Yes, Jay-Z’s Pick of Jay-Z for the Super Bowl Halftime Is As Bad As It Seems
It’s game over, and we’re not even most of the way through the regular season. The winner of the 2027 Super Bowl Halftime Show will be Jay-Z. And the loser is country music, and the rest of American culture. And yes, in this tilt, the zebras were completely paid off. Because it’s Jay-Z and his Roc Nation record label/production company who chooses the performers. In other words, it was Jay-Z who selected Jay-Z. Dick Cheney, eat you heart out.
For long suffering country fans, they know the score when it comes to the Super Bowl and the Halftime show.
You have to go all the way back to 1994 when Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, and The Judds performed to find the last and really only time country music was featured during the Super Bowl halftime. There hasn’t even been a country artist featured as a guest in over 20 years. Shania Twain appeared briefly with No Doubt in 2003, and Doug Kershaw also made a quick appearance in 1990 when the Super Bowl was in his native state of Louisiana.
Since the Super Bowl halftime show became a big deal in 1991 with New Kids on the Block taking the field, country music has really only been featured predominantly once. When you consider that it’s one of America’s most popular genres—and arguably the most popular genre currently—this feels like a travesty. With the announcement of Jay-Z for 2027, this makes the 33rd year in a row that country music will be riding the pine come halftime.
The barrier standing between a country artist and the Super Bowl halftime is a 2019 deal where the NFL partnered with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation as their official “Live Music Entertainment Strategists.” This has put country music on the sidelines permanently like a 3rd string quarterback, and relegated it to pregame performances.
Meanwhile, you have Zach Bryan selling out football stadiums like Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on consecutive nights. Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” is now the longest-running #1 in Billboard Hot 100 history, and just set another record-breaking 25th week at #1 this week.
No offense to Jay-Z whatsoever, but the guy hasn’t released an album in a decade. He’s released all of two albums in the last 17 years. That’s not to say that Jay-Z isn’t popular. But it’s very hard to say he’s anything but a nostalgia act at this point. And hey, there’s nothing wrong with nostalgia acts. But the whole reason we were told Bad Bunny was selected last year was to appeal to younger demographics, and audiences outside of the United States. Does Jay-Z really fulfill those requisites?
Meanwhile, the big narrative coming out of the 2026 Super Bowl Halftime show was the split screen nature of it, with TPUSA producing an “alternative” halftime show. And despite people fighting over how many people saw what, it took away from the idea that the Super Bowl is the one event that can be universal in American culture, and bring people together. Booking Bad Bunny, and TPUSA creating alternative programming made it a battle ground.
Jay-Z booking Jay-Z won’t help in repairing that fracture. It will only exacerbate it, especially with the clear advantage-taking involved behind the decision.
Perhaps Jay-Z is tapping himself for the Super Bowl because new music is on the way. But there might be another reason behind this decision. Maybe Jay-Z sees the writing on the wall, and wants to get his opportunity to play the Super Bowl while it’s still available to him. The deal his company Roc Nation signed with the NFL in 2019 included a five year contract. They then renewed the contract in 2024 for another five years, taking it to the 2029 Super Bowl.
There’s at least a chance that in 2029, the Roc Nation partnership with the NFL dissolves. Also don’t forget that in 2030, the Super Bowl will be held in Nashville, which some have been predicting will finally be the opportunity for country music to be highlighted on the 50 yard line. For Jay-Z, maybe he sees 2027 as now or never. He’s never played the Super Bowl personally in the past.
But there’s absolutely no guarantee that 2030 will be the country music Super Bowl, and there’s perhaps even less likelihood that country music will be as popular as it is now in 3 1/2 years. By punting on country, the NFL continues to put itself behind the chains with one of the sports most key demographics, and enticing those consumers to alternatives, especially when it comes to halftime entertainment.
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October 28, 2026 @ 6:56 pm
Genuflecting for degenerate hip hip culture out of fear of being called a racist is at the heart of this cultural rot. Alternative programming is the logical result of this and I am glad it’s happened.
October 29, 2026 @ 4:40 am
You’re a racist.
October 29, 2026 @ 6:39 am
Of course, dear. We all know that gangsta rap culture is vital, life affirming and elevates humanity. Now go highlight your florescent blue hair.
October 29, 2026 @ 5:20 am
With all due respect, how is hip-hop culture any more degenerate, if we’re linking American cultures to music, than any other? Country culture, rock culture, pop culture, jazz culture, etc.? I can list songs from every type of music that laud misogyny, drug use, sexual assault, sex with minors, murder, etc., etc., etc. Every type of music culture has terrible representatives. That doesn’t make the culture in general degenerate.
October 29, 2026 @ 8:58 am
Ask Tupac and Biggie Smalls.
October 29, 2026 @ 9:18 am
Ask Stringbean, Ella Mae Williams, Kevin Hughes, and Wayne Mills..
October 29, 2026 @ 10:19 am
Ask them what?
Whether they ran with the Crips or the Bloods?
October 29, 2026 @ 10:43 am
I assume that your point was that Tupac and Biggie were rap artists who were murdered in part due to their musical culture. Stringbean and his wife were murdered and robbed by cousins, family is a part of culture. Ella Mae Williams was murdered by her husband, Spade Cooley, a fiddler and band leader. Kevin Hughes was a Cashbox chart director who was murdered as part of a payola scheme, the Murder on Music Row.
Maybe not perfect comparisons, but few things are. Regardless, it is evidence that all type of music and culture have murderers, rapists, criminals and other assorted scumbags directly and indirectly involved. Why is it that the culture warriors only focus on hip hop and rap? I am flummoxed as to what the reason is.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:50 am
https://ourworldinwordsandfilm.blog/2026/10/18/rock-and-hip-hop-violence-follows-different-patterns-an-analysis-of-127-cases-finds/
“The analysis counts 56 hip-hop artists killed in the United States, compared with 15 rock, punk and metal musicians. That tracks with research by psychologist Dianna Kenny, who found hip-hop artists are murdered at rates five to 32 times higher than musicians in other genres. They die young. The analysis found an average of 27 hip-hop victims, and 82% were younger than 35. The youngest was Notti Osama, a 14-year-old drill rapper stabbed in a Manhattan subway station in 2022. Rock victims averaged 36, and two-thirds were 35 or older.”
But hey, let’s focus on Spade Cooley from 60+ years ago! It is the same thing!
October 29, 2026 @ 11:12 am
As I said, what does it mean? From the linked article “The kinds of violence also differ. Hip-hop convictions mostly involve street conflict, robberies, and club shootings. Rock cases are overwhelmingly domestic. Six of the nine rock perpetrators committed their crimes at a home, and most of their victims were women close to them.” From the linked article “Hip-hop’s violence tends to come from artists from outside. Rock’s violence tends to come from inside the home.”
Are you saying that since there is a higher rate of hip hop violence, it makes hip hop a degenerate culture, but since rock is lower, it is not a degenerate culture? Are you saying that robberies and beefs are worse than domestic violence? If so, I find that absurd. What is the common denominator that makes hip hop culture worse in your mind? Hmmm… what is it?
October 29, 2026 @ 11:23 am
Why I call out gangsta rap is because they exalt violence and degeneracy in the music and their lifestyles. CountryKnight’s response seems to show this to be the case.
Rotten country act lifestyles abound in history, but they aren’t exalting them. George Jones called his own life out in one of his best records, “Choices”, where he spelled out his drinking problem and how he ended up “Living and dying with the choices I’ve made.”
I don’t recall George, Johnny, Merle or Bocephus having entourages trying to cap each other back in the day.
October 29, 2026 @ 11:26 am
What about rock music? I am not a rock fan. Rock music, as a commercial force, is dead. If I were alive in the 80s, I would have condemned its scene of drugs, rape, and murder.
Hip hop and rap are the most popular genres. Studying why so many of their artists end up killing each other is relevant. It is not a sign of a healthy culture.
Here is the relevant statistic, repeated for your benefit, “hip-hop artists are murdered at rates five to 32 times higher than musicians in other genres.”
5 to 32 times higher is horrifying. There is a clear issue.
What about rock music is a deflection.
October 29, 2026 @ 12:15 pm
Gang affiliation is not culture.
It is organized crime.
Hip Hop is the only genre of musical entertainment which not only glorifies but actually embodies organized crime, particularly narco-trafficking and prostitution.
Case in point, P Diddy in prison for sex trafficking.
