She may not have been paid to perform at the Super Bowl, but Rihanna still made a significant chunk of money just through royalties after the Feb. 12 performance.
According to Japanese casino comparison site Japan-101, somewhere in the neighborhood, the 34-year-old singer-songwriter earned $97,000 in royalties from streaming on Spotify.
During the performance — during which she revealed she’s expecting her second child with rapper A$AP Rocky — Rihanna performed some of her biggest hits, including Umbrella, We Found Love and Diamonds, among others.
Fans took to streaming apps to listen to their most popular songs after the halftime show, with Spotify noting that streaming of their music increased by a whopping 640 percent immediately after the show.
Royalty estimates were determined by multiplying Spotify’s standard royalty rate by the number of post-Super Bowl games, excluding any royalties the singer would have earned from other streaming services and from digital and physical media purchases.
Making money: Rihanna, 34, saw a $97,000 increase in royalties just from streaming on Spotify in the three days after the Super Bowl, according to Japanese casino comparison site Japan-101; Seen Sunday in Arizona
According to the website, Umbrella was the most profitable of the nine Rihanna originals from her set.
The song appeared to make around $17,780.60 for 4.4 million plays, which was arrived at by multiplying the three-day play count by $0.004, which is the average amount Spotify pays per stream.
However, some artists can earn more and Rihanna would be willing to belong in that category as she is a more popular performer.
The 2007 single, featured on her third album Good Girl Gone Bad, was the oldest of the tunes she performed during her 13-minute medley set.
The original LP was a turning point for the singer, debuting her mature pop sound and ushering in a edgier public persona.
We Found Love was close behind with 3.8 million plays over three days, potentially earning Rihanna around $15,227.01. It was featured on their hit album Talk That Talk.
The unapologetic track Diamonds was her third most popular song on Spotify during this period. It earned around $14,160.66 from 3.5 million streams.
Another of her biggest hits, Only Girl (In The World), has been streamed 2.9 million times and possibly grossed her $11,800.12.
Where Have You Been has been streamed 2.3 million times for approximately $9,302.04.
It’s a hit! Umbrella was her favorite post-Super Bowl song. It was streamed 4.4 million times on Spotify for around $17,780 in royalties, based on a calculation of $0.004 per stream; seen Sunday
Old School: The 2007 song, featured on her third album Good Girl Gone Bad, was the oldest of the tunes she performed during her set. The original LP was a turning point for the singer, debuting her mature pop sound and ushering in a edgier public persona
Work, the hit single with Drake that preceded her latest anti-album, grossed $8,203.48 from 2 million plays, despite her ex-boyfriend not being involved in her performance on Sunday.
Rihanna’s hit song Rude Boy has been streamed a respectable 1.8 million times for around $7,523.72.
It was previously reported by Spotify that the lead song from Rihanna’s Super Bowl performance, B**** Better Have My Money, had the biggest surge in streaming numbers after the show, which may have been because it was initially a less popular song was due to its status as a standalone single.
However, due to its relative rarity, it was still one of the less popular songs she performed that night.
In the three days following the show, it was streamed 1.6 million times and grossed approximately $6,753.48 in royalties.
The least popular of Rihanna’s post-Super Bowl songs was Pour It Up, which earned $6,351.74 in royalties from 1.5 million Spotify streams.
The ranking excludes three song excerpts the hitmaker performed from DJ Khaled’s Wild Thoughts, Kanye West’s All Of The Lights and Jay-Z’s Run This Town, which also featured Kanye West in the original version.
Rihanna’s Spotify royalties alone would be a fortune for many artists — given that they’re poorly compensated for streaming versus selling digital and physical albums — but they’re hardly a drop in the bucket for Rihanna, having spent five times as much just to rent a house for the superbowl.
Classics: We Found Love and Diamonds rounded out their most popular tracks with royalties of $15,227 and $14,160, respectively; seen with partner A$AP Rocky in Hollywood in October
Rihanna wasn’t paid for the show, but she deserved attention and managed to incorporate a plug for her Fenty Beauty line when she powdered her face during a transition; seen in NYC in 2020
According to TMZ, she paid over $500,000 for six nights in a five-bedroom house near the stadium.
Rihanna’s royalties appear to be her main payment for the Super Bowl, as performers are only paid union standards, which works out to about $450 for her.
Instead, the high-profile gig is intended to generate advertising for the artists and increased sales.
She also played up the system by including a promotion for her Fenty Beauty line by face powdering during a transition in her medley without having to pay exorbitant fees to run a regular ad during gameplay.