Usher brought his A-game to Allegiant Stadium on Sunday night (Feb. 11), where he headlined Apple Music’s Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show.
The R&B megastar’s 13-minute set highlighted his three-decade career in the best way possible, leaving the audience and viewers craving for more. His dynamic performance featured special appearances from Alicia Keys, Jermaine Dupri, Ludacris, Lil Jon, H.E.R. and will.i.am.
According to the NFL, Usher’s performance is now the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show performance in history with over 129.3 million viewers.
Immediately following Usher’s performance, the superstar saw a monumental spike in streams on Apple Music. According to the company, his listeners increased by 1,200% compared to the previous Sunday (Feb. 4).
Apple Music also reports Usher’s most-streamed song on Super Bowl night was “Yeah!” featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris, which he performed as his finale. “Yeah!” saw an 837% increase in listeners on Sunday. It surged to No. 7 on Apple Music’s Daily Top 100: USA chart and to No. 10 on the global chart. It marked its highest entry so far on both charts.
“U Got It Bad,” which Usher co-wrote with Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox, debuted at No. 29 on the Daily Top 100: USA chart and No. 57 on the Global Daily Top 100. It broke its record its highest entry on both charts thus far.
Furthermore, 2008’s “Love In This Club” saw a drastic spike in listeners by 2,000%, debuting at No. 33 on the USA chart and No. 72 on the global chart.
Here is a breakdown of more songs from Usher’s Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show setlist that made gains on Apple Music:
- “My Boo” with Alicia Keys: 738% increase in listeners (No. 41 debut on US chart, No. 80 on global)
- “Confessions, Pt. II”: 1,800% increase in listeners (No. 52 debut on US chart)
- “OMG” feat. will.i.am: No. 72 debut on US chart
- “Burn”: No. 83 debut on US chart
Apple Music further reports, “With a total of six songs on the Global Daily Top 100 and nine on the Daily Top 100: USA, it marked his most simultaneous entries in history on both charts.”
The show’s opener, “Caught Up,” as well as “My Way,” “U Don’t Have to Call,” and “Nice & Slow” also set new daily stream records on Apple Music worldwide.
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Usher’s special guests also saw an uptick in listeners on Apple Music after their appearance. Keys, who treated viewers to a snippet of her classic “If I Ain’t Got You,” saw a spike in listeners by 420%. The Grammy-winning song itself rose by 1,800% in listeners on Sunday night.
Before Lil Jon joined Usher to perform their smash “Yeah!” with Ludacris, he hyped up the crowd with his 2013 banger “Turn Down For What,” which saw an 800% gain in listeners. H.E.R., who delivered a rousing guitar solo at the show, saw a 103% lift in listeners, while Ludacris saw a 334% boost.
Usher also made gains on Spotify. According to the company, the R&B icon’s streaming activity soared by 550% in the U.S. after his halftime performance.
Here is a breakdown of specific songs from Usher’s setlist that got a boost in Spotify streams on Sunday (between 6 p.m. and 12 a.m. PT):
- “Caught Up”: 2,000% increase in U.S. streams
- “U Don’t Have To Call”: 1,200% increase in U.S. streams
- “Love In This Club” featuring Young Jeezy: 1,100% increase in U.S. streams
- “Bad Girl”: 1,050% increase in U.S. streams
- “My Boo” with Alicia Keys: 690% increase in U.S. streams
- “Yeah!” feat. Lil Jon and Ludacris: 520% increase in U.S. streams
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Before Usher’s halftime show performance, he received over 30 new RIAA certifications. Some of his awards include:
- Confessions (14x platinum, 14 million equivalent units sold)
- “Yeah!” (13x platinum, 14 million equivalent units sold)
- “OMG” (8x platinum, 8 million equivalent units sold)
- 8701 (5x platinum, 5 million equivalent units sold)
- “Burn” (4x platinum, 4 million units sold)
It’s worth noting that “Yeah!” which spent 12 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, is also now Usher’s first diamond-selling single, joining its parent album Confessions, which reached the milestone in 2008.
On Feb. 9, Usher independently released his ninth album, Coming Home, on his mega imprint in partnership with Larry Jackson’s gamma company.
The 20-track album includes the singles “Good Good” featuring Summer Walker and 21 Savage, “Risk It All” featuring H.E.R. and “Ruin” featuring Pheelz.
The latter track, which fuses R&B and Afrobeats, debuted at No. 8 this week on Billboard’s R&B Digital Song Sales chart. It’s Usher’s 19th top 10 hit on this chart.
Later this summer, Usher will launch his headlining Past Present Future Tour.
