Carlos Barria/Reuters via Imagn Images
Unfortunately for the vocal right-wing critics, Bad Bunny’s halftime performance at Super Bowl LX delivered exactly what the NFL was hoping to get from it, and that’s viewers. According to reports, Bad Bunny’s halftime show was the most watched performance in NFL history.
Despite all of the discourse surrounding the NFL’s decision to tap Bad Bunny to headline the halftime show at Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California, the league likely got exactly what it wanted out of the gambit: attention.
Not only was the halftime show a massive topic of conversation in the weeks and days leading up to and following the Super Bowl, but the show itself was statistically a smash hit.
Roc Nation, who produced Bad Bunny’s halftime show at Super Bowl LX, say it’s the most-watched performance in NFL history with over 4.157 billion viewers worldwide
“Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show became the most-watched performance in NFL history, with 4.157 billion worldwide views within the first 24 hours, according to Roc Nation, which produced the show.” [via The Washington Post]
Leading the right-wing charge against the performance was President Trump, who deemed the performance to be one of the “worst ever.”
“The Super Bowl Halftime Show is absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER! It makes no sense, is an affront to the Greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence. Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children who are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the world,” Trump wrote on social media.
“There is nothing inspirational about this mess of a Halftime Show and watch, it will get great reviews from the Fake News Media, because they haven’t got a clue of what is going on in the REAL WORLD. And, by the way, the NFL should immediately replace its ridiculous new Kickoff Rule.”
Thus far in the 2020s, the NFL has clearly made conscious effort to put on a more global-oriented show, with the likes of Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, J. Balvin, and Bad Bunny in 2020, The Weeknd in 2021, and Rihanna in 2023. Given the success of Bad Bunny’s 2025 show, that trend will likely only continue next year.