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10 Most-Watched Super Bowl Halftime Shows, Ranked by U.S. Audience

Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 halftime show leads the ranking of reported U.S. average audiences, just ahead of Michael Jackson’s 1993 performance.
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Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 performance currently ranks as the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show, with a reported U.S. average audience of 133.5 million. Michael Jackson’s 1993 show is next at 133.4 million. The ranking below compares reported average audiences—not peak viewers, worldwide reach, social-media views, or total game audiences—and the numbers come from different measurement eras.

How the ranking is measured

These are reported U.S. average audiences for the halftime window. Nielsen says the 2026 Super Bowl estimate includes “Out-of-Home (OOH) and digital viewing (mobile, PC, MVPD app, vMVPD)” (Nielsen’s Super Bowl LX report). Nielsen also says 2026 was the first Super Bowl reported using Big Data + Panel; earlier Super Bowl estimates used Panel-Only measurement. Its 2025 release notes that out-of-home coverage had reached the entire contiguous U.S. television population by February 2025 (Nielsen’s Super Bowl LIX report). The historical figures therefore should not be read as one perfectly uniform measurement series.

The 10 most-watched Super Bowl halftime shows

  1. Kendrick Lamar — Super Bowl LIX, February 9, 2025: 133.5 million

    The NFL, citing Nielsen, and Guinness World Records identify Lamar’s performance as the record-holder. The reported average audience is 133.5 million in the United States (NFL; Guinness World Records).

  2. Michael Jackson — Super Bowl XXVII, January 31, 1993: 133.4 million

    Guinness lists a reported audience of 133.4 million. That long-standing mark was surpassed by Lamar’s 2025 show, according to Guinness (Guinness World Records).

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  3. Usher — Super Bowl LVIII, February 11, 2024: 129.3 million

    The NFL, citing Nielsen, reported 129.3 million viewers for Usher’s halftime performance. Lamar’s 2025 audience was about 3% higher, according to the NFL (NFL).

  4. Bad Bunny — Super Bowl LX, February 8, 2026: 128.2 million

    Nielsen reported a 128.2 million average audience during the halftime window, 8:15–8:30 p.m. ET. The Associated Press placed the show fourth among halftime audiences (Nielsen; AP).

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  5. Rihanna — Super Bowl LVII, February 12, 2023: 121.017 million

    Guinness reports that Nielsen adjusted Rihanna’s audience to 121.017 million. The figure is often rounded to 121 million (Guinness World Records).

  6. Katy Perry — Super Bowl XLIX, February 1, 2015: 118.5 million or 121 million

    Front Office Sports lists 118.5 million, while Guinness gives a reported 121 million. Because the sources disagree, Perry’s precise position relative to Rihanna depends on which published figure is used. On Guinness’s rounded figures, Rihanna’s revised 121.017 million is just 17,000 above Perry’s 121 million; the different sources and measurement eras make that apparent precision misleading (Front Office Sports; Guinness World Records).

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  7. Lady Gaga — Super Bowl LI, February 5, 2017: 117.5 million

    Front Office Sports lists a reported audience of 117.5 million (Front Office Sports).

  8. Coldplay — Super Bowl 50, February 7, 2016: 115.5 million

    Front Office Sports lists a reported audience of 115.5 million (Front Office Sports).

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  9. Bruno Mars — Super Bowl XLVIII, February 2, 2014: 115.3 million

    Front Office Sports lists a reported audience of 115.3 million (Front Office Sports).

  10. Madonna — Super Bowl XLVI, February 5, 2012: 114 million

    Front Office Sports lists 114 million; an archived NFL report citing The Associated Press also recorded an estimated audience of 114 million (Front Office Sports; NFL/AP).

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What the numbers do—and do not—show

Lamar leads Jackson by a reported 0.1 million viewers, but both totals are rounded estimates from very different years. The list answers which shows had the largest reported U.S. average audiences; it does not establish a clean, like-for-like contest across three decades. A peak audience, total game audience, worldwide reach, and online views are different measures and are not included here.

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