The Top 5 Halftime Show Performances in Super Bowl History

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The Super Bowl has become an absolutely huge global event in the world of sports. It is watched far and wide and there are millions of people who tune in not just for the football but for the whole spectacle.

The Super Bowl is a football event, sure, but it also has a number of other exciting events surrounding it, with people often having themed parties and making a day of it. Making your Super Bowl picks and gambling on the event is also very popular and it is thought that the sportsbooks take more on this day than any other in the football calendar.

One of the things that always makes headlines when it comes to the Super Bowl is the halftime show. It is always different and always a real spectacle to watch, whether you are there in person or watching online.

In this guide, we’re running through five of the very best performances in the whole history of the Super Bowl, to see who has given us the best entertainment at halftime.

Prince

In 2007, Prince showed that he was still in charge. The Colts played the Chicago bears that year and the Super Bowl had never seen a halftime show quite like it from The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.

The set was something of a mashup as he played songs including We Will Rock You and All Along the Watchtower as cover versions, as well as some of his own very greatest hits, with a closeout song of Purple Rain accompanied by a full marching band.

When people talk about the best halftime performances, they will always discuss the Prince show as one of the best and most iconic.

The Rolling Stones

A year before Prince strutted his stuff, the Rolling Stones brought their own unique brand of rock and roll to the show. Their stage was built as a huge version of the emblem of the band, which everybody has seen hundreds of times.

The band didn’t need any gimmicks or special guests to make this show memorable and instead smashed it with a note-perfect set of renditions of their most popular and famous songs. Though they only played three songs, they roared their way through Start Me Up, Rough Justice, and the iconic Satisfaction.

Dr. Dre (and friends)

It took until 2022 for hip-hop to finally get the sort of representation it deserves in the NFL.

Dre brought out some of his most famous collaborators and guests as he took to the SoFi Stadium stage in California. Guests included 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and more. Amazing hip-hop tracks, including Kendrick Lamar’s Alright and Dre’s Still D.R.E., were particular highlights of the show.

Beyoncé

Beyoncé created one of the more ambitious shows in the history of the Super Bowl, with hits including Love on Top and Crazy in Love, as well as loads of backing dancers and singers, a horn section, and interesting visuals.

The headlines were made when Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams came out to join Queen Bey for hits that included Bootylicious, Independent Women, and Single Ladies.

This show was packed with visuals and moved at a million miles per hour, wowing the crowd before they really knew what had happened. The Nielsen ratings showed us that the 2013 halftime performance was watched by 110.8 million viewers, making it one of the most widely watched ever. A report also showed the knock-on effects as some of Beyoncé’s hits saw their sales triple once again after the performance.

Paul McCartney

2004 saw Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake give us some of the most controversial halftime moments. In 2005, the NFL went back to a safer option with Paul McCartney, one of the biggest names in rock and pop music.

It is only right that an ex-Beatle played one of the shows, and he was able to get the 84,000 fans in the stadium (Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville) to join in for Hey Jude. He also played his famous Bond theme Live and Let Die and some of his Beatles tracks.

Summary

The Super Bowl is often the absolute pinnacle of a musician’s career and one of the things that they aspire to, having watched these amazing performances for decades. Legendary stars from the 60s and up-and-coming artists have played some incredible halftime shows in recent years.