When Bad Bunny took over the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show, he did it not for a huge paycheck but for the spotlight on one of the biggest stages in entertainment. In fact, the Puerto Rican megastar (who was bagging groceries only a decade ago) didn’t collect a traditional performance fee at all. No Super Bowl halftime artists ever do.
He was only paid the minimum union-mandated rate under the SAG-AFTRA contract, which is just about $1,000 a day for rehearsals and the show itself. The NFL doesn’t pay a performance fee beyond that; instead, it covers production costs (often $10 million to $20 million, including travel, staging, crew, and effects). Compare that amount of money with the tens of millions he earns on tour and from streaming — he pulled in about $66 million in 2025 across music and live dates.
So why do the world’s biggest artists do this huge gig for free year after year? For one thing, the Super Bowl halftime show is a promotional juggernaut worth a goldmine with well over 100 million viewers tuning in and endless press in the weeks leading up.