October 30, 2026 @ 7:51 am
The difference is that nobody has heard of the names you’re mentioning. Of course horrible things happen to celebrities, no matter the genre. But in the hip hop world they are some of the biggest names of all time.
October 29, 2026 @ 9:57 am
Artists withing cultures do produce things with elements as you describe. The trouble is that the gangsta crowd that I criticize here lionizes degeneracy whereas the other art recognizes that sin is sin and human frailty is something that we should try to rise out of. “Knoxville Girl” doesn’t claim murder to be a good thing.
The NFL is a crap organization when they hand the keys to their biggest property to the likes of Jay Z and everyone who adheres to the low character lives they exalt. Goodell is gutless and is cloud chasing gangsta rap fans while the people who make up the core of their audience are ignored – at least in the halftime show that they’ve built into an integral part of the package.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:41 am
Rap and hip-hop have had many more murders than all those genres put together.
It is not even close.
Shouldn’t public school teachers know basic math?
October 29, 2026 @ 10:55 am
Please tell us the source of your data. List a comparison of all known murders known to be associated in any way with hip hop, country, and rock. Even if the empirically derived data shows more “hip hop” murders, what does that actually mean? Nothing. I understand that you are very concerned about the perceived threat to your culture. Nothing wrong with that. I wish you’d just be honest and say what you truly mean: that you are worried that America will cease to be dominated by straight white Christian Nationalist males. You will never convince me otherwise.
Now back to Saving Country Music.
October 29, 2026 @ 11:22 am
The data is posted above.
Now we have reached the point where, instead of admitting you were wrong, you move the goal posts and pretend that the murders are irrelevant.
Yeah, I worry about American culture. I prefer not to see my country sink into depravity to satisfy some smug ivory towers types who think themselves enlightened because they refuse to draw lines between good and evil.
October 29, 2026 @ 12:06 pm
I notice that you did not address nor dispute this: “I wish you’d just be honest and say what you truly mean: that you are worried that America will cease to be dominated by straight white Christian Nationalist males. You will never convince me otherwise.”
October 29, 2026 @ 12:08 pm
@Doug–C’mon, knock it off! You sound like you were assigned to advocate for the “Hip Hop is no more violent than other genres” side in a debate or rhetoric class.
“Please tell us the source of your data. List a comparison of all know”n murders known to be associated in any way with hip hop, country, and rock.”
Right, Give your opponents an unpaid research project.
“Even if the empirically derived data shows more “hip hop” murders, what does that actually mean? Nothing.”
And after they complete the project and give you the numbers that show that him hop artists and producers are involved in many more homicides than those of any other genre, you’ll come back with.
“Ha Ha, it means nothing.”
Wannabe hip-hop stars have been known to record raps where they boast about cirmes that they’ve committed and post videos of themselves waving guns around. Prosecutors have used thos recordings in court. It became so “bad” that “civil rights advocates” have pushed for laws to ban the use of such evidence in court.
October 29, 2026 @ 12:22 pm
Apologists for Hip Hop “culture” and its attendant Black on Black crime are also Defund the Police types.
October 29, 2026 @ 12:52 pm
Your gotcha trap wasn’t camouflaged well enough.
October 29, 2026 @ 7:24 am
“I’m going to be casually racist while predicting you’ll call me out on it, then when you call me out on it I’ll somehow be justified because I predicted you’d call me out”
I’m not a Jay Z fan or a hip hop fan, but “degenerate hip hop culture”, “cultural rot”, and your follow up, move past the 40 year old tropes, get a grip, and pretend to be a grown adult. Sometimes different people like different things and that’s ok. Sometimes different people are different and that’s ok.
October 29, 2026 @ 9:41 am
Some people do like different things. That’s fine. There are elements of hip hop that are literate and creative. However the gangsta elements are what have become pernicious and pointing that out and how those elements have become mainstream is considered racist by lazy people with nothing legit to add to the discussion.
When gangsta rap rap starts turning artists like Miles Davis or Louis Armstrong, I’ll change my mind. The gangstas don’t have art of that caliber and the only way they’d create it is if they abandoned degeneracy.
October 29, 2026 @ 12:53 pm
Moral relativism is not a good thing for society.
October 29, 2026 @ 11:04 am
I sort of find this comment funny when this exact same site gave a 0/10 score to a mainstream country song this week that was about having sex in the backseat of a car.
I would also note that I’m in zero way a fan of hip-hop and even I can see that it has been polished immensely from what you think of it being back in the 80’s, 90’s, etc.
“Gangsta Rap” is now a niche subgenre in the same way “Hick Hop” or even Outlaw Country is in the genre we all love.
Your comment is the equivalent of someone saying “Bruce Springsteen shouldn’t play the Half Time show because he is Rock and Rock includes Death Metal and within Death Metal are songs about murdering folks”.
October 29, 2026 @ 2:13 pm
Country music is shit. Nobody wants a big pile of shit in the middle of the superbowl. Whoever this Ella girl is, ive never heard of her. Im important, what i think is what is right. Since she is country, im sure she and her texas song is shit too. Anyone that would disagree with me is just a matter of opinion and does not matter. What i say is fact. So country music can remain on the sideline where it belongs. Everyone above the poverty line could give a fuck less about your girl leaving you, your dog dying, your big mud tire truck, and drinking beer. Country music can go perform at NASCAR events where it and its fans belong. Cars going in circles, big ass belt buckles, and yelling yeeha is the peak of country music’s creativity, intelligence, and relativism on American culture. Only a fan of that genre could possibly think country music has any influence, importance, or impact on the culture of Americans that make more than $12,000.00 yearly. Country music will and always has been a joke to anyone with an i.q. over 7. Please for the love of everything dont even try to argue otherwise. You are wrong and will just make yourself look stupider than someone that listens to country music and honestly thinks they are listening to good music.
October 29, 2026 @ 3:35 pm
Ironic to be complaining about intellgence when your post is riddled with grammatical errors
October 29, 2026 @ 3:36 pm
I love how you had to sneak in a bit of classism into your braindead rant too. That might be a big word for you, so I’ll give you some time to look it up.
October 29, 2026 @ 6:11 pm
And if country music is so pathetic, exactly WHY are you here posting? It’s not to improve on your grammar and punctuation.
October 28, 2026 @ 7:15 pm
Maybe Jay-Z could have Charley Crockett as an opener.
October 28, 2026 @ 7:18 pm
I think the exclusion of country music from the Super Bowl halftime show sucks, but there are a few things here.
First, Goodell wanted Jay-Z to do it and he said so himself.
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/nfl-announces-jay-z-as-the-super-bowl-lxi-halftime-act. In fact, when the NFL and Roc Nation first partnered in 2019, Goodell specifically asked that Jay-Z perform someday. I understand the optics of Roc Nation selecting its own founder, but it’s not as simple as Jay-Z awarding himself the show.
Yeah, he hasn’t released an album lately, but he sold out three consecutive nights at Yankee Stadium back in July. I don’t think it’s wrong to call him a “legacy act,” but there’s clearly still an audience for him. And plenty of legacy acts have performed at the Super Bowl without promoting new albums. Paul McCartney, The Who and Dr. Dre come to mind. I don’t think the halftime show requires new music.
In regard to Shania, she didn’t just make a brief appearance in 2003. She https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2osVHFjR-C4 and performed two complete songs.
And by one important metric, U.S. on-demand audio streams, country ranked fourth in popularity in 2025, behind R&B/hip-hop, rock and pop. https://apnews.com/article/music-listening-habits-2025-christian-rock-latin-a5e06a001705cd7e5d3854d8fab901b8. That doesn’t mean country isn’t popular I think it’s worth mentioning when arguing that it’s America’s most popular genre.
Where I really disagree is with the idea that “the loser is country music, and the rest of American culture.” Country music doesn’t lose anything because of this. Zach Bryan is still huge, Ella Langley still has her massive hit and country artists are selling out stadiums. I know how a lot of people in the comments feel about rap, but like it or not, it is American culture. So is country music. The idea that one has to represent America at the expense of the other is silly.
I’ve got a hard time reconciling 15 minutes of music at a football game with a referendum on the survival of American culture. And while I agree that country is underrepresented at halftime, I also think country music is doing just fine. It doesn’t need the NFL’s blessing to be culturally relevant.
At this point, I genuinely don’t know what would make you happy. Say the Nashville Super Bowl in 2030 featured Luke Bryan, Morgan Wallen, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean and Thomas Rhett. You’d finally have to acknowledge that country music was center stage, but you’d also have enough material to write a few editorials about the tragedy of the NFL choosing the wrong kind of country music.
