3 minSports
Jay-Z will headline Super Bowl LXI halftime show at SoFi Stadium
Apple Music and the NFL confirmed rapper Jay-Z as the headliner of the Super Bowl LXI halftime show, set for February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
Jay-Z will headline the Super Bowl LXI halftime show, the NFL and Apple Music confirmed, ending weeks of speculation about the marquee performance. The show will take place on February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, the same venue where the rapper recently wrapped his Jay-Z 30 tour. The production is part of the Apple Music Super Bowl LXI Halftime Show, a partnership between the streaming service and the league.
The announcement was made during the halftime of a Monday night game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles. Apple Music posted the news on X, writing that the "GOAT's out of the bag," and tagged Jay-Z in the post. The halftime show is produced by Roc Nation, the entertainment company founded by Jay-Z, which has helped produce and select performers for the Super Bowl halftime show since 2019. The NFL had officially confirmed the booking, making clear that the rapper would be the headline act for the 2027 game.
Reports had circulated in the days before the announcement that Jay-Z was in the running for the slot. Puck News had reported that the rapper was chosen over Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, while TMZ had said Harry Styles was among the frontrunners. The official confirmation settled the question in favor of Jay-Z, and the leak of his upcoming performance had surfaced in the media the previous week before the league and Apple Music made the news official.
The performance comes shortly after Jay-Z's Jay-Z 30 tour, a four-city run that celebrated the 30th anniversary of his 1996 debut album, "Reasonable Doubt." He closed the tour with back-to-back shows at SoFi Stadium on October 23 and 24. Puck reported that three consecutive shows at Yankee Stadium in July grossed more than $42 million, according to OutKick. The tour marked a return to the stage for an artist whose catalog spans three decades and whose recent work includes "4:44," released in 2017.
Jay-Z, 56, has won 25 Grammy Awards and was the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Although he has never performed at the Super Bowl himself, his wife, Beyoncé, headlined the halftime show in 2013 in New Orleans and returned to the stage in 2016, when she joined Coldplay and Bruno Mars in Santa Clara, California. The Super Bowl halftime slot has become one of the most-watched live performances in American music, and the 2027 game will mark the first time the rapper takes that stage.
In a statement, Jay-Z reflected on the milestone: "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" brought him to this moment, he added, linking the announcement to the anniversary that the tour was built around.
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