Bad Bunny will headline the 2026 Super Bowl half time show, following in the footsteps of such names as Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd, but who is he?
Announcing his role – and he will be the first male Latin star to headline the gig – he said “What I’m feeling goes beyond myself. It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown. This is for my people, my culture, and our history.”
He also added, in his native Spanish, what translates as: “Go tell you grandma we’re going to be the Super Bowl half-time show”.
He will be performing a medley of hits at the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show at the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara in the San Fransisco Bay Area on February 8, 2026. The show is the most watched event in US TV and regularly has more than 100 million people tuning in. So, no pressure.
Who is Bad Bunny?
But who is the rapper known as Bad Bunny? Find out more here:
- His real name is Benito: While he is known the world over as Bad Bunny, his real name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio. Hailing from Vega Baja in Puerto Rico, the son of a truck driver and a school teacher, the 31-year-old has been described as ‘the King of Latin Trap’
- Streaming record: Bad Bunny has been the most streamed artist in the world in three of the past five years (2020-21-22) on Spotify. However, in 2024 he was only third on Spotify’s list, behind The Weeknd and Taylor Swift. In physical sales, Bad Bunny has shifted 7 million albums over his career to date
- US first: In 2022, Bad Bunny became the first artist to score a number one album in the US with a record recorded entirely in Spanish. The album, Bad Bunny Un Verano Sin Ti (A Summer Without You) hit number one
- Acting credentials: Bad Bunny, like many music artists before him, isn’t just about the music – he has a side hustle as an actor. His film credits to date include Bullet Train, Caught Stealing and the recent Adam Sandler-led sequel Happy Gilmore 2. He has also been a guest presenter of US TV institution Saturday Night Live and will be hosting again next month.
- Award winner: Bad Bunny has won three Grammys so far, and 11 Latin Grammys, as well as eight Billboard Music Awards and 13 Lo Nuestro Awards.
- He’s not touring the US: Bad Bunny created controversy recently when he refused to tour the US – and was explicit in his reasons for the snub: in a recent interview with i-D magazine, Bad Bunny said he wasn’t including the US in his world tour because he was concerned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents might conduct raids on fans – many of whom are of Puerto Rican and Latin descent – at his concerts.
- Home fans: As well as his popularity around the world, he is hugely popular in his home country. He recent residence in Puerto Rico was watched by more than 500,000 people.
- He’s a wrestler: Not content with being a rapper and actor, Bad Bunny has even entered the ring as a wrestler. He made his first appearances on WWE programmes back in 2021, before entering the ring for the first time at WrestleMania 37. But his appearances aren’t just stunts – he is a one-time WWE 24/7 Champion and has also wrestled at the iconic Royal Rumble in 2022 and the 2023 Backlash pay-per-view event.
