019 [34]
15 October 1993 Michael Jackson Estádio do Morumbi São Paulo Dangerous World Tour 105,000 [35]
17 October 1993105,000
25 May 2024 AC/DC RCF Arena Reggio Emilia Power Up Tour 105,000 [36]
7 June 2014 George Strait AT&T Stadium Arlington The Cowboy Rides Away Tour 104,793 [37]
30 April 2022 Garth Brooks Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge The Garth Brooks Stadium Tour 102,000 [38]
21 September 1993 Michael Jackson Yarkon Park Tel Aviv Dangerous World Tour100,000 [39]
25 November 2017 Ricky Martin Zócalo Mexico City One World Tour 100,000 [40]
28 March 2007 Shakira Giza Plateau Cairo Oral Fixation Tour 100,000 [41]
22 July 2023 Harry Styles RCF Arena Reggio Emilia Love On Tour 100,000 [42]

Free concerts

The following are free concerts with reported attendance of one million people or more. The first ever was by French artist Jean-Michel Jarre in Paris in 1979, which created the Guinness Book entry. It also includes multi-artist festivals which may not be directly comparable with single-artist concerts. Attendance numbers for many of the kinds of events listed here rely on estimations from the promoters and are known to be exaggerations. [1]

DateHeadlining artistLocationCityEventAttendanceRef.
December 31, 1994 Rod Stewart * Copacabana Beach Rio de Janeiro New Year's Eve >3,500,000 [43] [44]
September 6, 1997 Jean-Michel Jarre * Moscow State University Moscow Oxygene in Moscow
(850th anniversary of Moscow)		>3,500,000 [45]
December 31, 1993 Jorge Ben Jor * Copacabana Beach Rio de Janeiro New Year's Eve 3,000,000 [46]
July 14, 1990 Jean-Michel Jarre * La Défense Paris Bastille Day 2,500,000 [47]
June 24, 2001 Antonello Venditti Circus Maximus Rome AS Roma's 3rd Serie A victory1,800,000 [48]
September 28, 1991 AC/DC, Pantera, Metallica, The Black Crowes, E.S.T. Tushino Airfield Moscow Monsters of Rock 1,600,000 [49] [50]
May 4, 2024 Madonna ‡ Copacabana Beach Rio de Janeiro The Celebration Tour 1,600,000 [51]
July 2, 2005Various artists Philadelphia Museum of Art Philadelphia Live 8 1,500,000 [52]
February 18, 2006 The Rolling Stones ‡ Copacabana Beach Rio de Janeiro A Bigger Bang 1,500,000 [53] [54]
April 5, 1986 Jean-Michel Jarre * Downtown Houston Houston Rendez-vous Houston
(150th anniversary of Houston)		1,300,000 [55] [56]
September 20, 2009Various artists Plaza de la Revolución Havana Paz Sin Fronteras II 1,100,000 [57] [58]
July 14, 1979 Jean-Michel Jarre * Place de la Concorde Paris Bastille Day 1,000,000 [59]
July 4, 1985 The Beach Boys Philadelphia Museum of Art Philadelphia Independence Day concert1,000,000 [60]
December 31, 2006 The Black Eyed Peas Ipanema Beach Rio de Janeiro New Year's Eve 1,000,000 [61]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Dwyer, Jim (July 23, 2008). "Great Lawn: A Bubble of History Bursts". The New York Times. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
  2. ↑ Frost, Caroline (May 5, 2024). "Madonna Makes History With 1.6million Crowd In Rio On Final Night Of Tour". Deadline. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
  3. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (May 5, 2024). "Madonna Closes Out Celebration Tour in Front of Record-Setting 1.6 Million Fans in Brazil" . Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
  4. ↑ Gottfried, Gideon (June 29, 2017). "Rossi Sets Record In Italy". Pollstar . Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Koncert "Bijelog Dugmeta" 2005. Na Hipodromu: Ozvučenje bilo loše, moraju da vrate pare za karte". Novosti.rs (in Serbian (Latin script)). Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  6. ↑ "10 年ぶりの『Glay Expo』をWowow で独占生中継！". Oricon (in Japanese). September 18, 2014. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Arts and Media/Music Feats & Facts/Solo Rock Show Crowd". Guinness World Records . May 25, 2006. Archived from the original on May 25, 2006. Retrieved December 9, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ↑ "A record 180,000 turn out for Tina". Chicago Sun-Times . January 18, 1988. Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Italian Singer Ligabue Sets First U.S. Tour". Billboard. September 16, 2014. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Springsteen going over Berlin Wall". Chicago Sun-Times . July 13, 1988. Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Na Ušću 150.000 Ljudi skandiralo "Ceco, Mi te Volimo"". Plus Online. Plus Online Magazine. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  12. ↑ Guiccione, Bob (July 21, 2017). "Remembering Roger Waters' 1990 Concert At The Berlin Wall". Spin.
  13. ↑ "'U2: The Ultimate Music Guide' – on sale now". NME. April 29, 2009. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  14. ↑ Weiss, Brett (2016). Encyclopedia of Kiss: Music, Personnel, Events and Related Subjects. McFarland & Company. p. 43. ISBN   9780306819209.
  15. ↑ 5 Times Robbie Williams Rocked Ireland - 25 years of the Ultimate Entertainer!. Danny Joyce. 2022.
  16. 1 2 Henke, James (June 11, 1981). "Queen Holds Court in South America". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on September 9, 2009.
  17. ↑ "Helene-Fischer-Konzert in München: Florian Silbereisen sorgt mit Ansage für Gänsehaut". GMX . August 21, 2022. Retrieved August 21, 2022.
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  19. ↑ "Boxscore Top 10 Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard . August 19, 2017. p. 10. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  20. ↑ Wright, Jade (June 27, 2009). "Michael Jackson Liverpool's gig in 1988: Unique star, unique date". liverpoolecho. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
