Ranking Every Super Bowl Halftime Show 

I'm going to say it: that was my absolute favorite part of that day. One of these days I may change my profile pic and it won't be obvious why... (God, I wanted Bills-Cowboys 3 this year. Maybe next year though.)

exactly why it’s my #1 sb performance

Michael is the biggest. Absolutely

Couldn't have said this any better!

why u lie about MJ ? he sang with brother ( Jackson 5 , the national song at age of 12 year) u have luck to have internet so check more ur info. and im from France . #shameOnU

Beyoncé was literally scatting LIVE that’s insane for a Super Bowl performance 😍

@@kng001 scatting?

@@kait7404 The style of singing Beyoncé was doing during crazy in love with her Guitarist

@@kait7404 dawg 😭😭

Gaga did too I believe

Wait it was how what happened I’ve never heard that

That and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami

@@kait7404 during the choreography JT ripped off part of Jacksons clothing which revealed her melon(s) to the country

If that’s what you were asking about, prob common knowledge but 🤷🏼‍♂️

@@seamustierney6527 no I was asking how did it create RU-vid

well actually if im not mistaken Madonna too had more viewers than the game itself

Not anymore.

134M viewers

Wrong, he’s not the only one

It literally will never be topped. It's the lasting image of Prince in my head. Purple Rain playing, guitar strumming, high heel wearing, rain falling perfectly, unbothered and with the crowd at full throat.

Super Over Rated Song, that no one remembers. its not even half as memorable or loved as any of the songs by Cyndi Lauper or Boy George.

I think it even started raining that was iconic

Not to mention They were using 5 electric bass guitars on set. They could have been electrocuted on stage with it raining like that He literally was risking his life. He didn't pause or complain. Just played the shit out of it. Whenever they talk superbowl, this immediately comes to mind.

@@eduardochavacano Who are they? Prince is bigger than Cyndi & Boy George combined. That song is not overrated & millions, millions remember it. 🤫

It's because they were already booked for the Superbowl show well before 9/11. They book the performers a good year in advance. The SB was held only 5 months after 9/11.

@@mooviedude141 that’s complete incorrect. They booked U2 in October 2001 after an NFL executive saw their show at Madison Square Garden where they put up all the names of the victims

Well said in respect of The Weeknd. He gave us a spectacular performance. Big production, special effects, and the man himself.

Ofc its atleast top 5. He didnt even mention Bruno in Coldplay's show

Agree . It’s actually my favorite. Ones like prince and MJ are iconic but I’ve never enjoyed myself more watching one than Bruno’s

Yeah, when he talked about Bruno, I wondered did he actually WATCH the performance? It was incredible and among my top 3.

Exactly exactly

Stan is still my favorite Grammy's preformance. Everything about it was chilling and iconic.

dababy #1 💪💪💪

Daft Punk's Grammy performance of Get Lucky is probably my favorite live performance of all time. So many musical legends on stage, having Stevie Wonder join Pharrell and Nile Rodgers, all clearly having such a good time performing, with daft punk incorporating snippets of their other classics like Around The World and Harder Better Faster Stronger. It just feels like such a celebration of music as a whole

But there's hundreds of Grammy performances, this was manageable because there were 24 SB Halftimes

He will put Michael Jackson again a clear number 1 as number 4 if not 17.... Pass for these types of nonsensical rankings by nobodies.

No one will ever beat Prince

all of them has chemistry so its most likely that its gonna be a hit

pretty much lol

It'll be the best

I’ll think it will be a solid performance

Agreed. Definitely at least top 5

@@sampson9115 Bruno Mars, Gaga, Madonna were better than Beyonce. Her half time show is extremely overrated

​@@mjscarousal Her show was far too self-centered and conceited. Bruno Mars tracklist was on of the best, his performane was a whole climax.

As does JT!!

Facts.

Don’t forget red hot chilly peppers too

@@jenn_81 JT one sucks

Can’t believe he ranked him so low!!! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Prince's Halftime Show was amazing, out of this world. Everything was so right and together so nicely. Every element of that performance was magic. He is so missed and I can't believe it's almost 6 years since he was taken away from us. It still feels like yesterday. I also agree with your 2nd statement, them 2 I rewatch many times. I would also include Bruno's in there. Them 3 are just amazing on that stage. Their performance alone together was amazing, wonderful performers. I wish Bruno's was higher ranked in the list, he did amazing in 2014 and 2016 (w/ Beyoncé and Coldplay). And Michael's in 1993 was great but I do agree with the ranking for him at #6 respectfully. He did start this trend of high-profile artists going to the Super Bowl. His energy was amazing but he definitely had his flaws in his performance. It wasn't live vocals except for some vocals on Heal The World. His band was just miming, as well he was just miming the words. He could've fitted a couple of more of his hits and songs in his medley. It was really short and Heal The World took most of the runtime for the Halftime show, it's a great song though, great rhythm but I wish more songs could've taken up that time, but anyways, his performance was great, he's one of the most Greatest Entertainers of All Time but his Super Bowl in particular wasn't all that. But it was good. I understand that ranking completely, I hope people understand where I'm coming from.

