Rihanna has reportedly earned over $350,000 in song royalties thanks to a massive increase in streaming after her Super Bowl LVII performance.
According to a report from Apple Music the day after the Big Game on February 12, RiRi’s concurrent worldwide listeners on the streaming service skyrocketed by a whopping 331%.
The hour following her performance also became her biggest hour in Apple Music history with both concurrent listeners and streams. The spike was greater than all of the artists who performed at last year’s Super Bowl halftime show, including Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent and Mary J. Blige.
Now, a new report finds that “We Found Love” was the biggest earner for Rihanna, bringing in a whopping $60,101 in royalties for the Bajan billionaire after racking up over 15 million streams.
“Umbrella,” “Diamonds,” “Only Girl (In The World),” “Bitch Better Have My Money” followed close behind, racking in $57,655, $49,541, $44,842 and $41,893 respectively.
With “Where Have You Been,” “Work,” “Rude Boy” and “Pour It Up” also seeing huge streaming boosts, Rihanna’s total royalty earnings from these songs alone amount to $386,857, according to the report.
The big earnings are even more impressive for Rihanna considering she wasn’t even paid to perform at the Super Bowl, which is the norm for halftime show headliners.
The massive set went down at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona and was comprised of a medley of hits including “Work,” “Umbrella” and “Diamonds,” as well as Kanye West’s “All of the Lights” and JAY-Z’s “Run this Town.”
“There’s still a lot of mending to be done in my eyes,” Rihanna recently told British Vogue of the NFL, “but it’s powerful to break those doors, and have representation at such a high, high level and a consistent level. Two Super Bowls back-to-back, you know, representing the urban community, globally. It is powerful. It sends a really strong message.”
She continued: “Raising a young Black man is one of the scariest responsibilities in life. You’re like, ‘What am I leaving my kids to? This is the planet they’re gonna be living on?’ All of those things really start to hit differently.”
Rihanna also told the publication that she hopes to make music more of a priority this year, but reportedly made the comments before learning she was pregnant again, which she revealed during her Super Bowl performance.
“I want it to be this year,” she said of her highly anticipated ninth studio album. “Like, honestly, it’d be ridiculous if it’s not this year. But I just want to have fun. I just want to make music and make videos.”
The comments came after Rihanna has relentlessly teased fans about new music over the past few years, and said prior to her Super Bowl performance that the new tunes she’s cooking up will sound unlike anything that’s come before.
“Musically, I’m feeling open,” Rihanna said during an Apple Music press conference before the Big Game. “I’m feeling open to exploring, discovering, creating, things that are new, things that are different, things that are off, weird, might not ever make sense to my fans, you know, the people that know the music that I put out. I just want to play. I want to have fun. I want to have fun with music.”
She added that she’s been recording new music, but that after returning to them months later would realize it’s “almost like trying to dress like you used to dress. It’s like, ‘Ew, no. I would never wear those again.’ Your taste changes, your vibe changes.”
[via]
