Jay-Z will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl LXI Halftime Show, the NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced Monday night, ending seven years in which the rap mogul helped choose everyone else to take the stage — and finally choosing himself.
The announcement came during halftime of Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles game at Lincoln Financial Field. Super Bowl LXI is set for Sunday, February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and will air on ESPN and ABC.
"From Reasonable Doubt to standing on the Super Bowl halftime stage, this has been a journey," Jay-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 man who built the show takes the stage
Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, has worked with the NFL since 2019, when his company Roc Nation signed on as the league's live music entertainment strategist — co-producing the halftime show and helping pick who performs. The deal, reportedly worth $5 million a year, was extended in 2024 and recently extended again through 2029. Under Roc Nation the stage has gone to The Weeknd, the Dr. Dre-led West Coast lineup, Rihanna, Usher, Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement Monday that when the league first struck its deal with Roc Nation, his one request was "that JAY-Z take the stage himself one day."
The 56-year-old has never performed at a Super Bowl, despite shaping the show for seven years. He has won 25 Grammy Awards from 89 nominations — the second-most nominations in history behind his wife Beyoncé, who headlined the halftime show in 2013 and returned as a surprise guest in 2016.
The report that gave it away
The announcement confirmed a report by Puck's Dave Brooks on October 20, citing multiple sources, that Jay-Z had chosen himself for the gig over Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, who were both considered. TMZ reported Harry Styles was in the running at one point. The report drew a wave of online criticism and memes about Jay-Z picking himself — and at his SoFi Stadium show on Saturday, he addressed the backlash from the stage, telling the crowd to question everything in a world of artificial intelligence.
Thirty years in the making
The timing writes itself: 2026 marks 30 years since his debut album "Reasonable Doubt" and 25 years since "The Blueprint," and Jay-Z has spent the fall celebrating with his JAY-Z 30 anniversary shows — three sold-out nights at Yankee Stadium, stops in London and Paris, and two final nights at SoFi Stadium on October 23 and 24, the same building he will take over in February.
His catalog includes "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)," "99 Problems" and "Empire State of Mind," his collaboration with Alicia Keys. He has not released a solo album since 2017's "4:44," and he became the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2017 and joined the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
Bad Bunny headlined last season's Super Bowl in February, with guest appearances by Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, and his songs surged across streaming charts in the hours after the show. Jay-Z will be hoping for the same — only this time, the man who has spent seven years handing out the biggest stage in music gets to stand on it himself.
Fuentes: theScore (AP), 26 oct 2026; Fox Sports, 26 oct 2026; NBC Los Angeles, 26 oct 2026; Entertainment Weekly, 26 oct 2026.