And at that point, wouldn’t Jay-Z look pretty good in comparison?
October 28, 2026 @ 7:53 pm
1) I don’t give a shit what Roger Goddell wants. He can go kick rocks as far as I’m concerned.
2) As I laid out in the article, I definitely wouldn’t call Jay-Z irrelevant, unpopular, aged out, or anything of the sort. But I’ve been told countless times when arguing over this matter over the years that nobody wants to see George Strait, or Garth Brooks, or some old country artist play the Super Bowl because they’re not “current” enough, and the “kids” don’t know who they are. I think it’s fair to wonder if that applies to Jay-Z, at least to some extent.
3) There were three performers on the 2003 Super Bowl: Sting, No Doubt, and Shania Twain, all of whom got about 5 minutes each. I acknowledged Shania’s participation in the article. But it would be extremely hard to characterize it as a “country music” halftime, or even to characterize Shania Twain at that point in her career as country. But even if you take that halftime as being 100% country (it wasn’t), that was still 23 years ago. It’s been 23 years since a country artist appeared on the Super Bowl halftime. It’s almost as if you’d have one in that time almost by accident.
4) What you’re not taking into account is catalog streams. Right now, catalog streams make up the majority of music consumption. Again, going under the premise that we’re looking for “current” artists to perform at the Super Bowl, country is currently the most popular genre in all of music, indisputably, and by a wide margin.
5) I never said that American culture was going to implode over this. It very well might implode, though probably not due to this exclusively (though it certainly might contribute.) But what it will do is institutionalize the culture war rift running through America’s biggest singular cultural event every year. Jay-Z and the NFL aren’t solely responsible for this. So is TPUSA and other rage baiters who benefit from this rift. But it is a decision that will exacerbate it, while the NFL could have worked to close that rift with this decision. They chose poorly, and it will cost all of us.
6) Luke Bryan, Morgan Wallen, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean and Thomas Rhett would never be a Super Bowl lineup. They would never even consider Morgan Wallen and Jason Aldean, and Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan were washed out years ago. It will be Chris Stapleton, or Ella Langley, or Luke Combs, or Zach Bryan. But let’s say it was Morgan Wallen. I wouldn’t like it, but I would still stick behind the decision. Personal taste aside, this is a point of principle. If the NFL had excluded hip-hop of the the last 23 or 33 years, what would the accusations be? Bigotry. Again, almost by a sheer roll of the dice, a country start should have appeared in the last 23 or 33 years.
Jay-Z is a billionaire, and so is his wife autonomously. How about we give someone else an opportunity to fulfill the American dream?
October 28, 2026 @ 8:24 pm
Can you expound on point 4? What’s the difference between audio streams and catalog streams? I thought it seemed odd that the article said the majority of audio streams are from older content, but it didn’t clarify why that would be the case.
October 28, 2026 @ 8:41 pm
Yes, good question.
Right now a big issue the music industry is having is that the majority of music consumption is happening via older songs, albums, and artists, sometimes called “catalog” titles, meaning stuff that was released years ago, instead of current, newer releases by stars of the here and now. The music industry is making more money than ever before. But unfortunately, it’s failing to launch many new stars, or even a lot of new hits. All the people saying that they’ve ‘never heard” Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas,” this is a symptom of this. People just aren’t listening to new music at the same level they did generations before. That’s the reason one of the hottest acts in all of music right now is Fleetwood Mac. And even though there is a ton of money being made in music, it’s not going to new and up-and-coming artists. They can’t get any attention. This is also what makes Ella Langley’s breakout so rare.
For these reasons, I honestly think an older artist would be fine for the Super Bowl Halftime, if not better than a “current” one. That’s what they had in the oughts with Prince, Tom Petty, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, etc. But all you hear when you suggest someone like George Strait is, “he’s not current enough.”
Jay-Z is a catalog artist at this point. Two albums in 17 years, and no Top 10 hit in 13 years means he’s not current. But that doesn’t mean he’s not popular.
October 29, 2026 @ 1:59 am
That’s really interesting. Does this mean that young listeners are discovering older artists? I would think that the availability of free streaming music would have led to more new artists being exposed to a wider audience.
October 29, 2026 @ 7:00 am
Absolutely. This is one reason Garth Brooks is really doing himself a disservice.
October 29, 2026 @ 5:20 am
This reply is more towards Linda then Trigger. While this is a SSS, I can confirm than many of the younger people in my family and friend circle are listening to older music and especially classic rock. It makes sense to me, as I believe the best decade for music was the 70’s (and into the 80’s) and since young folks have access through streaming services they are gravitating towards it. It’s also showing up in shows with many old rock bands are playing stadiums. AC/DC just finished their US tour selling out football stadiums and its not just old people attending. Also, I know many people my age (in their 60’s) are finally using streaming and many are exploring the catalogs of artists they liked but didn’t buy every album for or artists they liked but couldn’t afford to buy physical copies back in the day.
October 29, 2026 @ 9:03 pm
To Trigger and BP. As a longtime country fan who has been turned on to new artists by streaming media I’m finding it very interesting that young listeners seem to be doing the opposite, finding older artists. It sounds like now is a great time for the estates of legends like Cash and Merle to get busy and push some of the artists’s less known stuff out there where it could be heard by a whole new audience. Since Shooter is already doing it for Waylon I hope others will do something similar. I’d really love some new Gary Stewart or Billy Joe Shaver.
October 29, 2026 @ 1:05 am
The only one who has hits and could pull off a Super Bowl performance is Morgan Wallen. Ella Langley is a one-hit wonder; if it weren’t for her collaborations with Riley Green—involving a staged relationship, much like the one Megan Moroney had with Morgan—and the opportunity to open for Wallen in stadiums, she wouldn’t have seen the success she’s had this year. Zach Bryan’s songs all sound the same and are quite boring, and nobody cares about FGL or Luke Bryan. At most, there’s Luke Combs—he has a great voice, but zero stage presence. Jay-Z belongs in prison, right alongside his friends Diddy and R. Kelly.
October 29, 2026 @ 6:59 am
Ella Langley is not a “one hit wonder.” If it wasn’t for “Choosin’ Texas,” both “Be Her” and “I Can’t Love You Anymore” would have been #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 themselves. The fact they were #2 and #3 (blocked by “Choosin’ Texas”) proves this is not a one hit phenomenon.
Now, her most current single “Loving Life Again” is #1 on country radio, #16 on the Hot 100 (a huge achievement for a country artist alone), while “Choosin’ Texas” regained the #1 all-genre spot for a 25th straight week. Ella Langley is the most popular artist in all of music, and has been for going on a year.
For context, “You Look Like You Love Me” only got to #30 on the Billboard Hot 100. It wasn’t even a Top 5 song on the country charts, though it did go #1 on Airplay.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:14 am
“…if it weren’t for her collaborations with Riley Green—involving a staged relationship, much like the one Megan Moroney had with Morgan—and the opportunity to open for Wallen in stadiums, she wouldn’t have seen the success she’s had this year.”
Nonsense.
October 29, 2026 @ 12:20 pm
Not that his debut foray into country was my kind of country personally, but Post Malone would have been a really solid choice too given his history in hip-hop AND his recent forays in mainstream country. He’s that rare name that remains culturally relevant and can bridge various audiences and demographics on the big stage.
The only knock against him for this particular year was that he hasn’t released an album of new material in these past twelve months, although he has next his follow-up is coming soon.
October 29, 2026 @ 5:57 am
Trigger, I appreciate the response. I think we agree on a few things here, too.
On Goodell, you don’t have to care what he wants…but my point was that the NFL commissioner wanted Jay-Z to perform and that makes the idea that Jay-Z just gave himself the show a little misleading.
I think that your point about Strait and Garth Brooks being dismissed as legacy acts is a fair one….if they’re considered too old or irrelevant, Jay-Z can be looked at in the same way. I’ll concede the point that Shania playing 5-6 minutes in 2003 doesn’t count as a country halftime show.
With regard to the hypothetical, I appreciate you saying you’d support Morgan Wallen despite your thoughts on him. I respect the consistency.
About streaming, I understand the difference between current and catalog music and I agree that that the popularity of older recordings is interesting. But Luminate’s overall streaming numbers include catalog streams:
https://view.ceros.com/luminate-data/luminate-year-end-music-report-2025-1/p/1
They have a release age filter, too https://support.luminatedata.com/portal/en/kb/articles/industry-analysis-detail
So, the overall streaming numbers I cited include older recordings. Catalog streams aren’t missing from those numbers. I’m not disputing country music’s popularity but I’m curious about what measurement you’re using to say that country is indisputably the most popular by a wide margin.
