World’s Largest Concert Had 35 Lakh Attendees, 100 Times As Many As Diljit Dosanjh’s Delhi Gig

On Saturday, Diljit Dosanjh returned to India after months to perform in Delhi as part of his Dil-Luminati Tour. As per reports, 35,000 screaming fans attended his concert at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

That makes it a big concert by Indian standards. However, if one looks at the largest concerts the world has seen, Diljit’s gig is dwarfed in comparison. The largest of them all had 100 times as many people.

The world’s largest concert

In December 1994, Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach hosted a grand New Year’s Eve party. In the past, the city hosted grand events in which big international artists performed. These concerts always see large crowds, as entry is free, and there are no restrictions on food and alcohol. The carnival-like atmosphere sees lakhs of people attend these events. On December 31, 1994, Rod Stewart performed at Copacabana and broke records with an attendance of 35 lakh at the beach, more than the population of several neighbouring cities.

Three years later, French musician Jean-Michel Jarre equalled this record with his performance at the Oxygene in Moscow, another free concert. The 35-lakh attendance of these two gigs makes them a hundred times bigger than Diljit’s mega Delhi concert.

The largest ticketed concerts in the world

But the million-odd attendance at a concert only happens when the entry is free. Ticketed concerts usually have much lower attendance, but even those numbers are still impressive. The biggest ticketed concert ever was by Italian performer Vasco Rossi, who had 2.25 lakh fans in attendance at his Modena Park event in 2017. In India, the largest-ticketed concert was by Justin Bieber in Mumbai in 2021 and by Diljit Dosanjh in 2023, both attended by 50,000 people.