List of highest-attended concerts

The record for biggest concert attendance is held by Vasco Rossi (left) for a ticketed concert and Rod Stewart (right) for a free concert.

This page lists the highest-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, which remains the largest ticketed concert in the United States to date. 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 held the record for 27 years. Italian singer Vasco Rossi surpassed McCartney's record with his solo concert on July 1, 2017. 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. According to the Guinness World Records, Rod Stewart's show in Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, remains the highest-attended free concert with an estimated 3.5 million audience.

Highest-attended concerts

Key
 • Indicates the concert was the highest-attended of all time up to that point

Single-artist concerts

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

Date Artist Venue City Title Attendance Ref.
July 1, 2017 Vasco Rossi  • Enzo Ferrari Park Modena Modena Park 2017 220,000 [2]
April 21, 1990 Paul McCartney  • Maracanã Stadium Rio de Janeiro The Paul McCartney World Tour 184,000 [3]
January 16, 1988 Tina Turner  • Maracanã Stadium Rio de Janeiro Break Every Rule World Tour 180,000 [4][5]
January 26, 1980 Frank Sinatra  • Maracanã Stadium Rio de Janeiro Frank Sinatra Live 175,000 [4][6]
September 10, 2005 Luciano Ligabue Aeroporto di Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia Campovolo 165,264 [7]
July 19, 1988 Bruce Springsteen Radrennbahn Weissensee Berlin Tunnel of Love Express Tour 160,000 [8]
September 20, 1997 U2 Aeroporto di Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia PopMart Tour 150,000 [9]
March 20, 1981 Queen Estádio do Morumbi São Paulo The Game Tour 131,000 [10]
August 29, 1987 Madonna Parc de Sceaux Paris Who's That Girl World Tour 130,000 [11]
August 5, 1995 The Rolling Stones Strahov Stadium Prague Voodoo Lounge Tour 126,742 [12]
September 7, 1996 Michael Jackson Letná Park Prague HIStory World Tour 125,000 [13]
August 10, 1996 Oasis Knebworth Park Stevenage (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Tour 125,000 [14]
[15]
August 11, 1996 125,000
August 1, 2003 Robbie Williams Knebworth Park Stevenage 2003 Tour 125,000 [16]
August 2, 2003 125,000
August 3, 2003 125,000
March 21, 1981 Queen Estádio do Morumbi São Paulo The Game Tour 120,000 [17]
July 25, 1982 The Rolling Stones Roundhay Park Leeds The Rolling Stones European Tour 1982 120,000 [18]
August 9, 1986 Queen Knebworth Park Stevenage Magic Tour 120,000 [19]
November 6, 1993 Madonna Maracanã Stadium Rio de Janeiro The Girlie Show World Tour 120,000 [20]
September 20, 1996 Michael Jackson Bemowo, Airport Warsaw HIStory World Tour 120,000 [21]
July 15, 1987 U2 Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Madrid The Joshua Tree Tour 115,000 [22]
September 3, 1977 Grateful Dead  • Raceway Park Englishtown Terrapin Station Tour 107,019 [23]

Free concerts

The following are free concerts with reported attendance of one million people or more. 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, 1993 Rod Stewart  • Copacabana Beach Rio de Janeiro New Year's Eve 3,500,000 [24]
September 6, 1997 Jean-Michel Jarre State University of Moscow Moscow The 850th Anniversary of Moscow 3,500,000 [25]
July 14, 1990 Jean-Michel Jarre  • La Défense Paris Bastille Day 2,000,000 [26]
September 28, 1991 AC/DC, Pantera, Metallica, The Black Crowes, E.S.T. Tushino Airfield Moscow Monsters of Rock 1,600,000 [27][28]
July 2, 2005 Various artists Philadelphia Museum of Art Philadelphia Live 8 1,500,000 [29]
February 18, 2006 The Rolling Stones Copacabana Beach Rio de Janeiro A Bigger Bang 1,500,000 [30][31]
April 5, 1986 Jean-Michel Jarre  • Downtown Houston Houston Rendez-vous Houston 1,300,000 [32][33]
September 20, 2009 Various artists Plaza de la Revolución Havana Paz Sin Fronteras II 1,100,000 [34][35]

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. ↑ Gottfried, Gideon (June 29, 2017). "Rossi Sets Record In Italy". Pollstar. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  3. ↑ "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.
  4. 1 2 "A record 180,000 turn out for Tina". Chicago Sun-Times. January 18, 1988. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  5. ↑ Company, Johnson Publishing (February 8, 1988). "Jet". Retrieved December 15, 2017 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ Russell, Alan (October 1, 1986). "Guinness Book of World Records 1987". Sterling. Retrieved December 15, 2017 – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ "Italian Singer Ligabue Sets First U.S. Tour". Billboard. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Springsteen going over Berlin Wall". Chicago Sun-Times. July 13, 1988. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  9. ↑ "'U2: The Ultimate Music Guide' – on sale now - NME". NME. April 29, 2009. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  10. ↑ Henke, James (June 11, 1981). "Queen Holds Court in South America". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 9, 2009.
  11. ↑ Bassets, Luis (August 31, 1987). "Madonna convocó en París a 130.000 personas". El País (in Spanish). Madrid: Jesús de Polanco. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
  12. ↑ "Boxscore Top 10 Concert Grosses" (PDF). Billboard. August 19, 2017. p. 10. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Michael Jackson Statue Plans Draw Protests by Czechs". CBS News. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  14. ↑ "No maybe about it, Manchester's Oasis definitely were supersonic". Retrieved December 9, 2017 – via The Belfast Telegraph.
  15. ↑ Savage, Mark (August 10, 2016). "Oasis at Knebworth: 20 years since Britpop's biggest gigs". BBC. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  16. ↑ Hamilton, James (August 3, 2003). "Robbie gigs make music history and traffic misery". The Sunday Herald. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  17. ↑ Henke, James (June 11, 1981). "Queen Holds Court in South America". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 9, 2009.
  18. ↑ "Andy Kershaw: The Rolling Stones Guide To Painting And Decorating". sabotagetimes.com. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  19. ↑ Michaels, Sean (February 21, 2012). "Queen's show goes on as Adam Lambert replaces Freddie Mercury". The Guardian. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  20. ↑ "Madonna Concert Draws 120,000". The Buffalo News. November 8, 1993. Archived from the original on November 29, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Polish bishop sees Michael Jackson's visit as a sign of decline". Presbyterian Record. December 1, 1996. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  22. ↑ Gallardo, David (July 15, 2017). "U2 en el Bernabéu: 30 años de un delirio donde se colaron 40.000 personas". El País. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Billboard Top Boxoffice" (PDF). Billboard. September 17, 2017. p. 39. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  24. ↑ "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.
  25. ↑ "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. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  26. ↑ McWhirter, Norris (December 14, 1993). "The Guinness Book of Records 1993". Bantam Books. Retrieved December 14, 2017 – via Google Books.
  27. ↑ Smith, Nathan (August 9, 2012). "No Fences: Garth Brooks & the Fuzzy Math of 10 Mega-Concerts". houstonpress.com. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  28. ↑ Publicity, Brian Bumbery. "Metallica's "Black Album" Sets New Sales Record". globenewswire.com. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  29. ↑ Sarah Lyall (July 3, 2005). "Musical Cry to Help Africa's Poor Is Heard Around Globe". Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  30. ↑ Rohter, Larry (February 19, 2006). "The Stones Rock 1.5 Million in Rio Days Before Carnival". The New York Times. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  31. ↑ "Rolling Stones hold giant Rio gig". BBC. February 19, 2006. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  32. ↑ CNN, Jonathan Hawkins,. "The tragic triumph of the world's largest concert". CNN. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  33. ↑ Hughes, Alex; Reader, Keith (March 11, 2002). "Encyclopedia of Contemporary French Culture". Routledge. Retrieved December 14, 2017 – via Google Books.
  34. ↑ "Hundreds of thousands attend Cuba 'peace concert'". CNN. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  35. ↑ "Juanes' Cuba Concert Details Announced". Billboard. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
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