,I did some more research.
It is estimated that 200,000 people will descend to seoul for the BTS event.
Netflix is going to be the winner since it will retain an exclusive right over this event
Rod Stewart had a concert in Rio de Janeiro on New Year's Eve 1994, at Copacabana beach. About 4 million, give or take a couple hundred thousand, attended.
But apparently it was a part of a year event there where Stewart was a headliner. People in that part of the world apparently put a great emphasis on such event so it is always well attended.
Still, I found some interesting trends - local singers tend to have the record of the most attended concerts in their own countries
The largest paid concert is said to be that of Marko Petrovic, stage name "Thompson" , at Zagreb, Croatia on Jul 5, 2025.
A singer hardly known outside of Croatia, I do not know too much about him to comment about why he is that popular in there. Apparently he is virtually unknown outside of Croatia but it is said he assembled 500,000 in a racetrack near the Croatian capital.
Prior to this, the largest paid concert was held by Vasco Rossi at Modena, Italy, where 225,173 people attended.
Rossi is unknown outside of Italy and Modena , a city of 184,000, is hardly a major city. I do not know why he chose that town to have his concert - maybe he was from there, but i don't know too much about him to comment.
#3 is Bjelo Dugme, a Bosnian based act apparently singing in Serbian. Their concert in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, drew 220,000.
So the largest paid concerts of all time were all held by people hardly known outside of their own countries in cities few foreign acts visit.
Japan's largest concert was that of Glay, which had a concert in the parking lot of Makuhari Expo Center , near Disneyland Tokyo, for an audience of 200,000, the largest paid concert to the day (1999).
That is followed by Indio Solari, an Argentinian singer hardly known outside of there, and then Paul McCartney, Tina Turner and Frank Sinatra, all doing the concerts in Rio's Maracana stadium in 1980s. (The old Maracana was torn down for the FIFA World Cup 2014 since it was too old, and the new stadium built there can only put about 80,000 in.)
Compared to these events BTS' event is chump change.
