When rapper Kendrick Lamar took the stage for the halftime show at Super Bowl 2025, it marked the multiple Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winning artist’s second time performing at the big game. It also made him the first hip-hop solo headliner in Super Bowl history.
But Lamar, who swept the Grammy Awards in all five categories in which he was nominated, winning both Record and Song of the Year, won’t take home a paycheck to match these feats. He’ll follow other major performers in earning less than the cost of a ticket to the game — if anything at all.
How much do Super Bowl halftime show performers get paid?
Sunday’s matchup in New Orleans between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles is, as usual, a gargantuan financial bonanza — but not for Lamar, who didn’t collect a paycheck for his performance. That’s because halftime artists at the Super Bowl only get paid union scale, a minimum guaranteed in a union contract, according to published reports.
Assuming the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union’s most recent contract applies, that would translate to about $1,000 a day, People Magazine reported.
Why doesn’t the NFL pay Super Bowl halftime performers?
The NFL has a long-standing policy of only paying union scale for halftime performers, who in the past have included Usher, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney.
The NFL not only has a track record of never paying big bucks to performers, it has even charged some artists for the privilege — and massive exposure — of performing during the Super Bowl. The NFL in 2015 solicited fees to perform from Rihanna, Coldplay and Katy Perry, who in the end rejected the notion.
Perry agreed to perform but not to pay for the opportunity, telling Forbes: