Final results released by The Nielsen Company show that the Super Bowl matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals was the most watched Super Bowl ever, eclipsing last year’s thriller between New York and New England. The broadcast, which featured a halftime performance by Bruce Springsteen, had an average viewership of 98.7 million viewers.

RANK
SUPER BOWL
WINNER
LOSER
AVG # OF VIEWERS
P2+

1
2009
Pittsburgh
Arizona
98,732,000

2
2008
New York
New England
97,448,000

3
1996
Dallas
Pittsburgh
94,080,000

4
2007
Indianapolis
Chicago
93,184,000

5
1986
Chicago
New England
92,570,000

6
1993
Dallas
Buffalo
90,990,000

7
2006
Pittsburgh
Seattle
90,745,000

8
1998
Denver
Green Bay
90,000,000

9
1994
Dallas
Buffalo
90,000,000

10
2004
New England
Carolina
89,795,000

Source: 2009 The Nielsen Company

Bruce Springsteen’s appearance at the Super Bowl half-time on Sunday dovetailed with the January 27 release date for his new album “Working On A Dream.” So, how will his Super Bowl performance impact the sales of latest album and older songs?
According to a new study by Nielsen PreView, not surprisingly, album sales and digital tracks do go up following a Super Bowl half-time performance. However, not all artist sales are equal and not all markets respond similarly.
The study, which analyzed music sales of the past four Super Bowl half-time …