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The Queen of Pop closed out her Celebration Tour in grand fashion. Published on May 5, 2024 01:44PM EDT Forty years into her legendary career, Madonna played to her largest audience ever with a free concert at Copacabana beach Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro that drew 1.6 million people.
The concert was the pop diva's final show of her Celebration Tour, which kicked off in October and wound its way through 81 dates and 15 countries.
PABLO PORCIUNCULA/AFP via Getty Previously, Madonna's biggest show was 130,000 people at Paris' Parc des Sceaux in 1987.
As per custom, Madge was joined onstage by celebrity guests, this time Brazilian artists Anitta and Pabllo Vittar. And also as per custom, the concert started behind schedule, nearly 50 minutes late.
According to the AP, the concert was estimated to inject $57 million into the local economy, with fans traveling from across Brazil and Argentina, and even as far as France for the once-in-a-lifetime show.
Copacabana beach is known for its fireworks display on New Years Eve, which draws millions of spectators. Rod Stewart piggybacked off the annual tradition in 1994, setting the record for the largest free rock concert ever with 4.2 million people.
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