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How Bad Bunny earned the Super Bowl’s biggest spotlight
It’s official: Bad Bunny will headline the Super Bowl LX halftime show on February 6, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. With this announcement, the Puerto Rican musician joins the ranks of superstars like Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Usher, cementing his place as one of the most influential artists of his generation.
Benito Martínez Ocasio himself shared the news through a video on social media, sitting on a goalpost: “What I feel goes beyond me. It’s for those who came before and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown… this is for my people, my culture, and our history. Go tell your grandma that we’ll be the SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW.”
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The NFL celebrated the news. According to Jon Barker, a league executive: “Bad Bunny represents the energy and vibrant culture that define today’s music. As one of the most influential artists in the world, his unique ability to bring together genres, languages, and audiences makes him an exciting choice for the Super Bowl stage.”
From Vega Baja to the World
Though today he has an estimated fortune of $50 million and is known as “the King of Latin Trap,” Bad Bunny’s roots are humble. He was born and raised in the Almirante Sur neighborhood of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, in a lower-middle-class household. His father was a truck driver, and his mother was an English teacher. He sang in the church choir until he was 13 and later attended the University of Puerto Rico in Arecibo while working in a supermarket.
In his free time, he began uploading songs to SoundCloud, a platform that would launch his career. In 2016, a remix of “Diles” propelled him into the spotlight: his deep, smooth voice stood out amidst a new movement, Latin trap, which blended the rawness of Southern U.S. rap with the urban legacy of Puerto Rican reggaeton. While he served customers at the cash register, he was also fielding calls from producers. Today, “Diles” has over a billion streams.
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That same year, he signed with Rimas Entertainment, led by Noah Assad, with whom he built a strategic partnership that redefined the Latin market. In 2023, Bad Bunny presented him with Billboard’s Executive of the Year Award, a gesture of shared pride: “We’re from a very small island in the Caribbean. We have such a rich musical culture and a beautiful history that deserves to be shared with the world.”
In less than a decade, Bad Bunny has gone from being a Latin trap prospect to becoming the most listened-to Spanish-language artist in history. His discography includes six wildly creative albums that broke molds. “Un Verano Sin Ti” (2022) remains the most streamed album in Spotify history. In 2024, he once again topped global charts with “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” a work that mixed salsa, plena, jíbaro, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and trap with an introspective and political tone.
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Beyond music, he ventured into wrestling at WrestleMania 37, acted in films like Bullet Train and Caught Stealing, and became a fashion icon with collaborations for Adidas and Calvin Klein. Yet one of his key strengths is that, despite his global fame, he’s always maintained a deeply local connection.
Puerto Rico, at the Heart of His Work
Bad Bunny’s relationship with his island is inseparable from his artistic identity. His ten-week residency in San Juan, “No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí,” generated $400 million for the local economy, according to Wells Fargo. The show blended the modern and the traditional: from a vegetation-covered stage to a pink house where he hosted block parties with guests from across the continent. The show became a cultural and political symbol: a space to denounce gentrification, economic crisis, and Puerto Rico’s political dependence.
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In interviews, Bad Bunny has advocated for the island’s independence and harshly criticized the PNP party for its handling after Hurricane Maria. In 2022, he released “El Apagón,” an anthem that celebrated Puerto Rican pride while denouncing corruption and displacement. In 2024, he even funded billboards stating: “VOTING PNP IS VOTING FOR CORRUPTION.”
The Global Phenomenon
Bad Bunny’s appearance at the Super Bowl represents much more than a personal milestone: it’s the ultimate affirmation of Latin music on the planet’s most-watched stage. If “Despacito” opened the door in 2017 for Spanish songs to conquer global audiences, Bad Bunny smashed it wide open with force and creativity, marking a turning point.
Today, artists from Spain, Chile, and Colombia acknowledge his direct influence, and his legacy continues to expand. From his bold aesthetics, painting his nails in 2018 when it was still taboo in the genre, to his ability to unite generations with salsa, trap, and reggaeton, Bad Bunny embodies an unforgettable spirit.
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On February 6, 2026, when the first half of the Super Bowl ends and millions of viewers tune in for the halftime show, Bad Bunny will bring not just his music to the world, but also the cultural flag of Puerto Rico and all of Latin America. It will be the crowning achievement of a decade in which he redefined what it means to be a global artist while remaining deeply local.
More than a concert, his show will be a statement: the story of how a kid from Vega Baja became the voice of a generation and now, the star of the world’s biggest show.
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