The Biggest Super Bowl Halftime Show Music Sales Boosts—Including Shakira, Coldplay, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga And More

Topline

Performing at the Super Bowl halftime show is a career-defining achievement for any artist — but it’s also a great marketing opportunity thanks to millions tuning in, typically causing album sales and streams to skyrocket.

Shakira and Jennifer Lopez perform onstage during the Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show in Miami, … [+] Florida. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

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Key Facts

The Super Bowl Halftime Show draws more than 100 million viewers per year, offering artists a huge platform to market their music.

Many of the world’s biggest-selling artists — from Michael Jackson and Prince to Lady Gaga and Beyoncé — have headlined the show, earning massive album sales boosts and, in recent years, boosts on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.

Headliners often bring out guests — like Coldplay, who famously invited Beyoncé and Bruno Mars to share the stage in 2016 — who also typically enjoy increased sales following the show.

Rihanna is slated to headline the halftime show at this year’s Super Bowl on February 12, her first live performance in five years.

Biggest Streaming Boosts

Shakira and Jennifer Lopez — the first Latina artists to headline the Super Bowl in 2020 — saw 267% and 187% streaming gains in the week following their performance, Billboard reported.
The Weeknd, already a streaming force with 82 million streams the week before his performance, saw a 65% jump to 136 million streams in the week following his 2021 halftime show.
The five headliners for the 2022 halftime show each saw big gains: Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Dr. Dre’s streams more than doubled, while Eminem received a comparatively smaller 39% boost but the biggest overall number, with 97 million streams in the week after the show, per Billboard.

Biggest Sales Boosts

Lady Gaga’s song and album sales were up 1000% on Super Bowl Sunday alone following her 2017 performance, Billboard reported.
Coldplay sold 95,000 albums in the week following their 2016 performance, a 355% gain from the week prior.
Beyoncé’s album sales jumped 62% after her 2013 performance, and her song “Crazy In Love” saw a 203% sales boost — and her former girl group, Destiny’s Child, who joined her on stage, enjoyed a 21% boost in album sales.
Madonna’s album catalog sales jumped more than fivefold in 2012: she sold 26,000 albums after her performance, compared with 5,000 the week before the Super Bowl.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Greatest Hits album sold 33,000 copies after their 2008 performance, a 196% sales jump from the week prior.
Sales for three of Janet Jackson’s albums more than doubled while Justin Timberlake’s Justified sales rose 160% after their infamous 2004 performance.
Michael Jackson’s album Dangerous saw an 83% sales jump after his 1993 performance and continued rising in the following weeks — he sold 21,000 copies after his performance, then 29,000 in the following week, and then more than 50,000 copies in the next six weeks.

Biggest Chart Jumps

Four of the top 20 albums on the Billboard albums chart after the 2022 halftime show belonged to one of the five headliners, including Eminem’s Curtain Call: The Hits, which jumped to No. 8 from No. 126 the week prior, and Dr. Dre’s Dr. Dre, which rocketed to No. 9 from No. 108.
Lady Gaga’s then-most recent album, Joanne, vaulted from No. 66 to No. 2 on the albums chart, while its biggest single “Million Reasons” re-entered the Hot 100 at No. 4.
Jennifer Lopez’s compilation Dance Again… The Hits re-entered the Billboard albums chart at No. 66, while Shakira’s albums Oral Fixation Vol. 2 and Laundry Service re-entered at No. 166 and No. 200.
Maroon 5’s album Red Pill Blues jumped from No. 81 to No. 44 on the albums chart while their debut album Songs About Jane re-entered at No. 96 after the band’s 2019 show.
Coldplay crashed back into the top five with A Head Full of Dreams rising from No. 16 to No. 4 after their performance, and their guests Beyoncé and Bruno Mars had older albums re-enter the charts, Billboard reported.
Katy Perry’s albums Prism and Teenage Dream climbed eleven spots each, landing at No. 17 and No. 22 after her 2015 performance — and her guest, Missy Elliot, re-entered three albums on the Billboard charts: Under Construction, Miss E… So Addictive and The Cookbook at No. 38, No. 40 and No. 66, respectively, per Billboard.

Biggest Post-Super Bowl Debuts

Some artists time their Super Bowl performances with a new album release — like The Weeknd, whose greatest hits album The Highlights debuted at No. 2 after his performance in 2021.
Justin Timberlake topped the Billboard albums chart with Man of the Woods, released two days prior to his 2018 Super Bowl show.
Bruce Springsteen released Working On a Dream days before his 2009 Super Bowl performance, easily debuting at No. 1, Billboard reported.

Most Viewed Halftime Shows On The Nfl’s Youtube Channel

Shakira & Jennifer Lopez: 263 million views (Super Bowl LIV, 2020)
Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar & 50 Cent: 158 million views (Super Bowl LVI, 2022)
Coldplay, Beyoncé & Bruno Mars: 114 million views (Super Bowl 50, 2016)
Lady Gaga: 75 million views (Super Bowl LI, 2017)
Katy Perry, Missy Elliot & Lenny Kravitz: 75 million views (Super Bowl XLIX, 2015)
The Weeknd: 54 million views (Super Bowl LV, 2021)
Prince: 49 million views (Super Bowl XLI, 2007)
Maroon 5, Travis Scott & Big Boi: 20 million views (Super Bowl LIII, 2019)
Justin Timberlake: 18 million views (Super Bowl LII, 2018)
Michael Jackson: 11 million views (Super Bowl XXVII, 1993)

Some halftime shows are on YouTube but not on the NFL’s official channel, instead uploaded by the performer or other users. Lady Gaga, Madonna and Justin Timberlake all uploaded their performances onto their own YouTube channels, garnering 82 million, 33 million and 30 million views, respectively. A YouTube user uploaded Michael Jackson’s performance, earning 68 million views, much more than the NFL’s upload. The NFL also uploaded a clip of the 2016 halftime show featuring just Beyoncé and Bruno Mars without headliner Coldplay; the clip has 153 million views, nearly 40 million more views than the full show.

What To Watch For

How big will Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show sales boost be — and what will she perform? Rihanna’s Super Bowl appearance comes on the heels of a lengthy hiatus for the pop star — her last album, Anti, released in 2016 and fans have been hungry for more music ever since. She’s long teased an upcoming studio album but has focused primarily on business ventures including Fenty Beauty and lingerie brand Savage X Fenty. She returned to music in October, dropping the single “Lift Me Up” for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack, which earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Rihanna told the Associated Press her Super Bowl performance doesn’t mean a new album is imminent, though: “Super Bowl is one thing. New music is another thing. Do you hear that, fans?”