Unbelievable footage captures moment Madonna makes history with largest crowd ever at free concert

Madonna has made history with her largest-ever crowd.

The Queen of Pop performed the last show of her Celebration Tour last night (4 May) on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Expected to bring in millions for the local economy, Madonna put on the concert for free as fans celebrated her iconic 40 years in music.

It is estimated by city authorities that the 65-year-old’s show drew in a crowd of a whopping 1.6 million.

Finishing off her 81-date retrospective tour, the ‘Like a Prayer’ singer said to the crowd: “Rio, here we are in the most beautiful place in the world.”

2 million people singing madonna’ ‘like a virgin’ in rio pic.twitter.com/tvNjxfLmCY

— 2000s (@PopCulture2000s) May 5, 2024

Incredible images and footage of the area show the mega amount of people that danced along to the superstar’s show as helicopters and drones flew overhead.

With many calling it a ‘historic’ show, Madonna’s website says it was the biggest she had ever done - at over 10 times the 130,000-person crowd she performed to at Paris' Parc des Sceaux in 1987.

Rio is pretty used to these mega shows with the likes of The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart performing to similar-sized crowds there.

Giant screens and 18 speaker towers were located along the beach and thousands of police were on duty for the event.

The neighbourhood was filled with merch and billboards as excitement built up for yesterday with fans arriving hours (or even days) in advance to secure a spot.

.@Madonna makes history in Rio tonight marking the largest ever standalone concert for any artist, with over 1.6 million fans attending as she closes The Celebration Tour! pic.twitter.com/czryOx2q6i

— Live Nation (@LiveNation) May 5, 2024

Others even watched the show from yachts and apartment balconies.

Authorities reckon the free concert would earn the local economy about 293 million reals (£46m).

Hotels and Airbnbs were, of course, all snapped up in the area with about 170 extra flights into Rio de Janeiro during 1 to 6 May as fans flocked for Madonna.

The singer sang plenty of her greatest hits such as ‘Vogue’, ‘Nothing Really Matters’ and ‘Like a Virgin’.

There were also Brazilian musicians and local samba schools involved in the special show.

A press release previously stated her concert 'will be free of charge as a thank you to her fans for celebration more than four decades of her music over the course of the epic global run of the tour'.

A 1994 New Year's Eve show saw over four million fans at Copacabana beach as Rod Stewart gave the biggest free rock concert in history, according to Guinness World Records.