Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Spurs 140% Streaming Gain for Her Catalog
Written by djfrosty on February 15, 2023
Rihanna’s catalog of songs surged 140% in official U.S. on-demand streams after her Super Bowl LVII halftime performance (Feb. 12), according to initial reports to data tracking firm Luminate (which provides data for Billboard’s charts). On Sunday and Monday (Feb. 12-13), her collected songs (on which she is the primary artist, according to Luminate) tallied 62.2 million on-demand official streams – up 140% from 25.8 million on the two days prior (Feb. 10-11).
Plus, Rihanna’s on-demand official streams have increased weekly since the top of the year, as anticipation built towards the big game.
In the week ending Dec. 29, 2022, her songs generated 42.3 million on-demand official streams, and in the six subsequent weeks they grew each frame, to: 48.9 million (week ending Jan. 5), 51.5 million (week ending Jan. 12), 53.4 million (week ending Jan. 19), 55.1 million (week ending Jan. 26), 57.1 million (week ending Feb. 2) and 65 million (week ending Feb. 9).
In the first four days of the current tracking week (ending Feb. 16), Rihanna’s songs have generated 88 million clicks, so the full seven days is bound to be robust once the final numbers are available on Feb. 20.
Sales Story: Rihanna’s catalog of songs (again, those where she’s the primary artist, per Luminate) also gained. They sold 42,000 downloads in the U.S. on Sunday and Monday (Feb. 12-13) – up 473% compared to what they sold on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 10-11): 7,500.
Halftime Tunes: The dozen songs (see below) that Rihanna performed during the halftime show (excluding snippets heard briefly) collectively garnered 27.7 million on-demand official streams in the U.S. on Sunday and Monday – up 219.6% compared to the two days prior, when they collected 8.7 million.
The most-streamed halftime-performed song following the Super Bowl was “Umbrella,” with 3.8 million official on-demand streams on Sunday and Monday (up 177% compared to the 1.4 million it snared on Friday and Saturday). “Diamonds” was the second-most streamed halftime tune after the show, with 3.2 million on Sunday and Monday (up 231% compared to 954,000 on Friday and Saturday). “Umbrella” (from 2007) and “Diamonds” (2012) were the final two songs, respectively, that Rihanna performed during the halftime show.
The 12 halftime-performed songs sold 27,000 downloads on Sunday and Monday – up 976% compared to the 2,500 they sold on Friday and Saturday.
Rihanna’s catalog of songs and albums could post sizable gains on Billboard’s weekly charts dated Feb. 25, reflecting the sales and streaming tracking week ending Feb. 16. News of such impact will be reported on Billboard.com in the coming days.
Here are the songs that Rihanna performed (excluding snippets) during the Super Bowl halftime show (with original artist chart credits noted if other than Rihanna): “Bitch Better Have My Money;” “Where Have You Been;” “Only Girl in the World;” “We Found Love,” featuring Calvin Harris; “Rude Boy;” “Work,” featuring Drake; DJ Khaled’s “Wild Thoughts,” featuring Rihanna and Bryson Tiller; “Pour It Up;” Kanye West’s “All of the Lights,” featuring Rihanna and Kid Cudi; Jay-Z, Rihanna and West’s “Run This Town;” “Umbrella,” featuring Jay-Z; and “Diamonds.”