Lady Gaga’s Shocking Super Bowl Pay Leaks After Her Surprise Appearance at Bad Bunny’s Halftime Show
Jason Pham
With her surprise appearance with Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl LX Halftime Show, Lady Gaga now has two Super Bowl performances under her belt. But how much was she paid for both and how does it compare to other halftime show performers? Well, the rate may surprise you.
How much did Lady Gaga get paid for the 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show?
Gaga made a surprise appearance at Bad Bunny’s 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show, where she performed a Latin version of her song “Die With a Smile” from her 2025 album, Mayhem. The song was originally a duet with Bruno Mars, who didn’t perform at the halftime show. After singing, Gaga salsa danced with Bad Bunny for a few seconds before the rapper continued on with his Super Bowl performance, which also included special appearances from Ricky Martin, Karol G, Cardi B, Pedro Pascal, and more celebrities.
Gaga—nor Bad Bunny or anyone else who performed with him at the Super Bowl—were paid for the performance; however, the NFL does cover the production costs of the show. “We do not pay the artists,” NFL spokesperson Joanna Hunter told Forbes in February 2016. “We cover expenses and production costs.”
How much did Lady Gaga get paid for the 2017 Super Bowl Halftime Show performance?
Gaga’s first time performing at the Super Bowl happened in 2017 when she led the Halftime Show. Like Bad Bunny, she also wasn’t paid her usual rate for the performance. Still, Gaga and other Super Bowl performers don’t make nothing. According to People, all performers are paid on a “union scale,” which is the minimum wage they’re guaranteed by a union contract. According to SAG-AFTRA’s most recent contract, this would amount to around $1,000 a day, which is much less than the six or seven-figure pay artists like Gaga usually earn from high-level performances like the Super Bowl.
“The halftime show at the Super Bowl remains a highly coveted spot for many artists,” entertainment attorney Lori Landew told Forbes in February 2019 of the reason artists perform at the Super Bowl despite the lack of pay.
Landew continued, “Some of those artists do not see their appearance as a political statement, nor do they see the show as a cultural battleground, but rather view their live performance as an opportunity to entertain an enthusiastic crowd and to share their music and their talent with millions of viewers.”
While the NFL has never paid for a Super Bowl performer, there was a time when the organization asked artists—including Rihanna, Coldplay, and Katy Perry—to pay for a chance to perform at the event. While Perry agreed to perform, she refused to pay for the opportunity. “I don’t want an asterisk by my name for playing the Super Bowl for the rest of my life,” she told Forbes. “I want to be able to say I played the Super Bowl based on my talents and my merit, thank you very much.”
But what about dancers? In 2021, the NFL and The Weeknd were criticized for paying some dancers while others worked as unpaid “volunteers.” One unpaid dancer claimed to The Los Angeles Times that other dancers were paid $712 for the Super Bowl performance, as well as $45 per hour of rehearsal time. They also received a $30 per diem and a $250 COVID stipend if they had to report to a clinic to test on a day they weren’t working.
“SAG-AFTRA and the producers of the Super Bowl Halftime Show have met and had an open and frank discussion, and have agreed that no professional dancers will be asked to work for free as part of the halftime show,” the union said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “SAG-AFTRA will be advising our professional dancer members that they should not be rehearsing or working on the Super Bowl halftime show without compensation.”
