Despite finishing with a lopsided score after a dominating performance by the Philadelphia Eagles over the Kansas City Chiefs, Super Bowl LIX averaged 127.7 million viewers. According to FOX, the game peaked at 135.7 million in the second quarter. The record-breaking viewership is up from last year’s game, which averaged 123.7 million viewers, and marks a streak of three years in a row that over 100 million people tuned in. Philadelphia beat Kansas City 40-22 in the 2025 Super Bowl, leading the entire night in what was the most commanding championship game in the past few years.
Regardless of the various storylines surrounding the game, the Eagles’ decisive victory in Super Bowl LIX didn’t originally seem like it would draw in a record amount of viewers. Philadelphia got out to an early lead and held onto it for all 48 minutes. The Chiefs did mount a small comeback in the fourth quarter, but by then the game was all but decided.
So why did so many people tune in?
For starters, Kansas City was attempting to win three championships in a row, a feat never accomplished in the Super Bowl era. The Green Bay Packers did complete a three-peat from 1929-1931, but back then it was known just as the NFL Championship, and the league only had 10-12 teams during that span. With Patrick Mahomes at the helm, the Chiefs were trying to do something that Troy Aikman, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, or Tom Brady never did. Along with Kansas City fans wanting to see them win three in a row, fans of other NFL teams were also as interested in tuning in to see them lose.
Over the past few years, a growing number of fans have become weary of the team’s dominance, as well as their knack for being on the winning end of controversial calls. While many have claimed the Chiefs, referees, and NFL as a whole, have ‘colluded’ to give the team the benefit of the doubt on officiating whistles, there’s no doubt people tuned in to the big game to see them lose.
Besides just Kansas City’s recent success and their subsequent detesters, Philadelphia is home to one of the biggest TV markets in the country, with a famously dedicated fanbase. The two teams previously squared off in 2023’s Super Bowl LVII, in which the Chiefs beat the Eagles 38-35, highlighted by a highly disputed holding call against the Eagles’ defense. With 2025’s game being a rematch, perhaps more fans were interested in watching the two square off again. Their last championship matchup was one of the most tightly contested and highest-scoring games in recent history.
As it has been a staple of the Super Bowl for more than the past 30 years, a record amount of viewers could also be attributed to the halftime performance by Kendrick Lamar. Lamar had already been popular in the rap community but saw an increase in mainstream attention this year after a feud with Drake. The beef resulted in multiple songs from Lamar including ‘Not Like Us’ and ‘Euphoria’, both of which were performed at the halftime show. According to Roc Nation, Lamar’s halftime performance was seen by a record 133.5 million viewers, the most in history.
Along with the in-game storylines and halftime performance, Super Bowl LIX saw multiple VIPs in attendance, including Taylor Swift and Donald Trump. Swift most recently set the record for the highest-grossing tour in history and is dating Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce, while Trump became the first-ever sitting president to attend a Super Bowl game. Both the two are some of the most well-known people in the world today, and their appearances at the game could have resulted in many non-sports fans tuning in.
With 127.7 million average viewers and 135.7 million at its peak, Super Bowl LIX was the most-viewed game and second-most viewed TV broadcast in history, behind only the Apollo 11 Moon Landing. The Super Bowl as a whole holds a majority of the most viewed TV broadcasts ever, with only the series finale of M*A*S*H and Richard Nixon’s resignation speech holding the other spots on most top-15 lists.
Americans have proven their love of football and its biggest game, especially over the past few years. In what has been a trend over the past three years, the 2025 Super Bowl is now the most-viewed football game ever. Super Bowl LVII in 2023 originally had the record, but it was beaten by Super Bowl LVIII in 2024, and now Super Bowl LIX in 2025. This year’s game saw a 3.3% rise in viewership from last year and a 10% rise from the game two years ago.
Before this recent streak of record-breaking broadcasts, the previously most-viewed Super Bowl was the New England Patriots matchup against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX with an average of 114.8 million viewers.
With how the game went from the beginning, it’s just surprising to see how a record-breaking amount of people tuned in to watch Super Bowl LIX. The game wasn’t particularly close, and after the first half, it looked nearly impossible that Kansas City would make the biggest comeback in game history to close the gap. Despite that, people watched at a level that hadn’t been seen before.
This is also a bit stunning considering that this year’s NFL playoffs saw a drop in viewership. An average of 35.2 million people tuned in to each of the postseason games, a markdown of 9% from last year’s playoffs. The regular season also saw a relative drop in viewership, with an average of 17.5 million viewers per game, an amount that hasn’t cracked the top five in the past 30 years.
If anything comes from seeing the ratings record for Super Bowl LIX, it shows that football is still king in America.
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