But where I really disagree on this is the cultural argument…you said that this decision will “cost all of us.”
Okay…cost us what, exactly?
I understand you’re not saying that the country will collapse because of the halftime show. But it sounds like you’re arguing that the NFL had a chance to bring Americans together and chose the wrong performer…and that we’ll all suffer in some way as the result.
I don’t understand the claim. Would picking Stapleton or Zach Bryan suddenly repair a widening cultural divide? Would people who don’t like country music be thrilled about that selection, or would we just have a different group of people complaining about not being represented?
I think the larger issue here is something that goes past music. At some point we’ve gone from “I don’t like this” to “This exists and wasn’t made for me is an attack on me.” Somewhere in the past 20-30 years, we’ve gone from people being confused about the right to be able to express an opinion with having their tastes accomodated. And when they don’t get what they want it just becomes evidence that someone is witholding something from them. It’s grievance culture and I find it exhausting.
You mentioned TPUSA and other rage baiters playing a part in the cultural divide and I agree with you. But isn’t treating Jay-Z and Bad Bunny and the selection of halftime performers you don’t like part of the same problem? If the goal is to stop turning entertainment into a culture war, maybe the first step is to stop treating every entertainment decision as a culture war.
So the original assertion you made is that country music has lost and I still don’t understand that claim. Zach Bryan will still sell out stadiums. Stapleton will continue to have a great career. Wallen, as much as I don’t care for him either, will continue to be one of the faces of popular music. Ella will continue to rise. Country music will still remain one of the biggest genres of music in America.
The NFL chose someone else this year. There’s a difference between being disappointed that your favorite type of music wasn’t selected and believing that something has been taken away from you.
October 29, 2026 @ 7:21 am
“You mentioned TPUSA and other rage baiters playing a part in the cultural divide and I agree with you. But isn’t treating Jay-Z and Bad Bunny and the selection of halftime performers you don’t like part of the same problem?”
I wrote an entire article last year basically defending the Bad Bunny pick, and in the other articles on the subject, underscored that Bad Bunny specifically was not the problem. It was not booking country acts for so long that was the problem.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/i-actually-listened-to-the-new-bad-bunny-album-this-is-what-i-heard/
I would say a similar thing about Jay-Z. Specifically, is picking Jay-Z to play the slot the problem? No, it’s not. Jay-Z probably deserves to play a Super Bowl Halftime in his career. The problem though, is it’s been 33 years since country has been the centerpiece, and it’s Jay-Z who picked Jay-Z to perform, and at a time when country music is arguably more popular than ever. If you can’t see how that isn’t just serving up red meat to the TPUSA constituency, I don’t know what to tell you.
I’m not here to defend the alternative TPUSA Halftime Show. Maybe it will be better this year, I don’t know. I’m just trying to explain how we got here, and how the NFL has made a series of wrong decisions, including systemically shutting out country, that has led us here.
October 29, 2026 @ 6:36 am
Respectfully, I don’t count TPUSA as a rage baiter. They’re out there, TPUSA isn’t one of them. Politics IS downstream from culture, and TPUSA is wise to do as they’re doing. BYW> I don’t care about the Super Bowl although it’s one of the only remnants of what could be called the monoculture in America.
We’re seeing Europe burn in front of us now because a another culture (Muslim) is trying to erase the existing culture and values system.
October 29, 2026 @ 8:04 am
Europe isn’t burning. I live here. It’s fine. Touch grass.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:43 am
Sexual assaults are through the roof in Europe.
But keep putting your head in the sand. Your ancestors did the same with the Commies and Nazis. Then Europe needed America to bail them out.
October 30, 2026 @ 4:46 am
Relative to Strait and Brooks…Brooks’ last US #1 album was in 2001, while Strait’s last 2x platinum was in 1998.
Jay-Z is on the nightlife playlist in every city in every country I’ve ever been to, almost always with multiple songs, and the Super Bowl is a global event.
October 30, 2026 @ 7:21 am
“Relative to Strait and Brooks…Brooks’ last US #1 album was in 2001, while Strait’s last 2x platinum was in 1998.”
Why are these the metrics you chose to forward, because they fit your argument? Honestly, Garth Brooks and George Strait aren’t even the acts I would push for playing the halftime. They might work. I could cite the stat that Garth is the best selling American musician in history, and that George Strait has the record for the highest-attended concert in North American history … until he was beat out by Zach Bryan.
A country Halftime probably involving a combination of Ella Langley, Chris Stapleton, maybe Luke Combs, maybe Post Malone, along with appearances from people like Billy Strings and Darius Rucker playing “Wagon Wheel” with Old Crow Medicine Show would have plenty of both widespread appeal, along with cultural relevancy.
I love how each time I broach this subject, it’s country fans you line up to argue against it. It’s because we’ve all been trained to believe to country music is inferior, and doesn’t even deserve one chance in 33 years, despite the genre’s current popularity—a popularity that’s likely not to last to 2030. Hell by 2030, there might not be a music industry left.
October 30, 2026 @ 7:54 am
What do you see replacing it?
October 28, 2026 @ 8:34 pm
I don’t listen to much hip hop but I agree with literally everything in this comment as far as my understanding of the music landscape goes.
October 29, 2026 @ 3:40 pm
A non-European explaining what Europe is like to a European
October 29, 2026 @ 7:00 pm
A European from a European country with strict immigration policy (Holland = Netherlands) acting like he has firsthand knowledge or speaks for the burning European countries that don’t have strict immigration policies. How convenient. Maybe we should ask a dane about Paris next. Or maybe someone from Japan?
October 30, 2026 @ 4:47 am
I was in Paris this week, sweetie.
It was perfectly fine…although it’s important context that I’m not an idiot yokel.
October 30, 2026 @ 6:47 am
We’ve all seen them photos buddies. Enjoy your fifth booster.
October 29, 2026 @ 7:46 am
Get the sendiment and agree in part but the NFL partners with what is poplar with the masses. Prior to Jay-z/Roc Nation producing looked like Ricky Kirshner was in that spot and leaned heavily into Pop acts with the cycle before that being Rock legacy acts from different producers (probably brought on more so due to Janet and Justin’s moment).
Although its a “15-minute” performance this feels like one of the few national showcases that still exists. When you have a figure head that has many brands they are tied to running these events its setting the stage for them to help push those brands and take market share because of that “showcase”.
2 documentaries come to mind with the impacts the Halftime show can have on Ameireca Culutre:
Stax: Soulsville USA – the Sales guy has a segment that talks about his marketing stragety to help expand Stax into Chicago and Detroit to take on Motown’s market share
Sean Combs: The Reckoning – several times Diddy’s staff or others comment about how important it was to drive the “Culture”
Grant it, Country music has plenty of gate keepers in its history itself. Plenty of gate keepers when it comes to entertainment to help their “advertising” of their product.
October 28, 2026 @ 7:20 pm
But surely he’s going to bring out his wife, celebrated and duly accredited country star, Beyonce!…… no?
October 28, 2026 @ 7:39 pm
Word is Cowboy Carter will present a remix called Choosin’ Texas Hold ’em.
October 28, 2026 @ 8:05 pm
oh…OH !
this is so IMPORTANT
you’ve got me in a tizzy !!
October 29, 2026 @ 5:12 am
Normally, I would agree, but in the context of our nation’s current state, sadly, it is important.
October 29, 2026 @ 6:51 pm
you may be one of those “negotiators” who on one hand claim to believe what God says SHALL happen, yet when it starts coming true, you then switch over to believing you can duck it.
this half-time half-bait is but a keyhole view of the Big Picture to come and God cannot lie. Brother I am sorry bout your position of “we can fix that”
more bread and circus, anyone…?
October 29, 2026 @ 6:58 pm
I honestly don’t know what you are on about. I was simply saying that in our divided times, it matters that a country artist plays at the halftime show. It could negate some rage reaction, which is sorely needed.
October 28, 2026 @ 8:30 pm
I suspect this is going to be something like the history of hip hop one from a few years ago and he will bring on a bunch of famous guests.
October 28, 2026 @ 8:39 pm
Ah, the annual super bowl rant. Yes, I agree in full. Think there’ll be an ‘alternative show’ this year?
