It’s fair to say people look forward to the halftime shows just as much as people tune in to watch the actual match. The Super Bowl is an unpaid performance during the yearly Super Bowl. This has been going on for every year the Super Bowl has been played including Covid years (2019-2020).
This is a fun little showcase of entertainment among music artists. The goal of a Super Bowl performance is more to entertain vs show off actual singing ability. This is made very clear in Katy Perry’s 2015 performance (I ranked this 11). Lots of artists can be seen lip-syncing versus just singing to maximize their breath for movement around the field.
I ranked my personal top 13 Super Bowl performances as of 2024. When considering I looked at the selected music, how it sounded, and whether was it entertaining to watch. All these performances were great but this is my ranking of the best.
13.) Maroon 5, Travis Scott, Big Boi (2019)
12.) U2 (2002)
11.) Katy Perry (2015)
10.) Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Emme Muniz (2020)
9.) Eminem, Dr. Dre. Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige (2022)
8.) Lady Gaga (2017)
7.) Madonna (2012)
6.) The Weekend (2021)
5.) Coldplay, Beyonce, Bruno Mars (2016)
4.) Beyoncé (2013)
3.) The Black Eyed Peas, Usher, Slash (2011)
I love the Blackeye Peas! The performance was super entertaining so I rank it as a solid third place.
2.) Rhianna (2023)
I am a die-hard Rhianna fan, from her clothing, fashion shows, music, and makeup brands. I might be biased, but she is a great singer and picked perfect songs for the Super Bowl. On top of that SHE DID IT PREGNANT!
1.) Prince (2007)
I think it’s fair to say everyone has seen this iconic performance and is a no-brainer #1. The fact he sang Purple Rain -an already great song- in the rain just made the performance that much better.
Honorable mention to Ushers 2024 performance, it would have made the list from the entertainment aspect but he chose the most random songs that I just didn’t know. Alicia Keys does give him a lot of bonus points. Maybe they were common but not to me so he doesn’t make it on this list.
Canyon Hills Junior Addison Carr disagreed with this opinion, “I think to like Usher’s performance you needed like ushers music normally. The Super Bowl showed without his hits no one really likes his music, I personally like it but that’s just me.”
The leading factor most of these people are on the list is because all their music is very ‘ and even if you don’t know it has beats and lyrics that are easy to follow, I just didn’t feel that in Usher’s performance.
