After Years Calling the Shots, JAY-Z Is Reportedly Set to (Finally) Headline the Super Bowl LXI Halftime Show
The announcement could drop as soon as this weekend at his SoFi Stadium shows.
Summary
JAY-Z has reportedly tapped himself to headline the Super Bowl LXI halftime show, according to 'Puck'
The booking would arrive as he celebrates 30 years of Reasonable Doubt and 25 years of The Blueprint with a string of record-breaking stadium dates
Neither the NFL nor Roc Nation has confirmed the news, though an announcement could reportedly come at his SoFi Stadium shows this weekend
JAY-Z looks set to step from behind the curtain and onto the field, with Puck reporting that the Roc Nation founder has selected himself to headline the Super Bowl LXI halftime show in Los Angeles this February. Citing multiple sources, Dave Brooks reports that Hov, who holds the final say on halftime bookings, chose his own name after Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber were also considered. Representatives for the NFL and Roc Nation did not respond to Puck’s request for comment.
The reported booking would complete a full-circle moment that began in 2019, when Roc Nation partnered with the NFL to curate and produce the halftime show. According to Puck, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell brought JAY-Z aboard to lift the show’s cultural standing and win back casual viewers, under an arrangement worth $5 million USD a year that the league extended for another five years in 2024. Since then, Roc Nation has guided the show through headliners including Kendrick Lamar in 2025 and Bad Bunny in 2026, and a JAY-Z set has long been seen as the logical endpoint.
Timing plays a big part in the story. Hov, now 56, has spent 2026 marking two of hip-hop’s most celebrated anniversaries, with his 1996 debut Reasonable Doubt turning 30 and The Blueprint hitting 25. The celebrations have taken the form of a stadium run that Puck reports includes more than $42 USD million grossed across three sold-out Yankee Stadium nights in July, a headlining slot at Philadelphia’s 80,000-capacity Roots Picnic on May 30 and a sold-out show in Paris that brought in $12 million USD last month.
The tour has also delivered the kind of moments that make halftime history. At the second of two sold-out shows at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last month, JAY-Z brought the Fugees back together onstage, a reunion that hints at the guest list a Super Bowl set could command, with his marriage to Beyoncé only adding to the speculation. Beyond music, his stature has grown through milestones like his 2021 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, where Barack Obama helped honor him, and an eight-part HBO documentary featuring Rick Rubin that is currently streaming.
His recent output tells a quieter story. Puck points out that JAY-Z’s last major chart hit came in 2013 with Beyoncé’s “Drunk in Love,” which peaked at No. 2, and that he hasn’t released an album since 2017’s double-platinum 4:44. Unlike the hit-driven bookings of Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny, a JAY-Z halftime show would lean on a catalog spanning three decades and on the connection his music still sparks with Gen X and millennial audiences.
An official confirmation may be imminent. Puck reports that JAY-Z could reveal the news as early as this weekend, when he plays the first of two nearly sold-out nights at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, a short drive from where the Super Bowl LXI stage will be set.
Stay tuned for an official announcement.
