The Super Bowl Is Already Pushing Bruno Mars' Career To New Heights

Even before the Super Bowl show, Bruno Mars was a highly successful young performer – he wouldn’t have been invited otherwise. Though the typical football fan might not have been aware of Mars before the half time show, he’s had a pretty good thing going for a few years now. But, however big he was before, the Super Bowl is bound to make him bigger – especially given the great performance he gave.

Now, Mars was not paid for his 12-minute appearance Sunday night, since the exposure should have been payment enough. In his case, the dividends have been immediate. During his brief show, 2.2 million tweets about it were posted online with more to come in the following minutes, hours and days. Most were highly impressed with Mars’ near perfect performance.

Opening the show behind a drum kit, the Hawaiian-born singer made sure to establish his musical credentials, before launching into a high-energy show, which included recognizable elements of 50’s, 60’s and 70’s nostalgia, seamlessly incorporated into his songs. Locked Out of Heaven has been a proven crowd pleaser since its release, but it was clever of Mars to also perform some of his lesser known songs, Treasure and Runaway Baby, giving football fans a taste of what to expect at one of his Moonshine Jungle shows.

“The halftime performance at the Super Bowl is the single most important live appearance an artist can make,” says Gary Bongiovanni, president and editor-in-chief of concert data outfit Pollstar, said for Forbes. “And with the pressure on, Bruno Mars crushed it. I would not be surprised if he more than doubled his number of fans overnight.”

Find out how the Super Bowl could affect Mars' sales on the next page.

Now, besides a boost in ticket sales, album sales are also expected to surge for Mars Beyoncé’s album 4 got a 59% boost from her performance in New Orleans last year, while Madonna’s back catalog surged 410% in the wake of her halftime show the year before. In the end though, a live show usually stimulates a boost in live show ticket sales.

It was most definitely a touchdown for Mars.

According to Forbes, the exposure could mean that Mars’ management could easily raise ticket prices for Moonshine Jungle from the current average of $66 closer to the $120 average of his halftime show predecessor, Beyoncé. People, who have heard Mars' songs on the radio and had the tunes stuck in their heads for weeks afterwards can now finally put a face to the voice. In short, the exposure could turn Mars into an international superstar in the same time that it took for him to move from the club circuit to the Super Bowl – meaning no time at all.