Zach Bryan made history on Saturday night as the first artist ever to play at Michigan Stadium, for an audience of 112,408 — setting the record for the largest ticketed concert audience in U.S. history, according to AEG Presents, the show’s promoter.
With special guest John Mayer and support from Ryan Bingham and the Texas Gentlemen and Joshua Slone, the largest ticketed show in U.S. history also set a merchandise sales record in the amount of $5 million.
The record was previously held by country superstar George Strait, who drew 110,905 people to Kyle Field in Texas in 2024, and he also previously held the No. 3 spot with an audience of 104,793 on that same 2024 tour in New Jersey. The previous No. 2 concert was the Grateful Dead’s 1977 concert at Raceway Park in New Jersey, with 107,019, according to Billboard’s touring chart.
The largest concert audience in history was for Rod Stewart’s free 1994 New Year’s Eve show at Brazil’s Copacabana Beach, with an estimated 3.5 million people. That site has also hosted gigantic shows by Jorge Ben (3 million, 1993), Lady Gaga (2.1 million last May), Madonna (1.6 million, 2024) and the Rolling Stones (1.5 million, 2006). However, those all were free concerts.
Michigan Stadium is the largest stadium in the U.S. and the third largest in the world. While the stadium has previously held other sporting events including soccer matches and college and professional hockey games, this was the first time an artist headlined a concert at “The Big House.”
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Bryan recently re-upped with Warner Records and sold his publishing catalog in a deal with a combined value of $350 million, sources tell Variety. His most recent album, “The Great American Bar Scene,” was released on July 4, 2024 and saw 17 of its 19 songs in the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in its first charting week.
From Variety US