For many, the halftime show is the bit of the Super Bowl that they look forward to the most. It was specifically designed to keep peoples eyes on the programming and to stop them flicking channels.
The halftime show as we know it was introduced in 1993 with Michael Jackson taking to the stage to combat other TV networks trying to tempt viewers to their channel during halftime. It’s said that it’s still one of the top TV events in American history, so I’d say it probably worked.
Since then it’s been one of the most coveted concerts to play in the US with legendary bands and powerhouse performers taking to the stage for their 10–15 minute rapid-fire setlist.
We’ve all got our own musical tastes, so it’s impossible to say which halftime performance was best without causing an argument, however, Goodwin Racing have decided to rank the halftime shows based on TV views, Youtube Views and Spotify Plays to work out who *should* be the most popular performer.
Super Bowl Halftime Show Stats:
Longest Super Bowl Halftime Set
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira have the longest setlist in halftime show history with a set that touched on no less than 21 songs.
Shortest Super Bowl Halftime Set
While all artists get the same sort of time for their set, some choose to go with the medley approach while others will play full versions of their songs. Rock legends U2 and the Rolling Stones only performed 3 songs each in their performances.
Star Power is Key
A tried and trusted formula is mega star surprise guests. Coldplay used this to their advantage and brought out 2 previous Super Bowl performers in Beyonce and Bruno Mars to help give them an advantage in this ranking.
Girls Run The World
Regardless of musical taste, you can’t deny that in pure numbers and obvious talent, the girls are the cream of the crop when it comes to halftime show performers. Female solo artists make up 4 of the top 5 spots in this research.
The Weeknd At Super Bowl LV
The 2021 Super Bowl halftime show is being tackled by Canadian R&B artist The Weeknd, so what does he need to do to make the halftime show memorable?
Big Songs
Stick to the hits, this is a worldwide audience. The Weeknd has 3 songs with over a billion plays on Spotify, so he’s certainly bringing his fair share of fans to the viewing figures. If he plays ‘Blinding Lights’ he will have performed the song with the most Spotify plays in the history of Super Bowl performances.
Impressive when you consider who else has played the coveted slot.
Big Guests
If the main act isn’t for you, superstar guests are a good way to win favour with a global audience, and The Weeknd has some collaborations he can go back to to bring the star power. Here are the latest odds for the Weeknd’s halftime show guests:
Daft Punk — 2/5
Miley Cyrus — 8/11
Drake — evens
Justin Bieber — 2/1
Lana Del Rey — 2/1
Donald Trump — 100/1
How the data was compiled: We factored in 3 stats to work out the most popular halftime show, including Average TV viewers for that particular game (US only), Views of the most popular full performance video on Youtube and the combined Spotify listens of the setlist that they performed. We took each stat and ranked the performance 1–30 and combined them to get an overall score.