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  23. ↑ Nikolić, Dejana. "17. juna 2006. na Ušću u Beogradu Ceca je održala koncert i ovim događajem je oborila rekord posete. Na koncertu je prisustvovalo preko 120.000 posetilaca". Blic. Blic Show - Zabava. Retrieved June 17, 2006.
  24. ↑ "Vasco Rossi, a Trento la carica dei 120.000 per il ritorno del rocker dopo la pandemia". May 19, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Andy Kershaw: The Rolling Stones Guide To Painting And Decorating". sabotagetimes.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  26. ↑ Michaels, Sean (February 21, 2012). "Queen's show goes on as Adam Lambert replaces Freddie Mercury". The Guardian. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  27. ↑ "Madonna Concert Draws 120,000". The Buffalo News . November 8, 1993. Archived from the original on November 29, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  28. ↑ "Polish bishop sees Michael Jackson's visit as a sign of decline". Presbyterian Record . December 1, 1996. Archived from the original on December 9, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  29. ↑ "Top 4 Největší hudební koncerty v historii České republiky!". iDNES.cz. January 4, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  30. ↑ "Coldplay Breaks Record for Largest-Ever Stadium Shows of the 21st Century". Billboard. January 27, 2025. Archived from the original on January 28, 2025. Retrieved January 28, 2025.
  31. ↑ "George Strait Breaks Attendance Record With Largest Concert Ever Held in The U.S." Billboard . June 15, 2024. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
  32. ↑ "Michael Jackson's Record". estadioazteca.com.mx. June 13, 2018. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
  33. ↑ Lu, Donna (March 4, 2023). "Ed Sheeran breaks Australian record for ticketed concert attendance". The Guardian. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  34. ↑ "Billboard Top Boxoffice" (PDF). Billboard . September 17, 2017. p. 39. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  35. ↑ "Relembre a épica passagem de Michael Jackson pela cidade em 1993". April 27, 2021.
  36. ↑ "Gli AC/DC stregano i 105mila fan della Rcf Arena". May 26, 2024.
  37. ↑ "Attendance Records Shattered After George Strait Concert". Dallascowboys.com. June 11, 2014. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  38. ↑ "Watch: Garth Brooks plays 'Callin' Baton Rouge' for more than 102,000 fans at Tiger Stadium". The Advocate . May 1, 2022. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
  39. ↑ "Behind the Headlines: Michael Jackson Visit to Israel Was Taste of Normalcy for Teens". March 20, 2015.
  40. ↑ "Ricky Martin's Concert in Mexico City Draws More Than 100,000 Fans: See Photos". Billboard.com. November 27, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  41. ↑ "Acts for the Ages: The Pyramids' Most Iconic Concerts" . Retrieved February 19, 2025.
  42. ↑ "Harry Styles' Love on Tour concludes after 173 concerts across the globe". www.geo.tv. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  43. ↑ "Arts and Media/Music Feats & Facts/Huge Free Gig". Guinness World Records . May 25, 2006. Archived from the original on May 25, 2006. Retrieved December 14, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  44. ↑ "Folha de S.Paulo - Festa em Copacabana tem público recorde - 2/1/1995". Folha de S.Paulo . January 1, 1994. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
  45. ↑ "Jean-Michel's Up For The Cup; Rock Star Jean-Michel Jarre Recalls His Friendship with Princess Diana and Picks His France 98 Winners". The Mirror . Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  46. ↑ McWhirter, Norris (January 3, 1953). "The Guinness Book of Records 1993". The Spokesman-Review . Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  47. ↑ McWhirter, Norris (December 14, 1993). The Guinness Book of Records 1993 . Bantam Books. ISBN   9780553562576 . Retrieved December 14, 2017– via Internet Archive. Jean-Michel Jarre concert Guinness.
  48. ↑ "la Repubblica/sport: Un milione al Circo Massimo per la notte giallorossa". la Repubblica . Retrieved September 15, 2019.
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  50. ↑ Publicity, Brian Bumbery (May 29, 2014). "Metallica's "Black Album" Sets New Sales Record". globenewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  51. ↑ "Madonna Leva 1,6 Milhão a Copacabana, Diz Riotur" [Madonna Takes 1.6 Million to Copacabana, Says Riotur] (in Portuguese). G1. May 5, 2024. Archived from the original on May 5, 2024. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
  52. ↑ Sarah Lyall (July 3, 2005). "Musical Cry to Help Africa's Poor Is Heard Around Globe". The New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  53. ↑ Rohter, Larry (February 19, 2006). "The Stones Rock 1.5 Million in Rio Days Before Carnival". The New York Times. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  54. ↑ "Rolling Stones hold giant Rio gig". BBC. February 19, 2006. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  55. ↑ Hawkins, Jonathan (April 5, 2016). "The tragic triumph of the world's largest concert". CNN. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  56. ↑ Hughes, Alex; Reader, Keith (March 11, 2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture. Routledge. ISBN   9781134788668 . Retrieved December 14, 2017– via Google Books.
  57. ↑ "Hundreds of thousands attend Cuba 'peace concert'". CNN. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  58. ↑ "Juanes' Cuba Concert Details Announced". Billboard. September 10, 2009. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
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  61. ↑ "Público Vai Ao Delírio Com O Grupo Black Eyed Peas" (in Portuguese). Globo.com . Retrieved August 14, 2020.
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