Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime show ratings deliver major surprise

For neutral observers, Super Bowl LIX wasn't much of a looker. The Philadelphia Eagles had more points in the first half (24) than the Kansas City Chiefs had yards (23). Their 40-22 victory was not as close as the final score indicated.

Nonetheless, the Nielsen ratings revealed an average of 127.7 million average viewers, eclipsing last year's Super Bowl as the most-watched television event ever.

Fox reports that average viewership during Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show was even higher, reaching 133.5 million — another all-time high, improving by 3 percent on the 129.3 million viewers achieved by Usher’s halftime show in 2024.

The show featured cameos from tennis star Serena Williams and actor Samuel L. Jackson.

Kendrick's act drew praise from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who wrote on her Twitter/X account "Kendrick Lamar put L.A. greatness on display for the entire world to see." Perhaps more surprising praise came from 77-year-old U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi writing, "Thank you, , for drawing attention to the influence of Blacks in this country. Black America is America. Last night's performance emphasizes 'They Not Like Us.' "

"I’m a fan. So, this may be a little biased but I thought his halftime show was amazing. There’s no other rapper alive that puts together that cohesive of a set," wrote ESPN's Ryan Clark. "The revolution was televised, but he wasn’t the “wrong guy” at all! He didn’t play the hits, but the symbolism, creativity, & pettiness were all on point. From start to finish there wasn’t a detail that didn’t matter… and he played the 1 hit “they” didn’t get want him to. “Game Over”!

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