The Super Bowl returns this Sunday (February 8) with the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots duking it out in Santa Clara, California.
Aside from the game itself, the biggest talking point of the Super Bowl is the halftime show, where some of the world’s most famous artists – from Bruce Springsteen to Katy Perry – have entertained fans at the stadium.
This time around, all eyes will be on Bad Bunny. A week on from making history at the Grammys, the Puerto Rican superstar is expected to draw even more viewers than Kendrick Lamar’s record-breaking audience of 133.5 million last year.
Back in 2023, Rihanna made jaws drop not only with her incredible performance, but with her shock pregnancy reveal.
Meanwhile, 2022’s show was a celebration of hip-hop, with Lamar joined on that occasion by joint headliners Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J Blige and Dr Dre.
Ahead of this year’s Super Bowl, here are 10 of the all-time greatest halftime shows.
The Barbadian artist reigned over the 2023 Super Bowl with a first-class medley of pop showstoppers featuring “We Found Love”, “Work” and “Wild Thoughts”.
While RiRi’s performance was indisputably excellent, undoubtedly the biggest frenzy was caused by her red boilersuit, which revealed a bump that confirmed the pop star was pregnant with her and rapper A$AP Rocky’s second child.
It was classic from the “Only Girl in the World” star: attention-grabbing, headline-generating, full-bodied drama, and we loved it.
McCartney preceded the pop stars trying to outdo one another with extravagant stage designs and lavish costumes. Instead, he offered four beautifully played songs, of which the final one, “Hey Jude”, prompted an epic singalong with the crowd at Jacksonville’s EverBank Field Stadium.
Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music
Sign up now for a 30-day free trial. Terms apply.
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
One of the few to outdo Katy Perry’s 2015 entrance was Madonna, three years earlier, who appeared on a giant golden chariot led by about a hundred buff men dressed as Roman soldiers. She brought out Nicki Minaj and MIA for “Give Me All Your Luvin’” and also performed hits “Like a Prayer”, “Music” and “Express Yourself”.
There are few entrances as grand as standing on top of a giant golden lion with glowing eyes. Katy Perry went all out for her halftime show in 2015 with performances of “Roar”, “Dark Horse”, “California Gurls”, “Firework” and “Teenage Dream”. And who can forget the notorious Left Shark and his poor coordination?
“Put the chicken fingers down and turn your television all the way up,” the Boss ordered. Springsteen’s 12-minute set started out with “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” and also included “Born to Run”, “Glory Days” and “Working on a Dream”. Springsteen will make a cameo of sorts this year, as he stars in an advertising spot for Jeep.
One of the most outlandish halftime shows in recent memory, Lady Gaga began her performance by hurtling herself from the top of the stadium (attached to a harness, of course) – sparking a thousand memes. Once safely on the ground, she thrilled audiences with her biggest hits: “Poker Face”, “Born This Way”, “Telephone”, “Just Dance”, “Million Reasons” and “Bad Romance”.
Shakira’s rock-heavy opener felt like a direct riposte to the tired notion that men are the only ones who can put on a show. The “Hips Don’t Lie” singer wielded her electric guitar like a weapon for “Empire”, before J-Lo touched down from the Empire State building – a nod to her native Bronx – for a frenzied and superbly choreographed series of dance routines. The duo didn’t so much erase as obliterate Maroon 5’s excruciating Super Bowl halftime show from the year before, with a high-octane, all-guns-blazing performance that went big on Latin pride.
Beyoncé exceeded everyone who came before her bar Prince with her Super Bowl performance. It was bold, it was fierce, it was virtually flawless. Bursting onto the stage with “Crazy in Love” after an acapella “Love on Top”, she threw down some of her best dance moves, before moving on to other hits including “End of Time” and “Baby Boy”. Lastly, there was a hysteria-inducing Destiny’s Child reunion with Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland – a performance so powerful, the lights at the stadium cut out when it ended.
Not many artists could manage to rile up Donald Trump and Drake simultaneously, but Lamar pulled off that impressive feat in his halftime show. Trump, the first sitting president ever to attend a Super Bowl, watched on as the Compton-born rapper performed his exuberant diss track “Not Like Us” and even brought out Serena Williams to dance to it. “No one would argue that this is the moment Lamar rises to the very pinnacle of rap royalty, usurping all previous kings,” wrote The Independent’s Mark Beaumont in his five-star review. “Tonight will undoubtedly go down as one of the most important halftime shows in the history of the event, if not the most significant mass-televised rap performance of all time.”
The greatest. Of course, the Purple One wasn’t responsible for the rain that began to pour during his hair-raising 12-minute performance, which included covers of “We Will Rock You” and “All Along the Watchtower”. But the timing was so perfect, you wanted to believe he was. Following renditions of “1999/Baby I’m a Star”, Prince closed on “Purple Rain” in what has to be ranked among one of his greatest live performances of that song.