Bad Bunny won’t be paid for Super Bowl halftime show
Bad Bunny is set to make the 2026 Super Bowl one to remember with his halftime performance - but he won't be laughing all the way to the bank after it.
The Puerto Rican star has promised fans a 'huge party' when he takes to the stage on Sunday (8 February) at Levi's Stadium in California, however, he isn't getting paid for it.
While players from the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots take a breather, Bad Bunny will provide some entertainment for fans watching from around the world.
He's got some competition though, as Turning Point USA - the organisation founded by the late Charlie Kirk - has bizarrely announced it is hosting a rival halftime show.
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Ahead of his performance - which is said to span 13-minutes - Bad Bunny kept his cards close to his chest about it entails, but said those tuning in will find it hard to resist tapping their feet.
"What people can expect from me... I want to bring to the stage, of course, a lot of my culture," the 31-year-old hitmaker said. "But I don’t want to give any spoilers. It’s going to be fun.
"I know that the world is gonna be happy this Sunday, and they're gonna have fun, and they're gonna dance and they're gonna have a good time."
Bad Bunny, real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, also refused to reveal whether his halftime show will feature any surprise guests, saying: "That’s something I’m not going to tell you."
It's not the first time that the 'I Like It' rapper has graced the Super Bowl stage, as he joined Jennifer Lopez and Shakira up there during their joint headline performance in 2020.
However, it is the first time he is taking the reins - and in the run-up to the huge gig, he admitted he has been struggling to sleep as he keeps waking up 'thinking about the Super Bowl at 4am'.
Bad Bunny's on quite the decent run at the moment, as the superstar is taking to the world’s biggest stage on Sunday, just a week after winning the coveted Album of the Year award at the Grammys.
Although he may be one of the most-streamed artists on the planet, he still isn't collecting a fee for the halftime show.
Why won't Bad Bunny get paid for the Super Bowl halftime show?
A lot of sports fans don't realise that the musicians who bag the Super Bowl slot simply do it for the love of the game - and of course, the subsequent exposure - rather than a fat pay cheque.
Artists who perform at the halftime show don't usually receive a payment for their efforts, as the National Football League (NFL) has previously acknowledged that it does 'not pay' music stars, according to Forbes.
However, the NFL does foot the bill for the costs of the production and other expenses... to an extent, anyway.
Previous headliners have put their hands in their own pockets to pull off their visions, with The Weeknd stumping up a whopping $7 million (£5.1 million) at his 2021 set, while Dr Dre reportedly spent a similar amount a year later.
In return, the performer gets the eyes of the world on them for about 15 minutes - and this exposure can seriously benefit them economically a little bit later down the line.
For example, after Kendrick Lamar took to the stage last year, his hit 'Not Like Us' enjoyed a 430 percent increase in streams - and he was ranked as the fourth-highest-earning musician on the planet last year.
So, it's safe to say we can expect a new batch of Bad Bunny fans from next week, while he can anticipate a boom in his bank balance at some point too.
Explaining why it's a smart 'market decision' for the NFL to choose him for the halftime slot, Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, a professor of Latin American studies who has worked with the rapper, told Forbes: "The NFL wants to expand internationally, so they are looking to target a broader market beyond the United States. He has a huge following in the United States, but this stage will also be amplified internationally by having someone like him."
Don't feel too bad that Bad Bunny is only being paid for the Super Bowl in publicity, though - as Forbes estimates he earned $66 million in 2025 before taxes and fees.
Topics: Bad Bunny, Money, Music, Super Bowl, Sport, US News, Celebrity
Olivia Burke