Recapping Favorite Super Bowl Shows and Anticipating 2024

The Super Bowl halftime show has been a spectacle since the big game’s origins in the 1960s. At first, it was a humble affair, with local college bands and color guards called upon to provide the mid-game entertainment, but it has since grown into one of the defining moments of the game, with massive budgets, star-studded lineups and plenty of showmanship.

That trend began in the 1990s, when The King of Pop, Michael Jackson himself, took the stage during Super Bowl XXVII and put on a show for the ages. As it became clear that popular music is where the money is, the NFL has continued to bring in the stars for the biggest game of the year. For Super Bowl, it’ll be R&B crooner Usher with the eyes of a nation on him, one of the more highly anticipated shows of the past decade.

While it’s no easy task to follow on the heels of one of the greatest stage presences the world has ever seen at the absolute height of his powers, here’s a look at some of the best Super Bowl halftime shows of all time.

Michael Jackson Starts the Trend

As I said previously, one-upping the King of Pop is an impossible task. A man who could make crowds scream in anticipation for more than 90 seconds even as he stood dead still, not even moving a muscle, Jackson had perhaps the best stage presence and charisma of any artist, ever.

His performance brought in more than 133 million viewers, making it the most-watched television show in the history of the country, a margin that performers still haven’t been able to top in the years since, even as the population of the United States continues to grow and the Super Bowl 2024 becomes more and more popular.

Jackson set the standard for the halftime show as we know it today, combining intrigue—like his standing still, or the body doubles who appeared atop the Jumbotrons at the iconic Rose Bowl—with his iconic vocals, gaudy outfits and otherworldly dance moves.

True to form, he didn’t sing too many of his A-list hits besides “Billie Jean” (although you can’t really go wrong with Jackson’s catalog) because he wanted to focus on an uplifting theme for his show, set against the backdrop of the riots following the arrest and beating of Rodney King the previous spring.

Purple Rain in a Downpour

Prince’s performance during the Super Bowl XLI halftime show might just be the only one so far to come close to Jackson’s. Playing in an absolute downpour in Miami, the NFL reportedly asked Prince if he wanted to postpone the show due to safety concerns—wearing stilettos on a slick stage and using electric equipment in the rain among them.

Instead, he asked if they could make it ‘rain harder’ before going on to give a performance for the ages. Members of the Bears and Colts were said to have foregone the safety of the locker room during the halftime show, wanting to see Prince perform more than they wanted to rest and prepare for the second half of the biggest game of their lives.

Prince sang his 1984 hit “Let’s Go Crazy” in addition to covers of hits by Queen, Bob Dylan and Foo Fighters before delving into the grand finale, singing “Purple Rain” as the storm continued to rage above him, the magenta lighting on stage tingeing the rain with a purple hue. Much like Jackson, Prince’s presence and vocals stole the show, with his natural ability as a performer making him a natural fit for one of the marquee events of American television.

Serenading the Streets of L.A.

It’s always fun when the halftime show is able to pay homage to the music scene of the city where the game takes place, and that’s what happened in early 2022 when Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar took the stage for an ensemble halftime show that also included rap and R&B stars from around the country like Eminem, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent.

In focusing on the West Coast music scene that took the country by storm during the 1990s, this halftime show helped usher in a new era of music, shifting away from the rock-and-roll heavy setlists of the past for the musical styles favored by millennials: perhaps a sign of things to come as time continues to march on, as with Usher’s upcoming performance. The inclusion of New York-based artists also helped bridge the symbolic West Coast/East Coast divide that plagued the music scene around the turn of the millennium.

50 Cent rapping while hanging upside down, emulating his iconic “In Da Club” music video, and the eponymous “California Love” were two highlights of this star-packed show.