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List of most-attended concerts

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Not to be confused with List of most-attended concert tours.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

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

This article lists the most-attended concerts of all time. The oldest 100,000-crowd concert reported to Billboard Boxscore is Grateful Dead's gig at the Raceway Park, Englishtown, New Jersey on September 3, 1977. The concert was attended by 107,019 people. Internationally, 40 paid concerts have surpassed the initial record set by Grateful Dead. Frank Sinatra, Tina Turner, and Paul McCartney broke the record respectively in Maracanã Stadium. With an audience of over 184,000 people on April 21, 1990, McCartney's record was broken by Norwegian synth-pop band a-ha with 198,000 paying audience during Rock in Rio on the 26 January 1991, then a-ha record was broken by a Japanese rock band, Glay, which held a concert with an audience of 200,000 people on July 31, 1999, in Chiba, Japan (Makuhari Parking Lot). GLAY held the record for 6 years. Italian singer Vasco Rossi surpassed the record with his solo concert on July 1, 2017 with a total of 225,173 tickets sold at Modena Park. The concert was a celebration of his 40 years of career.

Although the attendance numbers of free concerts are known to be exaggerations,[1] several concerts have been reported to have a million audience or more. Both Jean-Michel Jarre's concert in Moscow 1997 and Rod Stewart's concert in Copacabana 1994 have been reported to attract audiences of more than 3.5 million people. Jean-Michel Jarre has attracted a live audience of more than a million spectators on five occasions, three times in Paris, 1979, 1990 and 1995, once in Houston, 1986, and once in Moscow, 1997. He is the only artist ever to have done so. 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] It became the all-time most attended standalone concert for any artist performing for free.[3]

Most-attended concerts

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

Ticketed concerts

[edit]

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

Date Artist Venue City Title Ticketed Attendance Ref.
1 July 2017 Vasco Rossi * Parco Enzo Ferrari Modena Modena Park 2017 225,173 [4][5]
28 June 2005 Bijelo Dugme * Belgrade Hippodrome Belgrade 2005 Tour: Sarajevo, Zagreb, Belgrade 220,000 [6][7]
31 July 1999 Glay * Makuhari Messe Chiba Glay Expo'99 Survival 200,000 [8]
20 April 1990 Paul McCartney * Maracanã Stadium Rio de Janeiro The Paul McCartney World Tour 184,000 [9]
16 January 1988 Tina Turner * Break Every Rule World Tour 180,000 [10][11]
26 January 1980 Frank Sinatra * Frank Sinatra Live 175,000 [10][12]
10 September 2005 Luciano Ligabue Aeroporto di Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia Campovolo 165,264 [13]
19 July 1988 Bruce Springsteen Radrennbahn Weissensee Berlin Tunnel of Love Express Tour 160,000 [14]
28 June 2013 Ceca Ušće Park Belgrade Poziv Tour 150,500 [15]
21 July 1990 Roger Waters Potsdamer Platz Berlin Roger Waters’ 1990 Concert At The Berlin Wall 150,000 [16]
20 September 1997 U2 Aeroporto di Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia PopMart Tour 150,000 [17]
18 June 1983 Kiss Maracanã Stadium Rio de Janeiro Creatures of the Night Tour/10th Anniversary Tour 137,000 [18]
9 August 2003 Robbie Williams Phoenix Park Dublin 2003 Tour 135,000 [19]
20 March 1981 Queen Estádio do Morumbi São Paulo The Game Tour 131,000 [20]
20 August 2022 Helene Fischer Neue Messe München Munich Rausch Live - Die Tour 130,000 [21]
29 August 1987 Madonna Parc de Sceaux Paris Who's That Girl World Tour 130,000 [22]
5 August 1995 The Rolling Stones Strahov Stadium Prague Voodoo Lounge Tour 126,742 [23]
11 September 1988 Michael Jackson Aintree Racecourse Liverpool Bad World Tour 125,000 [24]
7 September 1996 Letná Park Prague HIStory World Tour 125,000 [25]
10 August 1996 Oasis Knebworth Park Stevenage (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Tour 125,000 [26]
[27]
11 August 1996 125,000
1 August 2003 Robbie Williams 2003 Tour 125,000 [28]
2 August 2003 125,000
3 August 2003 125,000
17 June 2006 Ceca Ušće Park Belgrade Idealno Loša Tour 120,000 [29]
20 May 2022 Vasco Rossi Trentino Music Arena Trento Vasco Live Tour 2022 120,000 [30]
21 March 1981 Queen Estádio do Morumbi São Paulo The Game Tour 120,000 [20]
25 July 1982 The Rolling Stones Roundhay Park Leeds The Rolling Stones European Tour 1982 120,000 [31]
9 August 1986 Queen Knebworth Park Stevenage The Magic Tour 120,000 [32]
6 November 1993 Madonna Maracanã Stadium Rio de Janeiro The Girlie Show 120,000 [33]
20 September 1996 Michael Jackson Bemowo, Airport Warsaw HIStory World Tour 120,000 [34]
7 September 1994 Pink Floyd Strahov Stadium Prague The Division Bell Tour 115,000 [35]
15 June 2024 George Strait Kyle Field College Station The King at Kyle Field 110,905 [36]
31 October 1993 Michael Jackson Estadio Azteca Mexico City Dangerous World Tour 110,000 [37]
29 October 1993 110,000
7 November 1993 110,000
9 November 1993 110,000
11 November 1993 110,000
3 March 2023 Ed Sheeran Melbourne Cricket Ground Melbourne +–=÷× Tour 110,000 [38]
2 March 2023 108,000
3 September 1977 Grateful Dead* Raceway Park Englishtown Terrapin Station Tour 107,019 [39]
15 October 1993 Michael Jackson Estádio do Morumbi São Paulo Dangerous World Tour 105,000 [40]
17 October 1993 105,000
25 May 2024 AC/DC RCF Arena Reggio Emilia Power Up Tour 105,000 [41]
7 June 2014 George Strait AT&T Stadium Arlington The Cowboy Rides Away Tour 104,793 [42]
30 April 2022 Garth Brooks Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge The Garth Brooks Stadium Tour 102,000 [43]
15 June 2002 Ceca Marakana Belgrade Decenija Tour 120,000 [44]


