Jay-Z's company has shaped the Super Bowl halftime show since 2019. Now he's the headliner
The NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation named Jay-Z as headliner of Super Bowl LXI on 14 February 2027 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. His own company, Roc Nation, executive produces the show.
Jay-Z will headline the Super Bowl LXI halftime show. The NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation made it official on Monday night, ending months of rumours.
The game is on Sunday 14 February 2027 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The joint announcement confirms that Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s own company, is executive producer of the broadcast, with Hamish Hamilton directing.
The 2019 line
Roc Nation has worked with the NFL since 2019, advising on and producing the league’s entertainment. Asked back then whether he would ever perform himself, Jay-Z said that if that was the conversation, they could end it right there.
He has clearly reopened it. According to ESPN, Commissioner Roger Goodell only ever asked that he take the stage whenever the moment felt right.
“From Reasonable Doubt to standing on the Super Bowl Halftime stage, this has been a journey,” Jay-Z said in the release. That debut album turned 30 this year.
Some act to follow
He arrives with 25 Grammys from 89 nominations, the second-highest tally in history (Beyoncé, his wife, has more). He was the first hip-hop artist in the Songwriters Hall of Fame and entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
The bar is high. Bad Bunny’s halftime show last season averaged 128.2 million viewers, the fourth-most-watched ever, and won a record seven Emmys. Big music moments around sport keep getting bigger, as the World Cup final’s halftime show with Madonna, Shakira and BTS showed in July.
Guests and the setlist have not been announced. In the US the show airs on ESPN, ABC and Disney+.
By Lucy Bennett
Image: Mike Barry / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)