How The Michael Jackson Super Bowl Halftime Show Changed It

Michael Jackson File Images — Source: Steve Granitz / Getty

Before the Michael Jackson Super Bowl halftime show happened in 1993, the performance slot was not the cultural moment it is today. Read more about how the legendary performer changed the Super Bowl Halftime show forever.

Long before MJ’s performance, the Super Bowl Halftime show was just a filler. A break. Sometimes a little awkward. Then Michael Jackson showed up and changed the rules forever.

As Rolling Stone detailed in its retrospective on Jackson’s Super Bowl XXVII performance, the NFL was facing a real problem going into 1993. Viewers were changing channels during halftime, and the spectacle simply could not compete with alternative programming. Enter Michael Jackson, a global superstar who did not treat halftime like background noise. Instead, he approached it like the biggest stage in the world.

When MJ emerged from beneath the Rose Bowl field and stood frozen in silence for over a minute, it was a power move. No music. No distractions. Just pure presence from arguably one of the greatest performers of all time. That pause alone rewired expectations. The halftime show was no longer about marching bands or novelty acts. It became a prestige performance, built around star power, storytelling, and scale.

Jackson’s 12-minute set blended hits like “Jam,” “Billie Jean,” and “Black or White” with a grand finale of “Heal the World.” Thousands of children flooded the stage. The visuals were cinematic. The production was precise. For the first time, the halftime show felt intentional, emotional, and global. Ratings reflected that shift immediately, and the NFL never looked back.

From that moment on, the blueprint was set. Artists like Beyoncé, Prince, Rihanna, and Kendrick Lamar have all graced the Super Bowl stage. Each artist who followed understood that the Super Bowl halftime show was bigger than performing songs. The stage was set to make a statement.

Precisely this:

That legacy still matters in 2026 and beyond. Fans can see MJ’s fingerprints all over recent halftime performances, including what fans can expect from Bad Bunny’s genre-blending, culture-forward approach this year.

Like Michael, Bad Bunny has centered identity, global reach, and visual storytelling in his performances so far. His performance could lean into his culture, rhythm, and unapologetic authenticity, as in many of his memorable performances before. Bad Bunny is a reminder that the Super Bowl stage is not just American. It’s a global stage for artists to make their mark.

Michael Jackson showed the world that halftime shows could be art, spectacle, and cultural conversation all at once. He turned a break in a football game into a moment that artists now build careers around. More than three decades later, every headliner who steps onto that stage is still answering the same unspoken question MJ posed in 1993.

If the world is watching, what are you going to show them? And that is why Michael Jackson did not just perform at the Super Bowl. He transformed it forever.