Rihanna breaks record with most watched Super Bowl halftime show

The tally is in, and Rihanna’s halftime show reached a total of 118.7 million viewers. The news was announced in a tweet late Monday evening by the Fox Sports public relations account.

Rihanna breaks record

Rihanna actually gathered more viewers than the Super Bowl game itself, although it was the highest viewership the game has seen in six years. The game gathered 113 million viewers, just 5.7 million less than Rihanna’s performance.

This increase in viewership makes it the second most-watched Super Bowl game of all time, just behind the 2015 game, which achieved 114.4 million viewers. Rihanna’s performance surprised Katy Perry’s halftime show with 114.4 million viewers, which was also in 2015.

The previously most-watched halftime shows

Katy Perry held the most-watched show record for eight years before Rihanna surpassed her. Just behind Perry, with 117.5 million viewers, is Lady Gaga’s 2017 performance. Her halftime performance ended up nominating her for six Emmy awards that year, with her winning one.

Just after Gaga is Coldplay, Beyoncé, and Bruno mars who shared the stage in 2016, gathering 115.5 million viewers. This was actually Beyoncé's second Super Bowl performance, and she initially wasn’t booked to perform. However, Chris Martin, from Coldplay, had managed to convince both her and Bruno Mars to join him on stage.

Bruno Mars outdid himself in 2016 because his 2014 solo headline at the Superbowl ranks just after the trio when counting viewership. His solo show gathered a total of 112.2 million viewers that year. He also recruited the Red Hot Chili Peppers as a guest for the show.

Finally, Madonna now sits as having the fifth-largest Super Bowl halftime show viewership. Her 2012 performance achieved 111.4 million viewers. The singer brought on numerous special guests include LMFAO, Nicki Minaj, CeeLo Green, and M.I.A. She also collaborated with Cirque du Soleil for her 12-minute-long set.