2012 - Madonna - Feb. 5, 2012
Label sources said that
50,000 pre-orders were placed for Madonna's MDNA album in its first three days of availability through the close of business on Feb. 5 (the day of the Super Bowl). That same week, her new single moved 115,000 downloads while her catalog of older albums saw a 410% surge in sales (going from 5,000 to 26,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan).
A week later, after the show had a full week's worth of impact,
"Luvin'" sold a further 165,000 downloads (up 44%), while the rest of her songs moved a combined 166,000 (up from 94,000 the previous week).
2011 - The Black Eyed Peas - Feb. 6, 2011
The quartet's mega-medley – which included guest turns from Slash and Usher – helped prompt sales gains for a number of the Peas' songs and albums. Its then-current album,
The Beginning, saw a 35% sales gain in the week ending Feb. 6, jumping to 19,000 sold. The next week, it sold a further 31,000 (up 61%). The act's biggest selling song in either week was
"The Time (Dirty Bit)" – which was a then-current release, selling 153,000 the week ending Feb. 13 (up 46%).
"The Time (Dirty Bit)" was one of three Peas songs to shift more than 50,000 in the week after the Super Bowl.
2010 - The Who - Feb. 7, 2010
The Who was the most recent classic rock act to grace the Super Bowl halftime stage, playing a five-song set at the 2010 show. With no new album to promote, the act saw the biggest sales returns for its
Greatest Hits album. In the week ending Feb. 7, its sales rose to 8,000 (up 102%) while
the following week, they jumped to 14,000 (up 84%).
2009 - Bruce Springsteen - Feb. 1, 2009
Bruce Springsteen used the halftime show to promote his brand new studio effort,
Working On a Dream, which was released earlier in the week (Jan. 27).
The album sold 224,000 through the week ending Feb. 1, easily landing a No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 chart.
The next week,
Dream fell to the No. 2 slot with 102,000 – down by only 55%, a less weighty drop than what his last album, Magic, experienced in its second week. Magic premiered with 335,000 and then fell by 60% in its sophomore frame. One figures that
Dream's second-week decline was eased because of consumers reacting to his Super Bowl performance (many of whom probably didn't know the Boss had a new album out).
2008 - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Feb. 3, 2008
The band's catalog album
Greatest Hits took a 196% sales jump in the week ending Feb. 10, shifting 33,000 copies. Outside of the always-busy Christmas shopping season, that was the biggest sales week for any catalog album since 2004. Additionally,
Petty's Anthology: Through the Years moved 7,000 the week following the Super Bowl (up 240%). It was the album's best sales week since December 2000.
The Super Bowl's impact was also felt in Petty's digital track downloads.
Key hits like "Free Fallin'," "American Girl," "I Won't Back Down" and "Runnin' Down a Dream" all saw a weekly gain of more than 150% in downloads.
2007 - Prince - Feb. 4, 2007
The Purple One's catalog of albums more than doubled in sales in the week after his halftime performance, at 31,000, up from 14,000 the prior week. Similarly, digital downloads of all his available songs almost doubled, with SoundScan posting a total of 102,000 paid track downloads for Prince, compared to 59,000 the week before the championship game.
2006 - The Rolling Stones - Feb. 5, 2006
The veteran rockers took the Super Bowl stage five months after its most recent studio album,
A Bigger Bang, was released in September 2005. Interestingly, in the week ending Feb. 5, the album only
saw a tiny 9% increase (moving from just 4,000 to 5,000). A week later, it improved slightly, selling 6,000 (up 34%).
Also of note:
None of the band's assorted greatest hits collections saw a significant gain. That includes hits successful Forty Licks compilation released in 2002 and Jump Back: The Best of the Rolling Stones - '71-'93.
