Sunday night's Week 4 contest between the Packers and the Cowboys brought a welcome announcement in the NFL world, as the league used the primetime stage to reveal that Bad Bunny will perform at the Super Bowl LX halftime show this coming February.
Dubbed the "King of Latin Trap," Bad Bunny is a three-time Grammy Award winner, an 11-time Latin Grammy Award winner, and in 2022, became the first non-English language artist to win the MTV Award for Artist of the Year. Needless to say, he's more than deserving of the Super Bowl halftime show nod—and his performance will certainly be a treat.
Having said that, however, there are plenty of other stars who would have also been worthy of the honor. Here's a look at Sports Illustrated's list of top snubs for the Super Bowl LX halftime show:
Justin Bieber
"What Do You Mean?" Justin Bieber isn't the Super Bowl halftime headliner?!
Bieber figured to be the perfect guest performer for Usher's Super Bowl halftime performance back in 2022—given their long-time connection—but he never took the stage, despite being in the building for the Chiefs-49ers matchup in Las Vegas.
"Sorry," Beliebers, but 2026 isn't his year either.
The 31-year-old was forced to cut his Justice World Tour short a few years ago due to a Ramsay Hunt syndrome diagnosis that caused half of his face to be temporarily paralyzed. After the recent release of his albums Swag and Swag II, however, Bieber seems to be back in good health and ready for the spotlight once again.
Perhaps the "Intentions" of the NFL will be to have him headline 2027's big game—one that's roughly "10,000 Hours" away.
-Mike Kadlick
Ariana Grande
By the time the Super Bowl rolls around in February, Grande will be fresh off a star-making turn as Glinda the Good in the second installment of Wicked. From a business standpoint, a live performance of "For Good" on the biggest stage in America would not only prove excellent fodder for Oscar voters, but serve as well-timed PR for her return to touring in 2026.
And from an entertainment perspective, Ari has more than enough popular bangers to fill a halftime set. Radio hits "yes, and?," "Into You," and "One Last Time" come to mind as strong contenders for the setlist, all three of which would be made even better if she sang them while floating around in a pink bubble. Yuh.
-Brigid Kennedy
The Killers
My true hopes of The Killers taking on the Super Bowl halftime show were dashed when they didn’t get the nod when the game was in Las Vegas in 2024. Playing the hits off of Sam’s Town in Sam’s Town would have been electric. But even outside of a homecoming show, The Killers are one of the biggest rock acts imaginable that has yet to take the fateful Pepsi (or is it Apple now?) stage.
The blessing here is that it seems inevitable that Brandon Flowers & Co. will get the call sooner or later. “Mr. Brightside” has become the stadium anthem of a new generation. What was a middle school banger to Millennials is now a vintage throwback to Gen Z.
Should The Killers decide to run a 20th anniversary tour for Sam’s Town, as so many acts do these days, it could kick off in September of 2026, so maybe the NFL is just waiting to time things right.
-Tyler Lauletta
Miley Cyrus
Look, Bad Bunny is a great choice. Don't get me wrong. But Miley Cyrus deserves a chance at the halftime show one of these years. She's got both the deep catalog full of bangers (or should I say, Bangerz?) and the entertaining stage presence worthy of the Super Bowl spotlight. Imagine your favorite team is down by two touchdowns at halftime and from the locker room they hear "The Climb" being performed on the field. If that won't inspire a comeback, nothing will.
-Tom Dierberger
Taylor Swift
Those who were hoping for a Swiftie Super Bowl show will just have to "Shake it Off" this year.
Swift has never performed a Super Bowl halftime show in her decades-spanning musical career, and she’ll continue that trend come February. The Eras Tour pop star has been rumored to do the halftime show for years now (long before she got engaged to Chiefs star Travis Kelce) but she doesn’t seem to be in any rush to get up on stage at Levi’s Stadium to perform for mobs of football fans. Plus, she’ll probably be plenty busy doing a press tour—and preparing another historic tour?—for her 12th studio album,The Life of a Showgirl, which is set to be released on October 3. In Swift’s own biting and sarcastic words: “We all know that if there’s one thing that male sports fans want to see in their spaces and on their screens, it’s more of me.” The dads, Chads and Brads will get a taste of Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, instead.
-Kristen Wong
More NFL on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Five Acts We Thought Were Finally Due for the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
