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Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris has set a Guinness World Records milestone after an estimated 1.6 million people attended his performance during a free pre-Carnival street event in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Guinness World Records confirmed Monday that Harris' Feb. 8 performance drew the largest audience recorded for a DJ set by a single artist, placing the event in a separate category from records covering concerts and other forms of live performance.
Harris performed from a carnival float on Rua da Consolacao, near Avenida Paulista, one of Sao Paulo's main thoroughfares, as the crowd gathered to hear some of his best-known tracks, including "We Found Love," "One Kiss," "I Need Your Love" and "This Is What You Came For."
The scale of the gathering led authorities to close Rua da Consolacao amid overcrowding, while some attendees reportedly fainted as temperatures reached 27 degrees Celsius.
Harris, whose real name is Adam Wiles, appeared in a Brazil soccer jersey carrying the name "Calvinho" and the number 00 during the set.
The estimated 1.6 million attendance figure puts the Sao Paulo event on a similar scale to US singer Madonna's free concert on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach in May 2024, which Guinness also cited as an example of Brazil's ability to draw exceptionally large crowds for free music events.
However, Harris' Guinness record applies specifically to the largest attendance for a DJ set by a single artist rather than to concerts or live performances more broadly.
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