September 21, 1993 Michael Jackson Yarkon Park Tel Aviv Dangerous World Tour 100,000 [45]
25 November 2017 Ricky Martin Zócalo Mexico City One World Tour 100,000 [46]
28 March 2007 Shakira Giza Plateau Cairo Oral Fixation Tour 100,000 [47]

Free concerts

[edit]

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]

Date Headlining artist Location City Event Attendance Ref.
December 31, 1994 Rod Stewart * Copacabana Beach Rio de Janeiro New Year's Eve >3,500,000 [48][49]
September 6, 1997 Jean-Michel Jarre * Moscow State University Moscow Oxygene in Moscow
(850th anniversary of Moscow) 		>3,500,000 [50]
December 31, 1993 Jorge Ben Jor * Copacabana Beach Rio de Janeiro New Year's Eve 3,000,000 [51]
July 14, 1990 Jean-Michel Jarre * La Défense Paris Bastille Day 2,500,000 [52]
June 24, 2001 Antonello Venditti Circus Maximus Rome AS Roma's 3rd Serie A victory 1,800,000 [53]
September 28, 1991 AC/DC, Pantera, Metallica, The Black Crowes, E.S.T. Tushino Airfield Moscow Monsters of Rock 1,600,000 [54][55]
May 4, 2024 Madonna ‡ Copacabana Beach Rio de Janeiro The Celebration Tour 1,600,000 [56]
July 2, 2005 Various artists Philadelphia Museum of Art Philadelphia Live 8 1,500,000 [57]
February 18, 2006 The Rolling Stones ‡ Copacabana Beach Rio de Janeiro A Bigger Bang 1,500,000 [58][59]
April 5, 1986 Jean-Michel Jarre * Downtown Houston Houston Rendez-vous Houston
(150th anniversary of Houston) 		1,300,000 [60][61]
September 20, 2009 Various artists Plaza de la Revolución Havana Paz Sin Fronteras II 1,100,000 [62][63]
July 14, 1979 Jean-Michel Jarre * Place de la Concorde Paris Bastille Day 1,000,000 [64]
July 4, 1985 The Beach Boys Philadelphia Museum of Art Philadelphia Independence Day concert 1,000,000 [65]
December 31, 2006 The Black Eyed Peas Ipanema Beach Rio de Janeiro New Year's Eve 1,000,000 [66]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b 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. ^ Salini, Antonella (July 7, 2017). "Modena Park, Vasco oltre il sold out: c'erano prenotazioni per altri 160mila biglietti". Agenzia Dire (in Italian). Retrieved February 2, 2024.
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ While there are reports of over 250,000 people attending the concert, other sources state lower numbers. The precise number of spectators is unclear.
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  26. ^ "No maybe about it, Manchester's Oasis definitely were supersonic". Belfasttelegraph. Retrieved December 9, 2017 – via The Belfast Telegraph.
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  38. ^ Lu, Donna (March 4, 2023). "Ed Sheeran breaks Australian record for ticketed concert attendance". The Guardian. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
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  46. ^ "Ricky Martin's Concert in Mexico City Draws More Than 100,000 Fans: See Photos". Billboard.com. November 27, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
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  49. ^ "Folha de S.Paulo - Festa em Copacabana tem público recorde - 2/1/1995". Folha de S.Paulo. January 1, 1994. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
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  55. ^ Publicity, Brian Bumbery (May 29, 2014). "Metallica's "Black Album" Sets New Sales Record". globenewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved December 14, 2017.
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  57. ^ Sarah Lyall (July 3, 2005). "Musical Cry to Help Africa's Poor Is Heard Around Globe". The New York Times. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  58. ^ Rohter, Larry (February 19, 2006). "The Stones Rock 1.5 Million in Rio Days Before Carnival". The New York Times. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
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  63. ^ "Juanes' Cuba Concert Details Announced". Billboard. September 10, 2009. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  64. ^ Terrel, Antoine (October 24, 2019). "Jean-Michel Jarre sur son concert mythique place de la Concorde : "J'ai mis un an à m'en remettre"" (in French). Europe 1. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
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  66. ^ "Público Vai Ao Delírio Com O Grupo Black Eyed Peas" (in Portuguese). Globo.com. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
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