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Weekly Survey: If you were in charge, who would you book for the Super Bowl halftime show?

When the Eagles and the Patriots head for the locker room at halftime during Super Bowl LII this Sunday in Minneapolis, Justin Timberlake will be trotted out for a 12-minute-ish extravaganza in front of somewhere around 100 million viewers.

He won’t be paid, of course. The NFL covers some costs but the league believes the exposure is payment enough. And given that JT has a new album called Man of the Woods (for which the reviews are tepid), he’ll take that deal.

The Katy Perry-led performance in 2015 was seen by 118.5 million people, an all-time Super Bowl record. Compare that to the 120.3 million that tuned in for the final ten minutes of the game.  Missy Elliott is glad that she agreed to show up. The few minutes she spent getting her freak on again resulted in a 1,000% bump in digital sales.

Lady Gaga, Beyonce and others have all seen big spikes in popularity in recent years. And we will marvel at Prince’s performance, considered not only to be one of the best Super Bowl performances of all time, but also one of the highlights of Prince’s entire career.

https://youtu.be/pjdcLqiVAhc

But let’s put all that aside. If you were in charge at the NFL, who would you book for halftime? It can be one act or a series of them. Just remember that you have a maximum of 12.5 minutes for the gig itself.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 40226 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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