October 28, 2026 @ 8:43 pm
Jay-Z booking Jay-Z guarantees it. And this year, they will probably prepare better. You book Ella Langley or Chris Stapleton, and you undercut any effort by political actors to use the Super Bowl to divide us.
October 29, 2026 @ 4:49 am
Trigger,
How would TPUSA booking those artists undercut TPUSA’s efforts to divide us? I’m not seeing your logic here. Yes, the artists themselves aren’t divisive, but that wouldnt do anything to change the fact that a political organization is putting on an alternative show in its efforts to push a narrative around what the “real American culture” is. Can you explain this further – maybe I’m missing something?
October 29, 2026 @ 4:51 am
Ignore my comment – realizing now you meant if the official show booked those artists!
October 29, 2026 @ 7:08 am
I’m guessing you mean “How would the NFL booking those artists undercut TPUSA’s efforts to divide us?”
I mean, I can’t predict the future here. But I think the reason TPUSA found any traction for what they were trying to do is the disenfranchisement many felt with booking Bad Bunny. For the record, I wrote a whole article defending the Bad Bunny pick, and saying he wasn’t the problem specifically. It was more the broad issue of ignoring country for so long. But there was a reason TPUSA booked “country” or “country adjacent” acts for that show.
The United States has four major music genres: Rock, Pop, Hip-Hop/R&B, and Country. It is a wild statistical anomaly that no Super Bowl halftime wouldn’t feature a country Halftime Show in the last 33 years. And then when you have the person picking the performer pick himself, you’re just serving the criticisms of the process up to the detractors on a platter, especially when country is so indisputably popular at the moment. ALL of this will lead to the argument that the NFL is purposely excluding certain demographics from its sport. And frankly, I don’t know how you argue against that when the numbers are so extremely stark.
October 29, 2026 @ 8:45 am
Any chance TPUSA poisoned the well for country music (until the Nashville Super Bowl) with the 2026 show?
Nobody without an agenda could have watched that show and come away thinking “By God, that was enthralling! We need to book that show for the real game next year!”
You and I know that Kid Rock, Gilbert, and Brice are the C-team at best, but the casual observer may think that TPUSA was the best country has to offer. And that sure wasn’t good enough to be a Super Bowl halftime.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:17 am
“How would TPUSA booking those artists undercut TPUSA’s efforts to divide us?”
Another woke leftist who’s afraid of Christianity. 🥱
October 28, 2026 @ 10:52 pm
I don’t believe ANY fracking concert belongs in the middle of the Super Bowl.
The SB is the NFL championship game. It should be played under the same rules as every NFL game. That means a 13 minute half-time pause. Not stopping half an hour to set up for an “extravaganza” that nothing to do with the sport. How about going back to having the Jr. HS kids come out during halftime and do the final of the “Punt, Pass and Kick” competition and get back to playing the damn game. That was always chaming and unifying.
One thing the SB halftime show deserved to be recognized for is that it introduced the concept of “wardrobe malfunction” into the lexicon.
October 29, 2026 @ 2:03 pm
I like marching bands
October 29, 2026 @ 5:55 pm
Oh Hell yeah.
October 28, 2026 @ 10:57 pm
Lee Brice’s “I Just Wanna Kiss My Fish” last year was absolutely awful 🗑️
October 28, 2026 @ 11:26 pm
2030 HAS to be the country music super bowl
October 29, 2026 @ 3:09 am
Degenerate music from a satanic pedo.
October 29, 2026 @ 4:06 am
Excellent parody of future comments. Bravo!
October 29, 2026 @ 4:44 am
don’t worry dougie. theyll come for you just like they’ve come for paris. enjoy your performative opinion though.
October 29, 2026 @ 4:56 am
I apologize. From your fake name and prior comments, I honestly thought it was parody. Sorry.
October 29, 2026 @ 6:49 am
cough syrup is not a staple of a healthy diet folks.
October 29, 2026 @ 3:28 am
Luckyoldsun it’s not changing, 2026 is the age of greed & self righteousness! Skullgangmountain you’re absolutely 10000% correct! We are run by sickos worldwide.
October 29, 2026 @ 4:55 am
I do not care who is the performer because I honestly have no interest in the Super Bowl nor it’s halftime show, but I do understand it’s cultural significance and the cultural issues we currently are experiencing as a nation. Therefore, I agree that it’s way past due for a country music halftime performer/performers. It doesn’t matter who it is, or how country individuals may think they are. What matters is that they are recognized as country by the general populace. Jay-Z isn’t my nor many others idea of quality hip-hop and rap, but he’s recognized hip-hop and rap artist.
Why should there be a country Super Bowl halftime show? In the simplest terms, because it’s fair. In more complex terms, because to not do so feeds the “my culture is being disrespected and replaced” hysteria of our current era. Whether I agree or not is irrelevant, but I can completely understand the recent and current halftime shows being seen as more evidence of the culture war to culture warriors. Why fuel that fire? It’s stupid.
In short, the NFL should ensure the halftime show rotates so that it is representative of society as a whole. Simple respect and fairness. In long (if that’s an actual term), the NFL should be aware of this difficult time and, whether intentional or not, not do idiotic things that stoke a cultural fire.
October 29, 2026 @ 5:49 am
Zach Bryan was never gonna get booked for it the minute he wore the “Free Palestine” shirt at Gillette Stadium.
Tug Job Bob Kraft was never gonna allow the NFL to book someone who basically gave him (one of the most powerful owners in the game) the middle finger.
As for Jay-Z, I thought it was a joke as well. Not because Jay-Z isn’t an important artist in his genre, but the NFL has run this back with hip-hop acts for far too many years now.
I’m fine with having a hip-hop artist do the half-time every few years, but the NFL is acting like it is the only genre that exists in music at this point. I don’t even need a Country artist, but there has to be some mainstream Rock or Pop act who can do these shows as well that isn’t a hip-hop artist.
October 29, 2026 @ 7:13 am
Yeah. I’m not here to lobby against hip-hop acts at the Super Bowl, or Jay-Z specifically. Hell, he probably deserves to play the Super Bowl. But so does some other genre that’s not hip-hop.
We’ve now entered this strange reality where I don’t even know if the NFL can book a country artist. It would seem like such a strange anomaly, people would think it’s some sort of psyop or something. Hip-hop believes it’s owed the Super Bowl. That’s why you had Lil Wayne crying a couple of years ago that he wasn’t picked, like its his obligation to play it.
October 29, 2026 @ 7:45 am
I know zilch about hip-hop and pop culture as a whole in 2026, but I suspect Lil Wayne just was thirsting for relevance more than anything. Is he even that big of a name in the genre right now? Jay-Z has crafted himself to be a Garth-level artist in Rap. Lil Wayne feels like Brad Paisley in hip-hop. A guy who at his peak was a big deal in the genre, but whose star has faded to the point no one thinks they should be playing a Super Bowl show.
I disagree with you on the Country artist thing though. I think they absolutely could still have them headline. But they just need someone who doesn’t carry political baggage. Luke Combs still seems to most natural name for me along with Stapleton. But even with those two, Combs star has faded a bit at radio and Stapleton feels like at a similar “lull” in his star right now.
This is where Morgan Wallen’s continued dominance over the mainstream portion of the genre hurts everyone if the goal is to have a Super Bowl performer. Wallen’s so politically toxic while also dominating the genre makes it harder to pitch other options it seems.
October 29, 2026 @ 6:13 am
I would love to see country music featured at the halftime show. Having said that, I think booking all these hip hop acts is a strategic move about ratings. 4 of the 5 highest rated halftime shows in history have come in the Jay-Z era (Kendrick Lamar, Usher, Bad Bunny, and Rihanna). All of those halftime shows out performed the actual games themselves in terms of ratings. There’s something to be said for the idea that country fans (and rock fans) are already tuned in to watch the game and the hip hop artists are booked specifically to bring in an audience that isn’t already watching.
October 29, 2026 @ 7:46 am
Eh. The ratings for the Super Bowl go up each year. The fact that the most recent years are the most-watched is just the trajectory. Maybe that’s due to hip-hop. Maybe that’s not. Hip-hop fans love the NFL.
October 29, 2026 @ 8:00 am
Am laughing,
Treading around the edges, here …
And, that’s fine.
October 29, 2026 @ 9:43 am
Yes, the Super Bowl ratings go up each year, but my point is that, at least according to the ratings, the halftime show is outperforming the game itself. If people were really tunjng out or boycotting or whatever, the ratings should go down. The backlash against Jay Z may be real among country and rock fans, but it isn’t hurting the overall profit of the show. The NFL itself is very pleased with Jay Z’s product and at the end of the day, the NFL’s opinion is the only one that matters. And the NFL’s decision is driven by money.
