The big game set an all-time media record at 137.8 million viewers watched in the second quarter
As America continues to bask in the glow of Bad Bunny‘s monumental Super Bowl LX halftime show, the numbers are in on the big game. On Tuesday, Feb. 10, Nielsen Big Data + Panel announced that Bad Bunny’s performance helped set a new record for peak viewership at 137.8 million viewers turning in the second quarter, drawing in an average of 124.9 million viewers for the game.
The star’s halftime show drew in 128.2 million bringing it in as one of the most-watched performances in Super Bowl history. Kendrick Lamar’s remains the title holder — the GNX hip-hop legend set it last year with 133.5 million viewers tuning in, outpacing Michael Jackson’s iconic set that forever-changed halftime show DNA in 1993 and brought in 133.4 million viewers. A year after Lamar delivered a performance steeped in political symbolism and took a national jab at Drake amid their infamous feud, Bad Bunny’s own turn on the field immediately became a celebration of resilience, joy, and hope as he opened his show at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California with the declaration, “Que rico es ser Latino.” While there isn’t a direct English translation, the words mean something similar to, “How great it is to be Latino.”
The star also made history as the first artist to perform entirely in Spanish at the Super Bowl halftime show. His performance was packed with references to Latino culture and saw the artist singing “Tití Me Preguntó” as he weaved past people cutting cane with machetes, stopping by a piragua (Puerto Rican shaved ice) stand, delivering several hits from the rooftop of the famed casita (his Debí Tirar Más Fotos world tour centerpiece), inviting the likes of Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin to the stage, hanging from electric poles as he performed political-party track “El Apagón,” and bellowing “God bless América!” before listing nearly every country in the Americas from Chile in the south to Canada in the north.
News of this year’s Super Bowl’s record-breaking viewership also arrives as Bad Bunny’s music spiked in Spotify streams, with a 470 percent increase in the U.S. and 210 percent increase in global streams. As of Monday morning, Bad Bunny was also occupying the top six spots of Spotify’s U.S. Daily Top Songs Chart. For his part, Martin is also experiencing a significant spike at 145 percent in the U.S. In addition to the streaming surges, Bad Bunny’s “DtMF” also re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at Number 10.