After several years away from the music industry, Rihanna is about to make a grand reentrance.
Six years since the release of her last album — and five years since her last live performance — the music and fashion mogul is performing the halftime show for Sunday’s Super Bowl. Rihanna’s last public performance was at the 2018 Grammys, per Billboard. The singer said she drew influence from Beyonce — who recently became the artist with the most Grammys of all time — for her halftime show.
“I watched Beyoncé’s halftime performances a couple of times,” Rihanna said, per People. “She is a beast and a whole other level. Just to be inspired, really.”
Rihanna also said the biggest challenge in putting together the performance was determining the songs to include.
“That was the hardest, hardest part: deciding how to maximize 13 minutes but also celebrate,” she said, according to People. “That’s what this show is gonna be. It’s gonna be a celebration of my catalog in the best way that we could’ve put it together.”
Ahead of the halftime show, GetCenturyLink has determined the most popular Rihanna songs in the U.S., using the marketing analytics tool SemRush and Google Trends.
What are the most popular Rihanna songs?
Rihanna’s most popular song is “Umbrella,” which has more than 986 million streams on Spotify, per GetCenturyLink. “Umbrella” was the most searched song in the following 12 states:
- Arizona (where the Super Bowl is being played).
- Arkansas.
- Indiana.
- Massachusetts.
- Minnesota.
- Missouri.
- Nebraska.
- North Carolina.
- Ohio.
- Oklahoma.
- Pennsylvania.
- Tennessee.
The second most popular Rihanna song in the U.S. is “Only Girl (In The World),” which was the most searched song in the following nine states:
- California.
- Colorado.
- Connecticut.
- Kentucky.
- Maryland.
- Texas.
- Utah.
- Washington.
- Wisconsin.
Other popular songs include:
- “Love on the Brain” (most popular in seven states).
- “Work” (most popular in five states).
- “Stay” (most popular in four states).
- “Needed Me” (most popular in four states).
Rihanna’s history with the Super Bowl halftime show
Rihanna previously turned down performing at the Super Bowl halftime show in support of Colin Kaepernick, the Deseret News reported.
“I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people. I just couldn’t be a sellout. I couldn’t be an enabler,” Rihanna told Vogue in 2019. “There’s things within that organization that I do not agree with at all, and I was not about to go and be of service to them in any way.”
“So is it strange that Rihanna is performing in this year’s Super Bowl halftime show? Why, yes. Yes it is,” Mike Freeman wrote in an opinion piece for USA Today. “That’s because the same conditions the players were protesting still exist. In fact, with the murder of George Floyd in 2020, and the killing of Tyre Nichols, among others, an argument could easily be made that those conditions are worse.”
Freeman did note that Rihanna is signed with Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation, which is the executive producer of the halftime show as part of an effort “to enhance the NFL’s live game experiences and to amplify the league’s social justice efforts.”
Rihanna recorded song for ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’
Shortly after the announcement that Rihanna would be performing for the Super Bowl halftime show last fall, the singer released her first single in several years. “Lift Me Up” was a tribute to late actor Chadwick Boseman and was featured in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” the Deseret News reported.
Rihanna is the youngest self-made female billionaire in the country, with a net worth of $1.4 billion, per the Deseret News. Despite her successful music career, that amount stems mostly from her three retail companies — Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin and Savage X Fenty.