October 29, 2026 @ 6:42 am
And the enshittification of America continues…
October 29, 2026 @ 6:48 am
My question is: Why is the SB halftime (show?) something that goes well beyond discussion at your local watering hole or regular bs internet forum all the way to being worth an entire story from Trigger? As he says country music is the most listened to genre in America. So why all the fuss about a (show?) that is nothing more than 2-3 very short versions of your very best songs along with some other kinda bs fluff? If it were a platform for some up and coming country stars, then ok I would get it. But this is only ever been for extremely big, established stars. And its normally a terrible version of said star. However I do get a kick out of all this serious discourse about something so un-serious. Lest we forget it’s a football game people- not a concert showing what a great singer or songwriter you are. If you really care about any genre of music this performance should not even be considered on your list of top 100 places you want to see your favorite artist(s). This to me, is simply another thing to rage/complain about on the internet that has absolutely NO real value in the grand scheme.
October 29, 2026 @ 8:36 am
The name of this outlet is “Saving Country Music.” The charge of this outlet is to advocate for country music. Yes, very often that takes on the shape of advocating for independent country artists, venues, events, etc. But there is a greater issue where country music in general is systemically downgraded, admonished, lampooned, and cast off in the greater culture, sombolized by things like the Super Bowl. This affects all country artists, big and small. When a country song finally reaches #1 in music, the prevailing narrative outside of country is that it must be fake. It’s due to bot farms, or a political psyop, or whatever.
I’ve been arguing for many years now that country music deserves to be represented during the Super Bowl Halftime Show, and citing the statistic of how long it’s been, and adding a digit to it each year. 33 years since country music was the centerpiece of the Super Bowl Halftime. 33 years. And every time, I seek an answer to how that’s even possible, and never really receive a straight answer. Simply as a statistical discussion, it’s impossible to justify it.
I don’t even give a shit what country artist they book. They won’t book Morgan Wallen. But even if they did, at least it would be someone who actually calls themselves “country.”
The Super Bowl Halftime Show is the biggest music event that happens every single year, full stop. You might not care about it. You’re in the minority. And by excluding country music from that opportunity, you’re excluding it from the greater American cultural conversation.
And make no mistake about it. After 33 years, the exclusion of country music is systemic, and purposeful.
October 29, 2026 @ 1:14 pm
Maybe it’s because I grew up in the south as a Bama fan, but it seems to me that the country music demographic supports college football more than the NFL. Every state has college football teams but not all of them have pro teams.
October 29, 2026 @ 6:51 am
damn, is it already “conservative white people complain about the super bowl halftime show” time of year?!?!
time sure does fly.
October 29, 2026 @ 7:39 am
I get where you’re coming from and in the general scheme of things, the Super Bowl halftime performer shouldn’t matter, but in the context of society’s current state, it does. Since, as you say, “conservative white people” will complain, why give people in these fractured times reason to go off? The NFL could play a role in “lowering the temperature”, or better said, not raising it. Beyond that, it’s simple fairness and recognition that other styles of music have an equally large fan base when compared to styles of rap. Sure, a jazz or classical halftime show would be absurd, but country is different. It, with it’s myriad styles, is one of the most popular genres of music. Combine that with many people, rightly or wrongly, seeing the the choice of Jay Z as another siap in the face to their culture, why do it? Have a major country artist, regardless of style, play. It’s proper and good business.
October 29, 2026 @ 8:12 am
i suspect it might have something to do with conservative country music fans typically being the first to say they are going to boycott the nfl over something. why cater to a group that says they are going to stop watching (lol) football every year because of something – peaceful protest, beer, latin music.
October 29, 2026 @ 9:21 am
Because, as I said, regardless of those individuals behavior, it’s proper and good business to recognize the musical taste of a large part of the population in general and your fan base specifically.
October 29, 2026 @ 12:57 pm
You’ve hit the nail on the head right here. The “boycotters” are by all measures a captive audience. You have to actually stop watching for the boycott to work, and they seem unable to do that. It is in the NFL’s best financial interest to book acts that bring people outside of this group. That happens to be anything but country music.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:26 am
It’s a nice change, as opposed to leftists like you whining and virtue-signalling over everything.
October 29, 2026 @ 7:07 am
1 – Who gives a crap? It’s the halftime show. Either you’re watching it for the football or the ads, I’ve never heard anyone say they watch it for the halftime show. Getting worked up about this is just as dumb as the Bad Bunny upset was last year.
2 – I know you don’t want to censor comments, but if you don’t at least let us downvote the toxic trolls, you make it really hard to justify bothering with SCM. Just look at some of the top level comments in here that you’re fine with and explain to me why THAT is the readership you want to defend at the cost of the less insane readership.
October 29, 2026 @ 8:03 am
Indeed. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the first comment, the “degenerative hip hop” culture one, has 26 up votes and counting.
October 29, 2026 @ 11:15 am
I said degenerate hip hop, not degenerative. Although the toxic “art: they create does have a degenerative effect on society at large.
I’ll repeat what I said earlier: When gangsta rap rap starts turning artists like Miles Davis or Louis Armstrong, I’ll change my mind. The gangstas don’t have art of that caliber and the only way they’d create it is if they abandoned degeneracy.
October 29, 2026 @ 11:38 am
As I thought the first time you said it, what do you mean by “When gangsta rap rap starts turning artists like Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong”. I’m familiar with gangsta rap, but not gangsta rap rap. Also, gangsta rap rap, er rap, cannot turn Miles or Louis in anyway as they are deceased. Perhaps you meant “turn out”? Wait. Did you make a couple of typographical errors as I did with “degenerative”? Nevermind. That’s an easy thing to do.
Also, there are artists of that caliber. Just because you do not like the genre, it doesn’t mean that it has not produced incredibly talented artists on the level of Miles and Louis (or even on the level of some white guys). No, I’m not naming any because it’s subjective and I am not a huge fan with the proper knowledge. My favorites groups, though, are De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest.
October 29, 2026 @ 6:29 pm
I did say that there are creative people in rap, De La Soul and ATCQ are two such acts. They aren’t dropping the “Hard R” all over the place.
The gangsta rap and drill rap crowds are the ones who suck up all of the air in the room. I’d love to have rap acts do De La Soul “hippie rap” or something that has something positive and/or clever at the heart of it. Jay Z ain’t it.
And. yes, I meant turn out artists like Miles and Louis. I actually type things out and edit them and I’ll occasionally miss a word or add a word.
October 29, 2026 @ 8:45 am
Matt,
We’ve been over this many, many times. My opinions are found in the articles. The comments are the opinions of the commenters. As soon as I start crafting comments in my image, I’m not running an open forum, I’m running an echo chamber. Just because a comment is here, doesn’t mean I am “fine” with it, let along agree, nor is it “the readership I want to defend.” Those comments represent the people who are commenting, full stop. I very commonly posh back against comments.
Guess what happens when you completely disenfranchise an entire cohort of the American population for 33 straight years? You get anger. You get rage. You get TPUSA alternative programming. You get people chirping off in internet comments sections. There is one easy way Jay-Z and the NFL could have solved this problem. Instead, they played right into the hands of their detractors.
I’m not the problem here. I’m trying to forward a solution. Dumbass comments in a comments section are simply an epiphenominal byproduct of 33 years of bad decisions building up public rage.
October 29, 2026 @ 11:27 am
The NFL could have Ella Langley and George Strait on at halftime to great effect. But that isn’t a virtue signal; platforming hip hop acts is. Just my “dumbass” comment/opinion…
October 29, 2026 @ 10:29 am
Typical leftist response. Let’s censor those with whom I disagree. 🤡
October 29, 2026 @ 7:38 am
What’s interesting is that the NFL is not anti country music. Carrie Underwood does the Sunday Night game song and Chris Stapleton is part of the Monday Night Theme song. The NFL hires country artists for their Super Bowl week festivities. Country artists sing the National Anthem and do halftime shows at games throughout the season. I do believe they are scared of the possible backlash from the media if they picked a country performer. After last year, they also probably wanted to go with a safer pick, and believe Jay Z would be that safe pick. It will be interesting to see if an alternate show emerges.
