Top 10 Largest Crowds Ever Caught on Camera

1-5 Million
In July of 2016, the Peace at Home Council, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces, attempted a coup against Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The coup failed, leading to mass arrests and purges that saw Erdogan crackdown on dissent throughout the country. On August 7, an anti-coup rally called the Democracy and Martyrs’ Rally was organized in Istanbul. Public transport to the rally was provided free of charge, as well as both water and food. A huge crowd attended; state-run media outlet Anadolu Agency put the number at five million. If true, that would make it the largest turnout for a political rally in history.

5 Million
On September 28, 1970, the second President of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser, died of a heart attack at 52. Nasser was responsible for the Egyptian revolution of 1952, and he gained national renown for his leadership during the Suez Crisis of 1956. His sudden death in 1970 shocked Egypt and the world. In a testament to his influence, an estimated five million people flocked to Cairo to take part in Nasser’s funeral, including French Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas. The funeral procession took place on October 1st, three days after his death. The procession traveled through over 6 miles of densely-packed Cairo and ended at the Nasr Mosque.

5 Million
Alright, enough about politics. Let’s talk baseball! The 2016 World Series was historic, pitting the Chicago Cubs against the Cleveland Indians. Both teams had the longest World Series droughts in baseball history, with the Indians last winning in 1948 and the Cubs in 1908. It made for one of the greatest World Series’ of all time, and the Cubs barely squeaked by the Indians 4 games to 3. As this was their first Series win in 108 years, the celebration was suitably epic. The team’s victory parade took place on November 4 and drew an estimated five million people to the streets of Chicago. It traveled from Wrigley Field and ended at Grant Park for a massive noon rally.

6-7 Million
Manila has hosted numerous historic gatherings related to Catholicism. These include World Youth Day 1995 and the Nazarene parade of 2015—both of which were attended by approximately 5 and 5.5 million people respectively. But that doesn’t measure up to the Mass that took place in the city’s Rizal Park, also known as Luneta. Shortly after the aforementioned parade, Pope Francis visited the Philippines from January 15-19 of 2015 - the country’s first papal visit of the 21st century. The pope concluded his trip with a Mass in Luneta, drawing between six and seven million people. This event set a record for the largest papal gathering in history.

7.5 Million
One of New York’s proudest traditions is throwing ticker tape parades. This is a type of procession in which people throw large amounts of shredded paper from buildings onto the parade route. The biggest ticker tape parade took place in 1951, to honor General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur played a prominent role in the Pacific theater, serving as Supreme Commander of the Southwest Pacific Area. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his defensive work in the Philippines, and officially accepted the surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, officially ending World War II. He was eventually relieved by President Truman in April 1951, resulting in a ticker tape parade that drew an estimated 7.5 million people.

7-9 Million
Apparently, 2015 was the year of massive religious gatherings! Each year, millions of pilgrims travel to Karbala, Iraq, on Ashura, the tenth day of Muharram. For Shia Muslims, Ashura commemorates the martyrdom of the prophet Muhammad’s grandson Husayn ibn Ali, who was killed in the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE. In the city, pilgrims perform mourning rates at Ali’s holy shrine. In October 2015, an estimated 7-9 million pilgrims attended the ceremony, roughly four million of them having travelled there from outside the country.

10 Million
The leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini was the country’s first Supreme Leader and founded the Islamic Republic of Iran. Khomeini lived to the age of 86 and died on June 3, 1989 after suffering five heart attacks in ten days. His funeral was supposed to be held on June 4th, but had to be called off, as the crowd of mourners destroyed his coffin and tore away pieces of his death shroud to keep as holy relics. The funeral was rescheduled to June 11th, with a casket made of steel! This time, it was more orderly, although the crowd was even bigger: a staggering ten million people lined the streets of Tehran to attend his funeral procession.

15 Million
Serving as the fifth Chief Minister of Madras State and the first Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, C.N. Annadurai was a prominent Indian politician. Soon after winning a landslide victory in 1967, Annadurai began suffering from esophageal cancer. This was thought to be the result of his love of tobacco chewing. Annadurai received treatment in New York, but his health deteriorated after returning to India and he died on February 3, 1969 at the age of 59. His death caused a national outpouring of grief, and an estimated 15 million people attended his funeral. It was officially recognized by The Guinness Book of Records as the highest-attended funeral in history.

25 Million
For this entry, we return to Karbala in Iraq. Each year, after Ashura, Karbala hosts the world’s largest public gathering with the Arba’een Pilgrimage. The pilgrimage takes place on the 20th day of Safar, the second month of the Islamic calendar. The pilgrimage routinely draws massive crowds, often exceeding ten million. This peaked in 2016, when upwards of 25 million people made the pilgrimage to Karbala. It was the highest turnout for the pilgrimage and one of the highest-attended events in world history.

50 Million
India’s Kumbh Mela is a major Hindu festival and pilgrimage, with the main event being a ritualistic cleansing by bathing in the rivers at four different sites around the country. The ritual is also marked by festive and communal events, including live entertainment and religious teachings. It’s hard to estimate just how many people attend Kumbh Mela, as the numbers are staggeringly high. By the best estimates, the highest turnouts on a single day occurred in the city of Prayagraj on February 10, 2013, with 30 million; and February 4, 2019, with a whopping 50 million!