It is official. Jay-Z will headline the Super Bowl LXI halftime show on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Apple Music, the NFL and Roc Nation announced the booking during halftime of the Cowboys-Eagles game on Monday night, a little before 10 p.m. in New York and close to 5 a.m. on Tuesday in Cairo.
The announcement confirms what music-business reporter Dave Brooks first reported on Oct. 20: the man whose company has produced every halftime show since 2020 picked himself for the next one. Our original story on that report has the background, including the other names that were considered.
GOAT’s out of the bag. @sc #AppleMusicHalftime #SBLXI pic.x.com/6wnIqTKjZB
— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) October 27, 2026
Goodell: “I had just one request”
Roger Goodell said in the league’s statement that he had asked for this the day the partnership began. “For several years, we’ve had the privilege of working closely with JAŸ-Z and Roc Nation, and I’ve seen the extraordinary impact he has had on the Super Bowl Halftime Show,” the commissioner said. “When we first reached an agreement with Roc Nation to produce the show, I had just one request: that JAŸ-Z take the stage himself one day, whenever the moment felt right to him. I couldn’t be more excited for fans around the world to experience the artistry, creativity and cultural impact he will bring to the Super Bowl stage.”
Jay-Z, who is 56, tied the booking to the 30th anniversary of his debut album. “From Reasonable Doubt to standing on the Super Bowl Halftime stage, this has been a journey,” he said. “Thirty years of music, work, and culture on the world’s biggest stage. This run continues to be a dream come true.”
Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of music and international content, said Apple was “so thrilled that he will be taking that stage himself this year” after working with him in recent years to bring other artists to the show. The announcement did not name any guest performers.
Who runs the show
Roc Nation, which Jay-Z founded, will executive produce the telecast and also serves as the strategic entertainment advisor of the live performance. Hamish Hamilton will direct. That arrangement is unchanged from recent years, which means the halftime act and the company producing it now share the same founder for the first time since the partnership started in 2019. Apple Music remains the title sponsor, and the game airs on Disney’s networks, which are also producing a Star Wars animated version for younger viewers.
Jay-Z has never performed at a Super Bowl halftime show before. His wife, Beyoncé, headlined the Super Bowl XLVII show in New Orleans in 2013 and returned as a guest during Coldplay’s show in 2016. Every show since February 2020 has come through the Roc Nation deal, from Shakira and Jennifer Lopez to Kendrick Lamar and, last February, Bad Bunny.
The latest reveal outside the pandemic year
Monday’s announcement came 111 days before kickoff. Bad Bunny was named 133 days before Super Bowl LX, and most recent headliners were announced in September. The only later reveal of the decade was The Weeknd, named 87 days before a Super Bowl played under COVID-19 restrictions, as our look at this year’s late timing laid out.
The booking also caps a big year for Jay-Z at the Super Bowl venue. His 30th anniversary run included three sold-out nights at Yankee Stadium in July, shows in London and Paris, and two concerts at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 23 and 24, the weekend many fans had expected the reveal. SoFi will host another headline halftime act before February: U2 is set to play the Packers-Rams game on Thanksgiving Eve, Nov. 25.
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