October 29, 2026 @ 8:51 am
The programming you’re citing is mostly controlled by the TV networks. They understand that country fans make up a huge cohort of NFL viewers, and so they cater to them in intros. These decisions are also usually made by groups of people. Miranda Lambert was just named the performer for the Thanksgiving Day Dallas Cowboys game. That’s picked by the Cowboys, not the NFL.
Putting the pick of who gets to play the Super Bowl Halftime in the hands of one person is probably not a good idea. That person then picking himself pretty much proves this.
October 29, 2026 @ 7:44 am
We have to accept a hard truth: the NFL isn’t really for us anymore.
Sure, we can tune in every Sunday and watch every game. Nobody is taking football away from us. But if you think the league is primarily marketing itself to middle-class and working-class Americans living in small towns and rural communities, you’re fooling yourself.
For many of us, country music isn’t just another genre. It’s the soundtrack to our lives. It tells our stories, reflects our values, and represents the culture we grew up in. Yet when you look at the NFL’s marketing, partnerships, entertainment choices, and overall direction, it’s clear they’re focused on a much different audience than the one that helped make professional football America’s sport in the first place.
The NFL is chasing bigger markets, global audiences, corporate dollars, and cultural trends. Again, that’s their choice. But at some point, fans in flyover country have to recognize that being loyal customers and being the league’s preferred audience are two very different things. We can still love football. We just shouldn’t pretend the NFL is speaking directly to us anymore.
October 29, 2026 @ 9:45 am
Exactly THIS.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:47 am
This.
If those fans want change. Quit watching en masse. There is a subset of fans who complain each week about the product becoming softer or poorly officiated or how awful TNF is. But those fans keep watching.
The NFL is a monopoly. They know no one is turning off the television.
October 29, 2026 @ 11:32 am
I don’t watch anymore, but I’m an outlier. The NFL knows that most people will accept all the other crap to get their football fix. People have their fantasy leagues and gaming apps and that is what matters to them far more than the virtue signals that they’re being swamped with.
October 29, 2026 @ 12:49 pm
I’m not a huge NFL fan, but in 2026 they really are not virtue signaling to the degree you are making it out to be.
Unless you count the paid patriotism they get from the Department of War/Defense?
The “virtue signaling” in 2026 is some end zone signs that are as benign as possible (end racism) and some back of the helmet messaged that are similarly Hallmark Card-esque.
People should be more annoyed the NFL pretends playing the sport is safe while 75% of ex-players who died in the last 10-15 years had CTE than about their “virtue signaling” in 2026. Or the fact taxpayers subsidize a swath of their stadiums and then they play games over in Europe or South America.
October 29, 2026 @ 6:39 pm
You’re totally correct. Besides, the NFL does have to offer country music fans an inducement to watch because we already watch it. I stopped, but most people won’t and the league knows it.
October 29, 2026 @ 8:06 am
Would LOVE to see a Superbowl halftime show Honoring fabulous BLUES PLAYERS with the likes of BUDDY GUY being honored.
BUDDY GUY IS A MONSTER PERFORMER
October 29, 2026 @ 9:35 am
Now you’re talkin, and that’s already in the works for the 2040 Super Bowl that will be held right here in the Windy City when the Bears open their brand new stadium. If they get it finished in time. Sadly, there will be few if any fabulous Chicago Blues players left.
October 29, 2026 @ 9:40 am
Right on, JB!
Oh, PLEASE tell me they already have MR. GREG GUY, on board!
October 29, 2026 @ 8:23 am
The NFL is angling for the Millennials. They’re the largest age demographic in the country, and finally reaching higher wages point of their careers. That’s music to the advertisers’ ears. JayZ was one of the biggest acts for that generation when they were coming of age and he will draw viewers that advertisers will pay for. Same deal with Dr. Dre/Snoop/Eminem a few years back. It’s the same reason the Rolling Stones played to Boomers in 2006 despite not being relevant for decades.
Nothing against ZB, Ella Langley, or Stapleton, but They’re not going to attract the same number of wallets…er, viewers that JayZ will. And ultimately that’s what the NFL sells to advertisers. Remember if you don’t have to pay to watch it, you’re not the consumer. You’re the product.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:45 am
Jay-Z is likely closer to bringing in young Gen Xers than he is Millennials at this point.
If the NFL wanted “the Millennial dollar” they would have wrote a blank check to Taylor Swift. Shit, even Zach Bryan probably has more Millennial fans at this point than Jay-Z does.
Jay-Z’s last record of any broad mainstream play was released in 2013.
More Millennials at this point know him as Beyonce’s husband than as an artist.
October 29, 2026 @ 11:03 am
IDK, the millennial generation starts at 1980. We’re taking about people in their 30s and 40s.
October 30, 2026 @ 8:00 am
I was born in 1986. On the older half, but squarely Millennial. 40 years old. JayZ was a big part of the soundtrack to my middle school, high school, and college years: roughly 1998-2008.
2013 is probably about the time I completely stopped caring about popular music. Has he done anything since then? Don’t know, don’t care. I probably haven’t put a JayZ song on in years. But if Hard Knock Life, Izzo, or 99 Problems get played, it’ll be mainlining nostalgia right into my veins.
October 29, 2026 @ 8:50 am
Well i dont personally care, i hardly ever watch the halftime, lots of times i dont even watch the game. I i just saw where boyz to men is putting out a country album,maybe jay-z will invite them.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:25 am
Honestly I doubt it would happen but since both Combs and Wallen have cited Church as a major influence seeing something with the 3 of them would be super entertaining and appeal to the actual bread and butter of the NFL crowd. Not to the people they hope to appeal to though.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:34 am
You nailed it.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:41 am
Church and Combs I could see.
Zero chance Wallen ever gets within 5 miles of a Super Bowl performance.
You think the league with 70% of it’s players being black is gonna have a guy who (infamously) tossed around the “N” word on one of their marquee games?
No chance.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:48 am
I would bet $100 that NFL locker rooms play Wallen. The players don’t care. They say worse things to each other on the field.
It is the limp-wristed administration and bleeding heart sportswriters who care.
October 29, 2026 @ 12:10 pm
All it takes is 1 player to say “Not cool with a white guy who said the N word” for it to turn into a shit show.
Maybe most players don’t care. Probably a safe bet. Just like (obviously) lots of music consumers don’t care based on Wallen’s continued popularity.
But all that doesn’t change the fact he is never playing the Super Bowl due to that N word issue.
You can bitch and whine it isn’t fair, but it’s just a fact. Morgan Wallen has a better chance of playing a NAACP rally than he does playing the Super Bowl.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:41 am
Go to any country dance hall these days and half the night the DJ will play hip-hop, Nashville Pop, Nashville Hip-Hop, and Nashville Rock (what I call trans-country). If you get a band, you get a little more real country music and some pop and rock songs. My point is honky-tonk and real country music isn’t even popular in most country dance bars these days. Aside from Choosin’ Texas, the only country music that is popular enough for the Super Bowl is trans-country, but that music is no more country than Caitlyn Jenner is a woman. Come to think of it, Morgan Wallen would be perfect.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:52 am
I don’t really care about the whole “NFL doesn’t book country artists” thing. They pick an artist and they perform. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not, and that’s true across genres.
My beef with the NFL is that Jay-Z is openly anti-Semitic, credibly accused of sexual assault as a close friend of Diddy. He should be ostracized.
October 29, 2026 @ 11:00 am
“I don’t really care about the whole “NFL doesn’t book country artists” thing. They pick an artist and they perform.”
No, the NFL picks someone to pick an artist. That person then picked himself.
“Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not, and that’s true across genres.”
No, it’s not true across genres because country has been excluded.
Not trying to be argumentative. But these details definitely matter.
October 29, 2026 @ 1:18 pm
Yeah, the NFL has picked someone to choose the artists. And the person they’ve chosen is a piece of crap. That’s true regardless of who he chooses to perform, including himself.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:54 am
Country isn’t that popular compared to other types of music. The only think that would have surprised me is if they did have a country performer.
October 29, 2026 @ 11:01 am
Country music far and away is the most popular current genre of music, and by wide margins. It’s not even close.
The only thing clouding those stats is the consumption of older music.
October 29, 2026 @ 10:54 am
He knows the correct people.
Desean Jackson posted anti-Semitic comments and is a head coach at a Division I school.
The rules are selectively applied.
October 29, 2026 @ 1:03 pm
Trigger,
I appreciated your efforts on this cause, but nothing will change until Middle America turns off its screens and walks away. That simply won’t happen. Football is too ingrained into Joe Sixpack’s life. If Kaep and his kneeling, the virtue-signaling end zones, and Bad Bunny cannot make it happen, Jay-Z’s performance won’t cause a mass exodus.
