Photo Credit: Roc Nation
Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show becomes the most-watched ever, narrowly beating out Michael Jackson’s 1993 record.
The Super Bowl has achieved its highest viewership ever for the second year running, while Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show was even higher. On average, Nielsen reports 127.7 million people tuned in to watch the Philadelphia Eagles play the Kansas City Chiefs on February 9. But average viewership for Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show hit a whopping 133.5 million — 3% more than Usher’s halftime show in 2024.
Last year’s Super Bowl had achieved the largest TV audience recorded by Nielsen, but this year’s numbers blow 2024’s out of the water with a 2% increase. This year’s total takes into account viewers across Fox, Fox Deportes, Tubi, Telemundo, and NFL digital properties measured by Fox, Nielsen, and the NFL. That differs from last year’s 123.7 million viewers across CBS, Paramount+, Nickelodeon, Univision, CBS Sports, and NFL’s same digital properties as measured this year.
Viewership for the game peaked during the second quarter of the game — when folks who weren’t otherwise interested in the game itself tuned in to catch Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show. An average of 135.7 tuned in between 8 and 8:15 PM ET.
Meanwhile, Fox reports that streaming viewership of the Super Bowl also reached an all-time high, with 13.6 million of the total watching via Tubi, and just shy of a million between NFL+ and other NFL platforms.
Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show was a massive draw for the broadcast overall. Both fans of K.Dot and those interested in the beef between Lamar and Drake were eager to see if Grammy-winning Drake diss track “Not Like Us” would make it to the set list. The song was recently crowned the most decorated song in Grammy history, winning all five of the awards for which it was nominated.
Lamar teased the massive hit during his nearly 13-minute set before he finally launched into it. The show featured celebrity guests Samuel L. Jackson and DJ Mustard, as well as notable Drake exes: singer SZA and tennis legend Serena Williams.