NFL Sets Halftime Slate: Jay-Z for Super Bowl LXI, U2 for First Thanksgiving Eve Show
Seven Lights
The NFL laid out its halftime slate this week, confirming that Jay-Z will headline the Super Bowl LXI halftime show at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Feb. 14, 2027, that U2 will play the first Thanksgiving Eve halftime show on Nov. 25, and that Miranda Lambert will perform at the Thanksgiving Day game the following day.
Apple Music, the NFL and Roc Nation confirmed the Super Bowl selection during this week’s Monday Night Football broadcast. Puck first reported the choice last week, after weeks of speculation that had favored Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber. Under the production arrangement between the league and Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation, the rapper selected himself as headliner.
“From ‘Reasonable Doubt’ to standing on the Super Bowl Halftime stage, this has been a journey,” Jay-Z said. “Thirty years of music, work, and culture on the world’s biggest stage. This run continues to be a dream come true.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league had sought the moment when it signed the production deal. “When we first reached an agreement with Roc Nation to produce the show, I had just one request: that Jay-Z take the stage himself one day, whenever the moment felt right to him,” Goodell said.
U2 will perform during the Green Bay Packers-Los Angeles Rams game at SoFi Stadium on Wednesday, Nov. 25, in what the league billed as the first Thanksgiving Eve halftime show. Netflix will carry the performance live from 8 p.m. Eastern. The band is marking 50 years since its formation and previously headlined the Super Bowl halftime show in 2002. “There’s a reason U2 has headlined stadiums for decades: they don’t just perform, they deliver iconic moments audiences remember forever,” said Ted Sarandos, co-chief executive of Netflix.
Lambert will perform at the Salvation Army Red Kettle Kickoff halftime show alongside the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders during the Dallas Cowboys-Philadelphia Eagles game at AT&T Stadium in Texas on Thursday, Nov. 26. Post Malone, Dolly Parton, Luke Combs and Lainey Wilson have held the Thanksgiving slot in the past five years.
Fan reaction to the Jay-Z announcement was immediate on social media. Bad Bunny’s halftime show this February became the most watched and most Emmy-awarded on record, after Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 set drew the largest audience to that point. Super Bowl LXI will air on ESPN, ABC and Disney+, with NFL+ carrying it on mobile devices.