Super Bowl XLIX With Hashtag #SB49 Was The Most Tweeted Super Bowl Ever

Sunday night’s Super Bowl XLIX, in which the New England Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28-24, turned out to be the most tweeted Super Bowl ever with more than 28.4 million tweets posted on the micro-logging site.

According to Twitter, conversation around the hashtag #SB49 dominated the social networking site all night. During the live telecast of the football extravaganza, tweets from Super Bowl fans ensured the XLIX edition surpassed last year’s game, which had generated more than 24.9 million tweets.

“From kickoff to the interception by Malcolm Butler (@Mac_BZ) in the final minute, @NFL fans joined the conversation at the biggest virtual sports bar in the world, via the #SB49 timeline,” Twitter said on its official blog post.

Twitter also provided an interactive map that shows how conversation about the game from all over the United Sates came together on Twitter.

According to Twitter, the moment that generated the biggest spike in Twitter conversation -- measured in tweets per minute during the live telecast -- came when Malcolm Butler intercepted a pass by Russell Wilson one yard from the goal line with 20 seconds left in the game.

And the other two most-discussed moments of the game were:

• Patriots defeat Seahawks to become Super Bowl XLIX champions
• End of Katy Perry’s halftime performance

The Patriots players mentioned the most on Twitter during the live telecast were Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, while the most-tweeted players from the Seahawks were Marshawn Lynch, Russell Wilson and Chris Matthews, according to Twitter.

Meanwhile, the halftime show featuring Katy Perry, Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott also lit up Twitter, generating over 3 million tweets.

The buildup to Super Bowl XLIX was dominated by a controversy over underinflated footballs used by the Patriots in a 45-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game last month.

“We won that (AFC) game 45-7, we won today 28-24,” Reuters quoted Patriots owner Robert Kraft as saying, after winning the Super Bowl XLIX title Sunday. “Our people didn't touch the balls. I love our team, I'm proud of our guys.”