Rihanna’s halftime show at Super Bowl LVII has made history by setting a new Guinness World Record for the most-watched halftime performance ever. After her much-awaited return to the stage following a break of more than five years, her performance was watched by an impressive 121.017 million viewers, beating Katy Perry’s previous record of 121 million viewers during the halftime show at Super Bowl XLIX in 2015.
Rihanna’s halftime show at the Super Bowl was a standout performance as she sang while suspended above the field, proudly displaying her growing baby bump. She later welcomed her second child, Riot Rose Mayers, on August 1, with her partner A$AP Rocky. Nielsen Holdings initially reported that her performance had attracted 118.7 million viewers, but later adjusted the numbers due to “irregularities” in the audience measurement process. Despite this adjustment, Rihanna’s halftime show still surpassed the viewership of any Super Bowl game by about 6 million viewers. The Guinness World Records recognized the 2023 Super Bowl for drawing 115.1 million viewers, surpassing the previous adjusted record of 114.442 million from 2015.
Rihanna has yet again added another accomplishment to her already impressive collection of Guinness World Records. The renowned artist holds several distinctions such as the most consecutive years of UK No.1 singles, richest female musician, most cumulative weeks on the UK singles chart in a calendar year, and most digital No. 1 singles in the U.S. Forbes reports that following her Super Bowl performance, her music has gained significant popularity, with a 211% increase in on-demand streams and a 390% rise in digital song sales. Recently, Rihanna collaborated with Loewe on a “special edition” red cargo jumpsuit inspired by her Super Bowl halftime ensemble, which promptly sold out. Fans can expect a new album from Rihanna soon since she signed a contract with Live Nation worth approximately $39 million for upcoming engagements and reportedly has two albums’ worth of new material ready for release.