Everyone alive at the time remembers the 1969 moon landing, and now everyone will recall the 2024 Super Bowl.
That famous moon walk is believed to have averaged as many as 150 million viewers. Nothing has come close to that viewership—until the 2024 Super Bowl.
Sunday's Super Bowl averaged 123.4 million viewers across multiple platforms, but mainly on CBS and Paramount+. This makes it the most-watched U.S. telecast since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon on July 20, 1969. In contrast, the 2023 Super Bowl averaged a whopping 115.096 million viewers.
So—why did so many people tune in to watch this year's Super Bowl?
Perhaps people were excited to see Usher perform at the halftime show, for which he brought along Alicia Keys, Lil Jon, Ludacris, H.E.R., and Jermaine Dupri. (There had been rumors of Justin Bieber joining him, but ultimately, this was not the case. Bieber stuck to the stands and watched with his wife, Hailey Bieber.)
It could also be the result of a well-watched season and the two teams that made it to the finals: the Kansas City Chiefs and San Fransisco 49ers. It was an incredible game, seeing the Chiefs come from behind to defeat the 49ers in overtime, 25-22.
But let's face it—the root cause of the unusually high viewership is likely the Taylor Swift Effect.
Taylor Swift's relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been highly publicized in recent months. The NFL has been reporting higher than usual viewers for all their games since Swift and Kelce's relationship became public, especially as she has attended almost every Chiefs game since—when she's not jetting around the world on her sold-out Eras Tour.
Swifties are buying tickets and tuning in to catch a glimpse of Swift, and it's boosting the NFL's business. Merchandise is also being sold at an alarming rate, especially Kelce's sweatshirts, which have been sold out for months.
Fans were particularly curious to see if she'd even make it back for the game, given her performance in Tokyo hours before.
Now that football season is over, we're curious where the Swiftie Effect will turn to next. Fans have a few months to wait until her new album (screaming!) "The Tortured Poets Department," so they'll need somewhere to get their fix of Swift in the meantime.
