Beyoncé’s Super Bowl Halftime Revolutionized How to Deliver a Knockout Performance

Years before Beyoncé revolutionized what it means to deliver a knockout headlining performance at Coachella in 2018, she shifted the bar at the Super Bowl halftime show. In 2013, Beyoncé took the stage at Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans with a career-spanning performance that, in hindsight, doesn’t even scratch the surface of how her artistry would unfold over the decade that followed.

The performance opened with “Run the World (Girls),” followed by “Love on Top” and “Crazy in Love.” Jay-Z didn’t join Beyoncé for their collaboration, with a source reportedly telling US Weekly at the time that the rapper “wanted that to be her moment and didn’t want to take away from it.” Next year, Jay-Z will get the spotlight himself as the Super Bowl LXI halftime show headliner.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s joint discography has expanded over the years to include the classic single “Drunk in Love,” the full-length project Everything Is Love, and most recently the “Morning Dew (Donk)” remix, which features the rapper’s first new verse in nearly half a decade.

At Super Bowl XLVII, Beyoncé split a third of her time on stage with Destiny’s Child. Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams joined her for “Bootylicious” and “Independent Women Part I,” then stuck around for “”Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” Other entires on the setlist included “End of Time,” “Baby Boy,” and “Halo,” which closed out the set.

Beyoncé now has five album’s worth of material she could play with. The surprise release of her self-titled album Beyoncé didn’t arrive until the dead of the night on a random Friday in December 2013. It flipped music on its head so abruptly barely anyone even bothers releasing albums on Tuesday anymore. She followed the record with Lemonade, a true testament to her cultural dominance.

The earliest introduction to the album came at the Super Bowl. In 2016, Beyoncé made a surprise appearance during Coldplay’s headlining halftime show at Super Bowl 50. She stormed onto the field with “Formation,” performing the single she released less than 24 hours prior with militant precision and an army of dancers. That one really pissed some people off — there were nearly 50 pages of FCC complaints that followed the set. These days, that’s how you know you’re doing something right.

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This decade, Beyoncé launched a three-act album series beginning with the revitalizing dance album Renaissance and continuing with Cowboy Carter, her take on country. Cowboy Carter got its time in the halftime show spotlight as Beyoncé headlined the 2024 NFL Christmas Gameday halftime show, fittingly branded as the Beyoncé Bowl. Her special guests included Blue Ivy, Shaboozey, and Post Malone and the set list made a special nod to the end of the Renaissance era with “My House.”
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Since 2019, production of the Super Bowl halftime show has been helmed in partnership with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. Thus far, the 2020s have featured headlining performances from Shakira and Jennifer Lopez; the Weeknd; Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar; Rihanna; Usher; Lamar, on his own this time; and Bad Bunny, who made history as the first Latin artist to deliver a Super Bowl halftime performance primarily in Spanish.

Super Bowl LXI will be hosted on Feb. 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.