Taylor Swift playing the Super Bowl makes sense: here’s why
With a new album to promote, but no Grammys to attend, February 2026 is looking wide open for the biggest artist in the world
By Jon Blistein
Taylor Swift headlining the Super Bowl halftime show has been one of those things that’s seemed so obvious for so long it’s a shock it hasn’t happened (soft drink sponsorship deals aside, of course). Over the past few years, especially, her name has been bandied about as a likely prospect, but the odds seem higher than ever heading into the 2025 NFL season.
Swift’s fans, as they’re wont to do, have already started scooping up supposed Easter eggs they think hint at a headlining slot for the singer-songwriter at Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. These include everything from Swift’s sourdough obsession (Santa Clara is outside San Francisco, which is famous for its sourdough bread) to her love of numerology (Levi’s Stadium is the home of the San Francisco 49ers, and four plus nine equals 13 — Swift’s favourite number).
But all that aside, there’s plenty of logical, dare we say more business-minded reasons why Super Bowl LX would be the perfect time for Swift to headline the halftime show.
It’s album time — but not Grammys time
Perhaps the biggest reason this could be the year has to do with the impending arrival of Swift’s 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, which is set to drop on October 3. That obviously isn’t exactly close to Super Bowl LX, which will take place on February 8, 2026. But the big game does take place one week after the 68th Grammy Awards, which is slated for February 1, 2026. Swift is releasing The Life of a Showgirl after the eligibility deadline for the 68th Grammys, meaning she won’t be up for any awards next year. That means her early February schedule should be wide open, should she be so inclined to put on a big show around that time.
To tour or not to tour?
Similarly, it’s unclear if Swift has any plans to tour behind The Life of a Showgirl. Believe it or not, her Eras Tour only wrapped last December, with Swift playing 149 concerts over a 21-month period. Swift could totally return to the road next year, but whether she wants to is another question entirely.
Part of the Eras Tour’s mammoth success seemed linked to the fact that it was Swift’s first headlining run since 2018. There’s a lot to be said about building anticipation before embarking on another gargantuan tour, as well as taking a well-deserved break. Swift has already said that she recorded The Life of a Showgirl in between Eras Tour dates, often flying to Sweden to work with producers Max Martin and Shellback: “I was physically exhausted at this point in the tour, but I was so mentally stimulated and so excited to be creating.”
All that to say, a Super Bowl halftime performance could be the perfect way to offer fans a one-off live spectacle highlighting her new Life of a Showgirl era alongside past hits.
New sponsors and catalogue rights
Arguably, the biggest reason Swift hasn’t performed at the Super Bowl already is because of the cola wars. In 2013, Pepsi took over as the main sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show, the same year Swift inked a partnership deal with Coca-Cola, their biggest competitor. When Apple Music took over as the new halftime show sponsor in 2023, it sparked a flurry of rumours that Swift had been offered the headlining slot but turned it down.
Neither Swift nor her reps ever verified that rumour, nor the similar report that she did not want to play the Super Bowl until she’d finished her album re-record project. And if that — like her Coke deal — was an obstacle, Swift has, of course, cleared it, too, now that she’s successfully purchased back the rights to her first six albums.
NFL x TS
Swift has actually maintained a fairly consistent relationship with the NFL over the course of her career. Back in 2006, she sang the National Anthem at the Detroit Lions’ big Thanksgiving Day game, and in 2010, she performed at the NFL’s Opening Kickoff event in New Orleans. More recently, she’s taken advantage of the NFL’s massive viewership numbers to hype new music. She teased ‘Me!’ during the 2019 NFL draft, and debuted a trailer for Midnights during the third quarter of a 2022 Thursday night game between the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals.
That relationship has, of course, only deepened since Swift began dating her now-fiancé, Travis Kelce, the superstar tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. The couple’s relationship has made Swift a frequent presence at NFL games, including the past two Super Bowls, in which the Chiefs played (they won in 2024, but lost this past year). Now that Swift and Kelce are engaged, and with the Chiefs once again among the favorites to reach the big game, the prospect of Swift helming the halftime show might be too big to pass up.
And as Swift herself so eloquently said, “if there’s one thing that male sports fans want to see more of in their spaces and on their screens, it’s more of me.”