Fact is, football is the preeminent soft power in America and the NFL knows it. The Shield wants the world next. The owners, they, not Roger, run the league, know that the American audience is firmly in their pocket.
The average fan in Iowa might sigh and turn the channel at halftime or keep the TV while bemoaning the cultural rot but their eyes will be there when the third quarter kicks off.
October 30, 2026 @ 6:53 am
not the first time ck has said “preeminent soft power” during a back-and-forth, i bet.
October 29, 2026 @ 1:47 pm
I’m guessing they asked Taylor Swift and she declined…so Rock Nation went with himself. 99 problems but a halftime show ain’t one.
October 29, 2026 @ 1:49 pm
I’m not trying to piss on the cause here, but honestly, I think part of the problem may be that country music doesn’t present itself well in a showcase-style setting (such as the Super Bowl is).
Just think about how many awards shows there are in country music, and how many showstopping performances have come of that. There’s the 2015 CMA collaboration between Chris Stapelton and Justin Timberlake, Alan Jackson’s drummer playing without any sticks, and… probably something that I’m forgetting?
Now, I do believe that if Garth Brooks wasn’t so protective of his catalog, he’d be right up there with the Foo Fighters when it comes to being in the conversation, but the point is that, right, wrong, or otherwise, you’re never going find a country song/artists on a list of the greatest concerts/live performances (with obvious exception acts like The Grateful Dead, Billy Strings, and numerous other jam bands who will never be in the conversation to play the Super Bowl anyway due to time constraints). No matter how “popular” the genre is, that’s just the perception it had accumulated.
October 29, 2026 @ 2:45 pm
I agree. I don’t think today’s country music has the kind of bombastic performer that audiences expect from the Super Bowl these days.
October 29, 2026 @ 2:46 pm
Every time I broach this subject, I love how the comments flood with country fans themselves saying how country music isn’t good enough for prime time. The music is inferior, the performers aren’t entertaining enough. Country fans themselves give the NFL a laundry list of reasons why country music at the Super Bowl will fail. With fans like these, who needs enemies? This is because country fans have been conditioned to believe they’re inferior, and that they will fail in big moments. Is that Ella Langley song REALLY that popular? It can’t be. It’s country.
That is part of what we saw on the Dolly Parton tribute, and awards shows each year. Many performers take the safe way out, lower the key of a song so it’s easier to sing, but less inspiring, and live to fight another day.
It’s chicken shit.
October 29, 2026 @ 5:05 pm
The caveat your first point is that many of country music fans who come to this website are used to disappointment in one form or another. When it comes to any form of grassroots and/or indie music, it’s an internalized mindset that some great artist is inevitably going to be overlooked. If you took a more wholistically representative sample of your “country music fan”, you’d probably get a more balanced and less jaded consensus.
I get that the first paragraph of your reply is a rant, but is the second blurb supposed to be half-sarcastic as well? Don’t get me wrong, I know what I’m courting by disserting here, but given the prevalence of said cautious attitude towards big moments, are there any obviously deserving country artists who would risk their reputations to do the halftime show anyway? For better or for worse, there’s a reason most of the artists who have accept the invitation to play the halftime show are 10 to 15 years past their commercial prime (to increase their sales and remind everyone that they still exist). Other than Ella Langly, there’s no country act that currently big enough to jump the line on the whole “what was popular twenty years ago?” gig, and there’s probably no befit to her doing that right at this moment.
If thing keep going like they are, there will probably be a “country” music halftime show in 2030. If it doesn’t happen at that point, then I think we’ll all admit you’re right about this whole thing. Until otherwise proven though, the NFL is just doing what they’ve done in large part since nipple-gate; booking a legacy act that person recognize.
October 29, 2026 @ 2:43 pm
It was all downhill after Prince. He set the bar way too high for everyone else. I can’t think of any country stars I’d even want to see anyway. As for Jay Z, I cannot name a single song of his nor would I want to.
October 29, 2026 @ 2:53 pm
I’m a big country fan but I’d probably watch Jay Z who I can’t stand before I’d watch the likes of Zach Bryan, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, Jelly Roll or Ella Langley. Chris Stapleton or Kacey Musgraves would just be a bit boring although her on those balls would be fun. Acts like Sturgill or Tyler are just not household names. They would need a bunch of acts to make it work.
October 29, 2026 @ 4:15 pm
Super Bowl halftime shows are about the spectacle more than the music. You mentioned Zach Bryan and Ella Langley, but neither of them would be at all appropriate for this. Ditto Chris Stapleton — the anthem was the perfect slot to showcase his vocals, but he wouldn’t fit halftime at all.
Garth Brooks would be the one choice I could think of that could put on that sort of show, and but how relevant would he be to a generation that can’t stream him?
October 29, 2026 @ 4:52 pm
Why does the Super Bowl halftime have to be a “spectacle”? There was an entire era where nostalgia rock acts like Prince, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, and Paul McCartney got up and did not make a “spectacle” of it, but sang their hits.
Why is country so popular right now? Why is “Choosin’ Texas” so resonant. One of the prevailing working theories is because Americans are craving experiences and music that is real. They’re tired of everything feeling fake. What better time to have a country performer come up, sing live, with a live band behind them, and create a real, authentic, analog experience?
Or, as country fans, we can continue to make excuses as to why country music will fail on big stages, and why it doesn’t deserve big opportunities.
October 29, 2026 @ 11:41 pm
People these days have shorter attention spans while every Super Bowl show is bigger and more spectacular than the last. Just music may have been enough in the past but not anymore. Fans expect a really, really big show.
October 30, 2026 @ 7:12 am
I don’t know that’s the case. Many Mellenials and Gen Z don’t even own televisions. They don’t even watch sports. They do interact with the Super Bowl though. It’s a national holiday. This is like people telling me, “Nobody listens to albums anymore. It’s all singles.” I’ve been hearing that for 20 years, and it’s still untrue.
October 30, 2026 @ 1:19 pm
My Gen Z son told me recently that sportsball is very Boomer-coded among his generation. He said he doesn’t know anyone who’s more than a casual sportball fan.
October 30, 2026 @ 7:33 am
“Fans expect a really, really big show.”
Yeah, but Ed Sullivan’s gone.
October 30, 2026 @ 7:46 pm
Hey, how about bringing back Sullivan’s plate spinners and bicycle-riding bears, while a live orchestra plays “The Turkish Saber Dance” for a halftime show? The younger generations probably have never seen it! It’ll be Boffo!
October 29, 2026 @ 4:28 pm
I’d like to see Country Music fans boycott the Super Bowl, and spectator sports in general. In fact, I’d like to see white working-class men boycott the NFL, NBA, and all the rest anyway!
Can you imagine your wife’s astonishment if you spent a Sunday afternoon doing family activities away from the TV set? Maybe even sneak in a little lovemaking?
Naw! Can’t have that!
October 30, 2026 @ 9:11 am
but then the wives would have to spend time with their husbands… which seems worse. can you imagine:
“that’s nice dear, what did the nfl do to challenge your white worldview this week?”
“maybe next week, i have a yeast infection.”
October 30, 2026 @ 6:18 am
my useless 2 cents: I don’t understand american football but i do like my occassional rap artist. My biggest problem with the genre is the abuse of the word B*tch refered to girls, i’m no prude but just can’t stand it.
October 30, 2026 @ 9:36 am
Does the term bitch-ass N-word bother you?
October 30, 2026 @ 6:30 am
PASS (pun intended)
October 30, 2026 @ 10:02 am
Hip hop has been dead for years. It’s the same old shit. I call it rap crap. The noise literally gives me a migraine. I don’t like anything. So go ahead call me a racist. I’m an equal opportunity hater.
October 30, 2026 @ 4:23 pm
I feel very alone based on these comments, but I would love to see country music on the super bowl halftime show. And I do believe it would have a lot of appeal. Ella Langley, Riley Green, Megan Moroney, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney. Heck I’d even be happy with Garth and Tricia up there. I am very excited about seeing Miranda on Thanksgiving.
October 30, 2026 @ 6:55 pm
White apologists like yourself, TrigGered, are the reason this happens. You shout your liberal talking points from the rooftops, trying your hardest to prove you aren’t racist and that you are on the side of the brothas and sistas of my “community,” all while flailing and braying like a spooked donkey when your chickens come home to roost.
Apologize more, TrigGered. I am sure it’ll fix it all.