Will Taylor Swift perform at the Super Bowl? Here’s everything we know.

Taylor Swift seems like a no-brainer to headline the Super Bowl halftime show.

The 35-year-old pop star is arguably the most dominant commercial force in the music industry, with an arsenal of hit songs and millions of album sales to her name. She’s also one of the most sought-after performers; if the Eras Tour was proof of anything, it’s that Swift has no problem captivating a stadium full of people.

Swifties have long wondered if their idol will someday grace TV’s biggest stage, but Swift’s recent engagement to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has renewed curiosity among music and football fans alike.

When Swift and Kelce began dating in 2023, Swift launched into WAG mode. She has become a near-constant presence at Arrowhead Stadium — a presence that has benefited the NFL in various financial ways.

Indeed, the NFL has wholeheartedly embraced Swift’s cultural and economic cache, promoting her music on social media and frequently cutting to her reactions during live broadcasts. Her visibility has had a demonstrable effect on the sport’s female viewership, not to mention merchandise sales.

According to a 2023 report from the New York Post, the NFL even asked its networks — NBC, ESPN, Fox, and CBS — to air commercials for Swift’s Eras Tour concert movie completely free of charge, as an attempt to secure her continued support.

“TV executives speculated that the NFL’s goal with Swift is the Super Bowl halftime show, which she has never done,” the Post reported.

So why hasn’t Swift joined the ranks of past headliners like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Kendrick Lamar? And could her new connection to the NFL indicate a change of heart? Here’s all the information we have so far.

Swift has reportedly declined to play the Super Bowl multiple times

For much of Swift’s early career, Pepsi sponsored the Super Bowl halftime show, which may have posed a contractual conflict. In 2013, the same year Pepsi launched its partnership with the NFL, Swift signed a “long-term partnership” with its rival brand, Coca-Cola.

In 2022, Apple Music took over as the halftime show’s key sponsor. This announcement thrilled Swifties, who theorized that Swift would now be free to take the stage.

Instead, Rihanna was announced as the 2023 headliner. Swift was reportedly offered the opportunity according to TMZ, but declined to focus on rerecording her first six albums.

When Usher was announced as the 2024 headliner, similar reports surfaced. Swift reportedly turned down the offer again, this time to focus on her ongoing Eras Tour shows; she was scheduled to perform in Tokyo on February 11, 2024, one day before the Super Bowl in Las Vegas.

Swift buying back her masters may have increased her Super Bowl odds

Until recently, Swift was in the process of rerecording her first six albums in order to reclaim control of her music. In 2021, she released “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version).” These were followed by “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” and “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” in 2023.

Earlier this year, Swift shocked fans by announcing that she had bought back her masters from the private equity company that owned her back catalog — meaning the “Taylor’s Version” project is no longer necessary.

When the project was ongoing, it seemed unlikely that Swift would perform at the Super Bowl until it was complete.

Although headliners typically don’t get paid, the game’s viewership is incredibly valuable. In 2023, Rihanna’s catalog saw a 390% boost in song sales and a 140% surge in streams after she left the stage, even though she hadn’t released a new album in over seven years. These gains have become typical for Super Bowl headliners; streams of Usher’s catalog skyrocketed nearly 300% in the week following his performance, with his 2004 hit “Yeah!” among the biggest gainers, according to Billboard.

If Swift had performed a medley of hits in recent years, including old songs she had yet to rerecord, it would’ve boosted streams and sales of music she didn’t own, meaning she wouldn’t make as much money.

Now, however, Swift has total ownership of her life’s work for the first time in her career. It’s easy to assume this would make the Super Bowl offer more appealing to Swift and her team.

A performance by Swift could also give Kelce’s career a boost

Marriage is a big romantic step, but it’s also a legal arrangement. For celebrities like Swift and Kelce, whose net worths are in the billions and millions, respectively, it’s also an opportunity to officially merge brand strategies.

It makes sense for Swift and Kelce to harness the public’s interest in their relationship for mutual gain, and for Kelce, this has already worked extremely well. Sales of Kelce’s jersey spiked nearly 400% the week after Swift attended her first Chiefs game, and her debut appearance on his podcast, “New Heights,” set a Guinness World Record for concurrent views. When Usher gave a career-topping performance at the Super Bowl in 2024, all eyes were still on Swift.

Kelce is entering the final season of his contract with the Chiefs, and in the past few years, he has actively diversified his career prospects beyond football. If Swift were to perform at the Super Bowl, a new chapter in their love story would be handed to fans (and brands looking to partner with Swift’s long-awaited Romeo) on a silver platter.

Meanwhile, Swift could take this chance to promote her 12th album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” which arrives in October — around the time Super Bowl performers are usually announced. Come showtime, Swift would be equipped with brand-new songs to perform, perhaps even some inspired by Kelce.

On the other hand, Swift doesn’t need the Super Bowl to promote her music

Has Swift simply gotten too big for the Super Bowl? It’s a lofty claim to make for an event that typically draws in roughly 100 million viewers, but in Swift’s case, it’s far from absurd.

Musicians typically use the Super Bowl halftime show to promote new albums, world tours, or, in Rihanna’s case, makeup and skincare brands. But Swift doesn’t stand to gain much in terms of publicity; she has become an economy unto herself. Swift already staged the first $2 billion-grossing concert tour in history, and each stop on the Eras Tour affected local economies and boosted consumer spending on levels commensurate with, or even beyond, the NFL’s scale.

“On the opening night in Glendale, Arizona, the concert brought in more revenue for local businesses than Super Bowl LVII, which was held back in February in the same stadium,” Time reported in 2023. “To use that event as a comparison, Swift has been performing the equivalent of two to three Super Bowls every weekend for the past five months.”

The post Will Taylor Swift perform at the Super Bowl? Here’s everything we know. appeared first on Business Insider.