Colombian superstar Shakira performed for 400,000 fans on Sunday night from Mexico City’s historic Zócalo, breaking the record for most attendees ever at a concert held in the city plaza, which faces the Metropolitan Cathedral, the 14th-century Templo Mayor and the National Palace.
“Shakira’s concert was a huge success!” Mexico City’s office of the mayor said on its official X account, “400,000 people gathered at the Zócalo to sing and dance along with an internationally renowned artist, in a night that will remain in the memory of the [capital].”
🎉 El concierto de @shakira fue todo un éxito. 🐺 400 mil personas se reunieron en el Zócalo para cantar y bailar junto a una artista de talla internacional, en una noche que quedará en la memoria de la #CapitalDeLaTransformación. 🌙🎶
México siempre te recibirá con los brazos… pic.twitter.com/nJGypMtGFn
— Gobierno de la Ciudad de México (@GobCDMX) March 2, 2026
President Sheinbaum — who in all likelihood viewed or at least heard the concert from her residence in the National Palace — commented on Shakira’s record-breaking audience at her Monday morning press conference, saying “people were happy; the warmth, the joy, the love, the zest for life: that’s Mexico.”
Sunday’s show officially wrapped the Mexican leg of Shakira’s “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” (Women Don’t Cry Anymore) world tour, which saw so much demand in Mexico that the singer split her concert schedule over four separate months: March 2025, August 2025, September 2025 and February 2026. Her last four stops — of 31 total shows in Mexico — were Tuxtla Guitérrez, Chiapas, on Feb. 21; Mérida, Yucatán, on Feb. 24; and Mexico City on Feb. 27 and Mar. 1.
“This is a story of love and friendship that I have with Mexico and that can’t be compared to anything else,” Shakira said on Sunday night. “Thank you for all the excitement, all the joy you’ve made me feel.”
Shakira’s concert in the heart of the capital saw the highest attendance ever recorded for a free concert in the Zócalo, surpassing Los Fabulosos Cadillacs (300,000 in 2023) and Grupo Firme (280,000 in 2022).
“Today, I feel a mix of excitement, nostalgia and gratitude,” Shakira told the audience. “Today is our last day here in Mexico, my home. There’s definitely no better reunion than that of a little she-wolf with her Mexican pack here today at the Zócalo. Forever, we are one.”
Shakira had previously performed in the Zócalo in 2007 as part of her Oral Fixation Tour. Back then, the newspaper El Universal reported that her concert drew around 210,000 people.
Free concerts in Mexico City’s Zócalo have been organized by the city government and corporate sponsors (Grupo Modelo paid for Shakira’s Mar. 1 concert in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Corona beer brand) since the 1980s. It was during the 1990s, however, that they became a more recurring cultural tradition.
Some of the most notable examples include national and international superstars like Vicente Fernández (2009), Britney Spears (2011), Paul McCartney (2012), Roger Waters (2016) and Rosalía (2023), among others.
Recent cartel violence following the government’s killing of cartel boss “El Mencho” on Feb. 22 had many wondering if Shakira’s show would go on. However, the Sheinbaum administration’s robust security response guaranteed that for Shakira and Mexico, “whenever, wherever … we’re meant to be together.”
With reports from Sonica and El Financiero
