The artist formerly known as Kanye West performed for nearly two hours in Türkiye this weekend, at one point telling the crowd of tens of thousands that he had broken the record for the “largest stadium performance of all time.”
Naturally, the claim from the Bully artist, whose next stateside show is slated for later this month in Florida, was both echoed by fans and questioned by those who pointed to past ticketed performances from Paul McCartney, among other artists, as having netted higher attendance.
So, what’s the truth? We take—or, at least, attempt to take—a closer look below.
How many people did Ye say attended his Istanbul show?
“I just wanna tell y’all we just broke the record,” Ye, who in January expressed remorse for his past hateful remarks in a full-page Wall Street Journal ad, said at this weekend’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium show. “118,000. Largest stadium performance of all time.”
This figure was also included in a report from the state-run Anadolu Agency, as seen here.
Is Ye’s Türkiye show actually the “largest stadium performance of all time”?
First, we have to draw some lines here. Ye himself included the caveat of stadiums, meaning other types of venues don’t count in this context. Secondly, though the 24-time Grammy winner didn’t explicitly specify that the claim was exclusively centered on ticketed performances (i.e. not free shows), that distinction has since been widely affixed to his remarks on social media.
As for Paul McCartney, who previously collaborated with Ye on tracks including “Only One” and “All Day,” he and his band were previously reported to have nabbed the “largest paid attendance at a public event” bragging rights back in 1990.
Per a Los Angeles Times report at the time, the Beatles alum, whose latest album The Boys of Dungeon Lane arrived last Friday (May 29), performed for approximately 184,000 people at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã Stadium on April 21 of that year. Mentioned in the same report was that the late Frank Sinatra had performed for an estimated 175,000 fans at the same venue a decade earlier.
Meanwhile, this Guinness World Records listing cites Tina Turner’s own show at Maracanã Stadium in 1988 as the “highest attendance at a ticketed concert by a female artist,” with a reported 180,000 total attendees. Guinness also lists other live performance records, though they include non-stadium venues.
Of course, attendance tracking methods have evolved over the years, which no doubt complicates nailing down such records in the 2020s.
Has the Guinness World Records team chimed in on any of this?
For now, no, though Complex has reached out to Guinness World Records reps for comment. This story may be updated.
