Rihanna Is Getting Paid So Much Less Than You Think for the Super Bowl

I guess they don't have her money.

Rihanna performs onstage during the Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show at State Farm Stadium on February 12, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona.
(Image credit: Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Rihanna earns an estimated $90 million per concert tour, but she pretty much isn't getting paid for her Super Bowl Halftime performance, despite it being one of the most watched events in the country. I guess they don't have her money?

Here's the tea: According to The Independent, Super Bowl Halftime performers don't get paid for their performance, with the National Football League only covering their travel and expenses. (So the organization is still shelling out a hefty sum for the privilege of the world's foremost artists performing on that stage—the publication estimates that Jennifer Lopez and Shakira's performance in 2020 cost the NFL some $13 million, for example.)

With that said, a rep for the NFL told The Independent that the organization "covers all costs associated with the show and does pay the Halftime performers’ union scale." This means that Rihanna (and presumably—hopefully!!!—her backup dancers) won't have made nothing for the privilege of performing at the Super Bowl, but will have made an amount that's nowhere close to the fees she would usually command.

Still, as The Independent, points out, the singer and entrepreneur isn't exactly struggling, with an estimated net worth of about $1.7 billion, in large part thanks to the success of her Fenty lingerie and beauty empire.

Despite not representing a huge payday for RiRi, her performance was an awesome sight to behold for the rest of us. Not only did she attempt to squeeze her entire musical catalog into a 13-minute show, but she also announced her second pregnancy in the most Rihanna way ever—by simply revealing her baby bump on stage.

The superstar and her partner ASAP Rocky welcomed their first son together back in May 2022, and have since revealed several times that they'd be open to having more children.

Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.