Yes preach prince will never be eclipsed when it started raining and he never stopped playing was nothing but God adding to one of his children.

I watched the Prince set live w my Mom. We were both big fans and would argue who was the bigger fan. I remember us watching the game, snacking and having some wine waiting for Prince amd just jamming out to the whole set. Def my fav performance and full of memories for me

@@weltonmurray6744 he and his dancers were angels dancing in the rain It was amazing and perfect Aldean to be. Any other performer would've canceled and Prince said No, I doing itm

Fun fact: Michael Jackson's superbowl halftime in 1993 broke record for being the only halftime show to have more live audience viewers than the superbowl itself. He was the only act on stage. He was the only act in history where NFL offered to pay the artist, but it went to his charity at the time 'Heal LA' which helped struggling youth in Los Angeles. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

Would be a dream come true. But NFL won’t have Kanye on.

@@Dotakid99 Really? Is there an actual reason the NFL doesn’t like him or is it just general Kanye shenanigans?

@@loganbass9969 his shenanigans mostly.

that would be insane 🤯

didn’t daft punk break up?

Easily the second best after Prince.

When Bono opened up his jacket to display our American Flag - With the names of all the people lost in the 9/11 attacks scrolling on screen in the background - That Was It!! USA!! USA!! USA!!

@@kpodonnell7924 💯

17 is too low

His catalog, visuals and stage were mediocre tbh. He was amazing but he needed to go later with Uptown Funk, Finesse

@@CHPInc-fg5mo Lmao. He put on a show. Didnt need all those fancy stuff. Went from just a popstar to a superstar. Started selling packed stadiums. He became the ultimate showman of this generation

The list is wack. Katy has no business being that HIGH and Bruno should be top 5

@@CHPInc-fg5mo His performance was in 2014 and it was still a mixed time for Bruno he was just starting to do the whole throwback gimmick thing and some people still didn't like him fully as an artist until Uptown Funk came along

Did he actually?

@@ohnobro1424 yeah the halftime show production designer told the story in an interview. Here’s the link ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7NN3gsSf-Ys.html

You didn’t like Grambling State Marching Band? Super Bowl I was in 1967 & the first 20 years of Super Bowl half time were nothing to talk about. It wasn’t until 1993 when MJ performed did we get big acts. That leaves just 30 shows done by big acts. You nailed it on Prince as #1

@@PJL7095 SAME HERE, I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN A BIG DISAGREEMENT IF NOT.

You can't ditch Gaga tho!!!

Shakira

Watch U2’s performance and feel the raw energy. Def top 5

Agreed ! Shakira too !

As is Gaga!!!

Nope shakira for me !!!

@@jasonmejia2066 Vocals ?

@@jasonmejia2066 both were great!!

It would have been bigger because he He didn't perform in a while And the US at that

@@jarrettcone8949 it would've probably been more cinematic as well as the technology has drastically improved compared to what it was in '93

didnt live up to it

What's the source for this?

@@latviets8934 I see what you did there

Yea, that is very idiotic, i'm ashamed in his name tho

YES and hopefully this one won't break it bc i already don't see it as one of the better, but i'll watch if 100%,

Isn't the most viewed halftime show the JLo & Shakira one?

@@turkeymania2152 YT DOES NOT COUNT Only TV views, and it has 121M and their has i think 99.9M

Part of it was the Left Shark meme

@@nasholston5112 LIVE views. People coming for leftshark most likely came after.

Agreed

'in history' makes it sound like there've been 800 super bowl already'

Yeeees!

So true!!!!

@CYB3R2K30 Dont lie. And there’s nothing wrong with playback when you’re still singing live with intense energy levels.

@CYB3R2K30 That's a you problem.

@CYB3R2K30 It didn’t ruin it at all. Clearly this sounds like a YOU problem, sort yourself out.

Absolutely how come gaga is better?no way

@@souleymeneabbadi3891 I honestly thought it was.

MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE OF THE SHOW I WENT TO SEE HIM(M.J.), I HAVE NOT THAT MUCH RESPECT FOR THAT PERSON(who he was) . . HE HAD US WAITING FOR HIM TO START HIS SHOW(1988) FOR 40 MINS. THE PRO THAT #TheLateGreatPRINCERogersNelson WAS . . THAT SAME YEAR, WAS ON TIME WITH HIS SHOW.

