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JAŸ-Z has spent years picking the Super Bowl halftime headliners. Now, he’s picked himself.
The rap icon will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl LXI Halftime Show, the NFL announced Monday night (October 26) during halftime of the Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles game on Monday Night Football, Yahoo Sports reported.
“From Reasonable Doubt to standing on the Super Bowl Halftime stage, this has been a journey,” JAŸ-Z said in a statement. “Thirty years of music, work, and culture on the world’s biggest stage. This run continues to be a dream come true.”
The game takes place on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and will air on ABC and ESPN.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell revealed that this moment was a long time coming. JAŸ-Z’s company, Roc Nation, has co-produced the halftime show with the league since 2019, and Goodell said he had one request when that partnership began.
“When we first reached an agreement with Roc Nation to produce the show, I had just one request: that Jay-Z take the stage himself one day, whenever the moment felt right to him,” Goodell said, according to Rolling Stone.
The timing makes sense. This year, JAŸ-Z celebrated the 30th anniversary of his debut album Reasonable Doubt and the 25th anniversary of The Blueprint with a stadium run that included three sold-out nights at Yankee Stadium and stops in London and Paris. The tour wrapped this past weekend at SoFi Stadium, the same venue where he’ll take the halftime stage.
The announcement comes a week after Puck reported that JAŸ-Z had chosen himself for the gig over other contenders, including Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber.
He’ll follow Bad Bunny, whose Super Bowl LX show earlier this year became the most-watched halftime performance of all time. His wife, Beyoncé, headlined the halftime show at Super Bowl XLVII and was a guest performer at Super Bowl 50.