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I would say so yes, given he's in the Guinness Book of Records for one of the highest attended free concerts of all time (Moscow, 1997 with ~3.5 million people). He's also in 4th and 8th place, with 2.5 million in Paris in 1990 and Houston TX in 1986 with 1.3 million people respectively.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-attended_conce...

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> Houston TX in 1986 with 1.3 million people respectively

The intro to the concert footage has cuts from TV news and interviews, shows the scale of things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYio7l7B940

Was extra special as one songs was composed for and was intended to be performed live from the space station by one of the Challenger astronauts[1] who died a few months earlier.

I was a young kid here in Norway at the time, but I recall very well the concert being covered by news here. His music was on the radio as well, so he was definitely well known outside of France I'd say.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_McNair#Music_in_space

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