Lady Gaga drew 2.1 million people to the same beach last year and Madonna drew about 1.6 million people the year before, according to AFP. The crowd was believed to be of a similar size.
Shakira spoke about when she first came to Brazil 30 years earlier.
I was 18 years old and I dreamed of singing for you. And now look at this. Life is magical.
The concert was part of her world tour "Women no longer cry".
Rio had prepared by deploying around 8,000 police officers, as well as drones, facial recognition cameras and 18 security checkpoints with metal detectors.