One could argue that the Stones' Super Bowl gig was an opportunity to sell concert tickets – not albums. The group was in the midst of its record-breaking "A Bigger Bang" tour, which launched on Aug. 10, 2005. The trek continued through its final date, Aug. 26, 2007, at London's O2 Arena. At its conclusion, it was the highest-grossing tour of all time, as reported to Billboard Boxscore, having taken in $558 million. (It is now the No. 2 tour of all time, behind U2's 360 Tour, which grossed $736 million in 2009-2011.)
2005 - Paul McCartney - Feb. 6, 2005
At the time of his performance, Sir Paul's most recent album was the 2002 live set
Back In the U.S. Live 2002. In the week ending Feb. 13, it moved just 2,000 copies – up a mighty 542% in sales. However, as McCartney's catalog hadn't been released digitally at that point, his sales impact was muted. It was unlikely that brick-and-mortar retailers had much stock on hand of Back In the U.S. Live 2002, so its sales weren't going to be that huge.
Two of McCartney's greatest hits sets more than doubled in the week ending Feb. 13:
All the Best sold 2,000 (up 246%) and Wingspan: Hits and History moved 4,000 (up 161%).
Finally, the
Beatles' mega-selling hits album 1 showed 72% growth that week, selling 17,000.
2004 - Janet Jackson, Diddy, Nelly, Kid Rock and Justin Timberlake - Feb. 1, 2004
The last MTV-produced halftime show featured an eight-song performance from an array of then-hot stars - but, of course, the one performer everyone remembers was Janet Jackson. The diva performed three songs – "All For You," "Rhythm Nation" and "Rock Your Body." On the latter, she was joined by Justin Timberlake – and the infamous "wardrobe malfunction."
Despite, or maybe because of, controversy generated by their halftime appearance,
sales for three of Jackson's albums more than doubled in the week after the show, while Timberlake's Justified increased 160%.
2003 - Shania Twain, No Doubt, Sting - Jan. 26, 2003
Twain's current album
Up led the Super Bowl field, selling 67,000 (up 41%) in the week after the show (ending Feb. 2). No Doubt's most recent release, 2001's
Rock Steady, moved 12,000 (up 23%) and Sting's
The Very Best of Sting & the Police shifted 4,000 (up 39%).
2002 and earlier:
In 2002, in the week after the Feb. 3 show, performers
U2 saw sales for three of the band's key albums more than double (All That You Can't Leave Behind, up 142%; Best of 1980-1990, up 154%; The Joshua Tree, up 144%) .
In 2001 (Jan. 28), the all-star combo of Aerosmith, 'N Sync, Britney Spears, Nelly and Mary J. Blige provided some sales punch. Aerosmith was in promotion mode, hyping the upcoming March 6 release of its album Just Push Play by performing its lead single "Jaded." As for the others, in the week ending Feb. 4,
'N Sync's current release No Strings Attached moved 46,000 (up 23%), Spears' Oops! . . . I Did It Again shifted 39,000 (up 4%) and Nelly's Country Grammar sold 76,000 (up 26%). Blige did not have a current release at the time.
In 1996, Diana Ross was the show's solo performer, treating the audience to a medley of her hits – both solo and with her former group, the Supremes. She closed the show with two new recordings, a cover of Gloria Gaynor's
"I Will Survive" and an original tune, "Take Me Higher." The two songs were lifted from her then-current Take Me Higher album, which sold 3,000 the week after the show (up 74%).
We finally arrive at Jackson's star turn in 1993. During the Jan. 31 show, he played three songs from his 1991 album Dangerous, as well as the classic 1982 single "Billie Jean."
Sales of
Dangerous shot up dramatically in the week of the show as well in the following weeks. In the week ending Jan. 31, it moved 21,000 (up 83%) for its best sales week outside of the Christmas season since July the previous year. In turn, the album vaulted from No. 88 to No. 41 on the Billboard 200 chart, the set's highest rank since June of the previous year. The next week, Dangerous climbed to No. 26 with 29,000 (up 40%) and then sold in excess of 50,000 for the next six straight weeks.
How will Beyonce rate in this legacy? We'll find out next week...
