Beyonce at Super Bowl 50: A look at the NFL's selection process for halftime
Singer Beyonce will return to the Super Bowl stage after having headlined the halftime show in 2013. She joins past acts such as Katy Perry and Bruno Mars.
Beyonce poses in the press room at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Singer Beyonce will be returning to the Super Bowl stage next month to perform alongside previously announced performer Coldplay.
In 2013, Beyonce performed a halftime show along with former bandmates Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child.
Since this year’s game will be the fiftieth Super Bowl, some have wondered whether the NFL will bring back various past halftime show performers.
Beyonce’s last studio album was the self-titled work which she released unexpectedly in 2013. Her albums have regularly topped the Billboard 200 chart, which measures album sales, within the last several years.
Bringing back Beyonce may be a path to ratings success. Prior to a "wardrobe malfunction" incident involving Janet Jackson in 2004, the NFL often invited then-current performers like Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake to take the stage during the halftime show.
But after 2004, the NFL invited a string of older acts to headline the show, including Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, and The Who. It has only been within the past several years that the shift has been made back to singers who are currently dominating the music charts.
Last year, the Super Bowl featuring a performance by Katy Perry became the most-watched Super Bowl of all time. Second only to that show is the 2014 game, in which Bruno Mars, also an artist with hits that have recently appeared on the charts, took the stage.
The NFL is most likely hoping to replicate this success by bringing Beyonce back to the stage (her 2013 show also did well in the ratings and is currently the fifth-most-watched Super Bowl of all time).
The group with which Beyonce will be sharing the stage, Coldplay, has done well recently on the charts as well, with their recent hit songs including 2014’s “Magic” and “A Sky Full of Stars.”