The city of Rio de Janeiro was awarded the title of the largest New Year’s Eve celebration in the world by Guinness World Records on Tuesday (Dec. 30).
The certificate was presented to Mayor Eduardo Paes on stage in Copacabana. According to the institution, the city confirmed the presence of 2.5 million people in 2025 on the stretch of sand in front of the stage on the beach.
“Millions of people, coming from different parts of Brazil and the world, took part in the celebration that turned Rio’s waterfront into a unique spectacle of music, culture, lights and fireworks,” said a representative of the organization.
For the arrival of 2026, the Copacabana stage will host exclusive performances — including Belo with Alcione, and Gilberto Gil with Ney Matogrosso.
“I’d like to thank Guinness for the tribute. Every time this story about the number of people at Copacabana’s New Year’s Eve comes out, there’s a lot of questioning. It’s obvious that even if it weren’t true, the celebration itself — the number of stages — would already be justified by the joy of the event,” the mayor told Globo in an interview.
“There is no place in the world that holds public-space parties with the consistency Rio does and with so many people. There isn’t. I challenge anyone to point out a city anywhere in the world that does what we do. There isn’t one in Brazil or anywhere else. It only happens in Rio,” he said.
In addition to Copacabana, Rio’s 2026 New Year’s Eve celebration will feature stages in 10 other regions of the city.
“The title was granted to the event after analysis and validation of the criteria established by Guinness World Records, considering the record number of participants, the scale of the artistic programming, the territorial extent of the event and its cultural relevance,” Guinness World Records announced in a press release.
Sustainability
Rio’s 2026 New Year’s Eve celebration also marks an advance in visual spectacle and a commitment to sustainability. The fireworks show will feature a special soundtrack and will be complemented by a drone ballet — the largest in Brazil — paying tribute to Rio.
At the same time, the event will adopt a series of ESG (environment, social and governance) practices, such as waste management, carbon offsetting and accessibility, aiming to become a “sustainable turning of the year.”
Billboard Brasil is a strategic media partner of this celebration, which reaffirms Rio as the world capital of New Year’s Eve.
