Jay-Z will headline the Super Bowl LXI halftime show at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Feb. 14, 2027, the NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation announced Monday night.
The news came during halftime of the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys game on “Monday Night Football,” when Apple Music aired a short ad followed by a social media post that read, “GOAT’s out of the bag.”
“From ‘Reasonable Doubt’ to standing on the Super Bowl halftime stage, this has been a journey,” Jay-Z said in a statement, ESPN reported. “Thirty years of music, work, and culture on the world’s biggest stage. This run continues to be a dream come true.”
Jay-Z’s long road to the Super Bowl stage
Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, founded the entertainment company Roc Nation in 2008. Since 2019, the company has worked with the NFL to advise on and help produce the league’s entertainment events, including the halftime show.
When that deal was signed, Jay-Z said he had no plans to perform. “If this is about me performing at the Super Bowl, then we can just end this conversation now,” he said in 2019.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he had one request at the time. “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 theGrio.
Roc Nation will serve as executive producer of the show, and Hamish Hamilton will direct it.
Fresh from a tour stop at SoFi Stadium
The announcement came days after Jay-Z played two shows at SoFi Stadium to close a tour marking 30 years since his debut album, “Reasonable Doubt.” The tour opened with three sold-out nights at Yankee Stadium in July before stops in London and Paris.
Jay-Z has won 25 Grammy Awards from 89 nominations, second only to his wife, Beyoncé, who has performed at two Super Bowls. In 2017, he became the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and he joined the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
Hip-hop has led recent halftime shows. Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 performance drew a record average of 133.5 million viewers, and Bad Bunny’s show this February averaged 128.2 million, the fourth-largest halftime audience.
Super Bowl LXI will air on ESPN and ABC and stream on Disney+. The two teams will be decided in the NFL playoffs in January.
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