Jay-Z Reportedly Picks Himself to Headline the Super Bowl LXI Halftime Show

Jay-Z has spent years deciding who plays the Super Bowl halftime show, and a new report says he has now decided on himself. Puck reported early Tuesday (Oct. 20), citing multiple sources, that the Roc Nation founder has settled on the headliner for Super Bowl LXI, which is set for Feb. 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Jay-Z, the chief decision-maker on who plays the Super Bowl halftime show, has finally picked the artist who will take the stage in L.A. in February: himself.

Puck, citing multiple sources, Puck

Puck’s sources describe the pick as something that “has long felt inevitable,” and more compelling than Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber, both of whom were considered. The outlet calls a Jay-Z set the natural next step in the $5 million-a-year deal Roc Nation signed with the NFL in 2019 and renewed in 2024. Reps for the NFL and Roc Nation did not respond to Puck’s request for comment, and HotNewHipHop says none of them has confirmed or denied it.

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The timing fits his year. Jay-Z has been breaking stadium records while celebrating 30 years of Reasonable Doubt and 25 of The Blueprint. Puck counts more than $42 million from three sold-out nights at Yankee Stadium in July and a May 30 headline set at the Roots Picnic. Last month came $12 million from a sold-out Paris crowd and a Fugees reunion at his London shows at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which Puck calls “the type of TV moment the Super Bowl halftime show is made for.”

That makes the report a twist on a story that has been simmering for weeks. In September, a source told the Daily Mail, per HotNewHipHop, that organizers were “having a hard time locking anyone down,” with Jay-Z himself floated as a fallback. Cam’ron and Mase joked on It Is What It Is that the hunt was a setup, and Complex notes Jay-Z told Entertainment Tonight in early 2024 that he would consider performing but thought picking himself would be “selfish” and “too early.”

The year that you got your masters back from Reasonable Doubt. The year you sell out Yankee Stadium three nights in a row.

Cam’ron, on It Is What It Is, Complex

Puck also names the risk. Unlike Bad Bunny, who headlined Super Bowl LX in February, or Kendrick Lamar in 2025, it says, Jay-Z hasn’t had a major hit since 2013 and hasn’t released an album since 2017’s 4:44. It also points to the eight-part HBO documentary JAŸ-Z in 8 as a sign he is in legacy-burnishing mode. Watch the last halftime show he booked below.

An announcement could come this weekend, when Jay-Z plays two shows at SoFi Stadium on Oct. 23 and 24. Until the NFL, Roc Nation or Jay-Z says so, it remains a report.