I adored Prince's performance - he makes the hairs stand up on my neck. Agree about MJ. He was the pioneer and the reason acts like Gaga, Prince and Beyonce made it to that stage.

its a popular take

I think the Red Hot Chili Peppers randomly popping in midway is just too jarring of a tonal shift

Who gives af bout charts. Talent and performance should matter and Katy lacks in both

@@Mateocabrera2389 LMAO stay mad! I see I'm not the first to get replied to, you really went through this comment section to try and hate on Katy. But yet you can't get her out of your mind im glad you love her!!

@@keep2swag89 No hate on KP but he's right. The greatest musicians are remembered for the music they make, not the awards they win.

Basically turn on Top 40 radio at the time and you could hear all her hit songs

Love katy perry, great performer!!

Katy Perry was the embodiment of the early 2010s

PERRYIODT

you know she was an industry plant. she was totally created

@@mwoods4608 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Vq5JPPIzZ08.html

Absolutely not true

Ofc. Didnt even mention him in 2016 show entry

He says that Bruno would had been better at a later time. I agree with that. They should had asked him to headline when he had done uptown funk.

@@anneke06 How are they supposed to know what he is gonna release in the future and all? And it would have been better if he headlined later. But his 2014 show was super good and highly rated by the mass

Right!! Bruno Mars should be HIGHER! His was way better than Beyonce. People are over hyping her performance it was not all of that.

Thank you. I thought it was only me that noticed that.

@@mjscarousal eeeeeeeeeeeh Beyonce had a stellar performance as well. Maybe you just like Bruno Mars music better I dunno.

@@humanbeing3551 No it wasnt

The songs were great but tf was the performance lmao. The weird mask thing in the maze was weird af

@@anthonysantiago2880 it refers to the concept if the After Hours album

The transitions were great, even if I didn't know some songs while watching the show, it was still enjoyable

@@anthonysantiago2880 you obviously dont get it. the masks are the concept of his album after hours. he’s telling a story

Yeah but saying that would mean that some of the placements above him should be lower which I disagree with. Can't place it much higher when the others are just better

Eh, I agree. I wasn't blown away by his performance (especially since I'm not a fan of "We Are the World"), but he def deserves at least one of the top spots for setting the standard. However, Madonna put on a perfectly indulgent performance

The best act on this list (Prince) opened his set with a Queen song. Freddie Mercury is the ultimate performer.

Very few people seem to realize that her entrance was an homage to Cleopatra's triumphant entrance in Rome in Liz Taylor's classic movie. I have rarely seen people point that out. My jaw dropped when I realized what Madonna was doing. She also performed a new song specifically written for the show, something no one else has done this century.

Not necessarily, Diana Ross, Janet Jackson, Jessica Simpson, and other female artists performed there too

Diana Ross was the 1st female solo performer.

Gloria estefan, whitney Houston

Oh Snap, the fact checkers are coming at u hard. They Google the sh*t out of you. ☠️

@@lanadelray2354 but they weren't solo

Beyoncé, Jlo and Shakira can all dance and perform Katy cannot. She sounded bad and her dancing was laughable. Production was nice to look at though

@@badbunnysballs790 Are you serious? Katy Perry knows how to dance she dances very well When I'm Gone is one of her tests

**lip synced lol. But yeah, that's impressive

@@bw2937 Ella no hizo playback

@@bw2937 her singing was all live, you can even tell, not sure why you’re trying to put down her performance like that

Who gives af about charts. Talent and performance should matter and Katy lacks in both. She used a bunch of over the top production to distract you from her usual mediocrity

MJ fans have to be the most delusional people to have walked planet Earth.

It’s honestly insulting to Prince and Beyoncé comparing them to Katy. She can’t sing or dance and relied too much on production.

@@badbunnysballs790 Yeah Katy had a better halftime show than I thought but not Top 3. I think Lady Gaga's preformance was good and would probably put Lady Gaga at 3

My top 5 Halftime Shows 1) Prince 2) Beyoncé 3) Katy Perry 4) MJ 5) Madonna

Michael is the biggest

@@jarrettcone8949 It’s their opinion, just like you said yours.

katy’s better

@@aaronvillagomez3548 She was great but I don't personally like her. My opinion.

Shakira

@@madman00774 even if you don’t like her , her super bowl was really good

@@anshikab22 Sure, I didn't say that she wasn't good. I just said that she is not on my personal top 5.

@CYB3R2K30 yes Him singing anything coulve been awesome Well anyone at then didnt know the standards of Halftime Show reached now, but his BAD Era's tours alike shouldve how the Performance gone

@@daredevil6145 exactly

@CYB3R2K30 What do you mean the lack of singing. Michael Jackson did sing during that performance. Not to mention it was this performance that set the standard for what Super Bowl Half-Time Performances should be.

