According to Forbes, The Weeknd did not get paid to perform at Super Bowl LV. This wasn’t a slight against the musician; per Yahoo!, the NFL does not compensate its performers, though the league does “help cover production costs” up to a certain amount. Clearly, The Weeknd — who’d skipped out on the Grammy’s in 2020 — felt he had a lot to prove because he contributed $7 million of his own to ensure his performance was a success. Per SCMP, it’s estimated that The Weeknd’s show could have cost as much as $17 million, which is a lot for just 10-12 minutes of airtime. However, a bigger, glitzier performance meant more interest in his “After Hours” tour, for which tickets went on sale just one day after the Super Bowl. Coincidence? Probably not.
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It’s true that any artist will jump at the chance to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, given the amount of exposure it provides. As Forbes noted, Super Bowl alums generate more StubHub traffic — for example, Maroon 5’s gross ticket sales (per city) jumped from $200K to $1.7 million after the group appeared at Super Bowl LIII. Likewise, when Justin Timberlake performed at the Super Bowl in 2018, his music sales increased by 534% that same day. Therefore, it’s worth foregoing pay (and even chipping in money of your own) to profit off the huge spikes in social media and streaming that the Super Bowl provides.