@@MissLadyG99 Let’s be real, it’s playback, he was lip-syncing. Setting the standard, the greatest and all that stuff is irrelevant right now, we are talking about the performance and the music. That show wasn’t it, it was all that. People just gas up Michael’s SB performance because of numbers and the stats. Not the music or the energy itself.

@@PrinceLeaker not just numbers and standards it's the performance the message every thing that made the show it's still relevant people performing SB still refer to MJ's performance

I 100% agree with you. Being an Black-American, it wasn't definitely easy to be the 'king of pop'. He already proved how he's best from his childhood. Although people tries to look down on him, the artists here themselves always idolized MJ and don't feel ashamed to admit that most of them were inspired by MJ as well.

To think that he should've replaced the second half of the show with something like The Way You Make Me Feel completely misses the point of the show to begin with.

Se tomó el tiempo para dar el mensaje de cuidar el mundo, algo que no muchos artistas se preocupan por hacer, eso es maravilloso.

@@VinVonVoom it was like that because of the racial tensions that was happening at the time, so those songs were deliberate to at least bring unity and love

Beyoncé's Superbowl performance is way better and she's the better singer and dancer. MJ would never reach Beyoncé status when it comes to performing ... He literally lip syncs and kept collapsing on stage when he was in his 30s while Beyoncé still was giving us iconic moments in her 30s!!! Mj doesn't have a coachella homecoming performance that can top Beyonce’s

​@@ushercraveWhen was he collapsing in his 30's? I've only ever found one instance of him collapsing on stage, and it was during a performance where he was 43 there, not 30. Beyonce fell on stage during the Superbowl with Bruno when she was 33 by comparison (understandable given her how heavy-set she is but still), whereas Mike's incident was when he was drugged to hell and back at a personal concert with little rehearsal (30th Anniversary Beat It September 7th 2001, specifically the breakdown near the end). If you can find one instance of Michael collapsing on stage in his 30's then I'd be very greatful. You can like her vocal chops better but it's pretty clear Michael had better vocal chops at 10 years old than Beyonce did in her whole career (Who's Loving You on the Ed Sullivan Show), he just didn't flex them as often. Michael's songs are usually quite a bit harder to sing as well. It's impossible to find anyone sing Beat It in it's original key or convincingly cover Earth Song (except Michael obv). It's strange you hype up Beyonce's dancing when you clearly have allegience to a far better dancer, Usher. Beyonce just basically does dance routines, which are good, but none are as complex or compelling as Michael's in a lot of cases (Dangerous, This Is It They Don't Care About Us opening). By comparison Michael constantly has un-choreagraphed strokes of brilliance on stage that completely blow Beyonce's or even his own routines out of the water (The Billie Jean breakdown in Kuala Lumpur is a personal favourite). I don't hate Beyonce, in fact I think there's an argument for her superbowl performance being better (Michael's superbowl is a worse version of the performances he does in concert for the most part). But comparing the artists is a whole different conversation and it's not really a comparison. Beyonce loves Michael as an artist, Michael loves Beyonce as an artist. I don't think they'd appreciate it either.

I disagree. There isn’t anything basic about flipping around while simultaneously singing and flying through the air. She has always been about defying expectations, and she did so here by putting her talent front and center over anything conceptual, off-the-wall, or overtly political. Although I do agree that things would’ve been different had the performance happened during an earlier era like Artpop. Although, in my opinion, not necessarily for the better.

Still hoping that Bruno will perform again in SB. 😊

I'm actually glad he did it too early as Uptown Funk is so painful.

Madonna's ending with Like a Prayer >>>>

I had no clue they were the performers until I watched this video. Dr Dre is the Nick Fury of rap and they are the fucking Avengers man, it has the potential of being a legendary concert.

That's laughable 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Holy L

Being the original doesnt always mean being the best

@@tekashiii exactly.

@@tekashiii “dosen’t always” in this case, Yes it does.

@@esotericasf katy perry opened her's by riding a giant golden lion, beyoncé singing from the top of her lungs, lady gaga jumping from the roof but yes, MJ lip syncing for 10 minutes is better than all of those

@@tekashiii Don't forget Prince's epic performance. The best and way better than Jackson's

Only an artist like Prince could have enough clout to get God to handle the special effects.

Considering Prince was always spiritual beyond matrix of religion and one of the few artists to constantly credit Jesus and GOD. GOD rewarded him. Note: Prince show also wasn't just the world. The entire universe was watching something that couldn't be said about all the other shows. GOD provided the effects and put the show on different frequency...how else could everything go off perfectly that should have ended in utter disaster. GOD approved