Grading Bad Bunny’s 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show

When Bad Bunny, or “Benito” as his fans adoringly call him, was selected to perform the Super Bowl LX halftime show months ago, the general reactions were mixed, to say the least. Many fans were excited for the world’s most listened-to artist to take center stage at arguably the biggest concert of the year; others were wary about how his exclusively Spanish-language songs would fall upon largely English-comprehending ears. Though artists at the Super Bowl halftime show essentially perform for free, the honor itself is a distinguished one, and the NFL’s very intentional choice of Bad Bunny no doubt stemmed from their desire to reach a more diverse and global audience.

Enter the “King of Latin Trap.”

Bad Bunny follows a glittering trail of renowned Spanish and Latin artists who have performed at the Super Bowl, from Gloria Estefan in 1992 and ‘99 to Enrique Iglesias in ‘00 to Shakira and J-Lo in ‘20. But compared to his predecessors, the Puerto Rican rapper already stands alone in history after taking home Album of the Year at the Grammys for his critically acclaimed Debí Tirar Más Fotos, becoming the first-ever Latino artist to win the prestigious award.

Following his milestone moment, Bad Bunny is set to add another legacy-defining act to his resume at Super Bowl LX this February. Did his halftime show performance live up to his Grammy-winning reputation? Was it as entertaining as he promised it would be, for American and international households alike?

Here are our grades for Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl 2026 halftime show as scored in three categories: music, production/choreography and vibes.

Bad Bunny Super Bowl Halftime Show Grades: Music

The music category primarily reviews the artist’s song choices and set list, including his vocal performance.

Here’s Bad Bunny’s full set list:

1. Tití Me Preguntó
2. Yo Perreo Sola
3. Party
4. Gasolina
5. EoO
6. Monaco
7. Die With a Smile (w/ Lady Gaga)
8. BAILE INoLVIDABLE
9. NUEVAYoL
10. LO QUE LE PASÓ A HAWAii (w/ Ricky Martin)
11. El Apagón
12. CAFé CON RON
13. DtMF

Bad Bunny has never been shy of melding genres from merengue to mambo to reggaeton to Caribbean beats, and his unique fusion made for quite the head-bopping track list. He kicked off with one of his biggest hits from his 2022 album, Un Verano Sin Ti, before cycling through more recent jams like “BAILE INoLVIDABLE” and “DtMF.”

RELATED: Yes, the Wedding During Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Show Was Actually Real

In total, he performed 12 songs in just under 13 minutes. Time of possession was not on Bad Bunny’s side here. A few casualties of the short run-time: “La Canción” and “La noche de anoche.” It just wasn’t meant to be without J Balvin or Rosalía joining him on stage.

Grade: A

Bad Bunny Super Bowl Halftime Show Grades: Production/Choreography

This category reviews the production and choreography of the show, which includes elements like lighting, staging, props and costumes.

Any concerns that Bad Bunny’s songs would be lost in translation were placated by the immediately dazzling production aspects of the show. The Puerto Rican superstar was always going to put on a show—it was just a matter of how big.

The show opened with Bad Bunny in a maze of crops native to Puerto Rico with the cameraman following him around as he wove in and out through vignettes of daily island life. He later popped up out of a pink house, or a “casita,” which is a classic Puerto Rican village house that he also had on his international tour.

RELATED: Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show: All the Cameos and Celebrity Surprises

From there, the show really took off. It made use of some creative camerawork that showed fans at home a more dynamic perspective, rather than just one straight-on frame throughout. There were overhead angles, crowd shots during which the camera pushed through mobs and dancers, and a particularly good frame showing Bad Bunny singing as he fell backward and crowd-surfed on top of his beloved fans and people.

Roughly halfway into the performance, the crowd went wild for a surprise Lady Gaga cameo during which she wore a traditional Puerto Rican dress and sang a peppy, salsa version of “Die With a Smile.”

LADY GAGA IS HERE @ladygaga #AppleMusicHalftime pic.twitter.com/321WuxqIni
— NFL (@NFL) February 9, 2026

lady gaga performing ‘die with a smile’ at the super bowl pic.twitter.com/PvhE4vKAql
— 2000s (@PopCulture2000s) February 9, 2026

The show leaned on the joyous aspects of Puerto Rican life, with a wedding seemingly going on during Bad Bunny’s performance (it was real!). Fellow Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin then stole the spotlight for a few moments as Bad Bunny’s second guest star, crooning “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii” to the crowd. What an all-in-all captivating performance, made even better by the non-traditional camerawork that we’re used to seeing at Super Bowl halftime shows.

Grade: A+

Bad Bunny Super Bowl Halftime Show Grades: Vibes

This category reviews one simple—though subjective—element: Vibes. What was the energy like? How memorable was it, when the lights finally went out? Did the artist pull any cool tricks out of their proverbial hat?

Bad Bunny half-joked that America would have “four months” to learn Spanish to prepare for his halftime show. He edited those comments a few days ago, saying instead that people only needed to learn how to dance. And dance, they did.

Pulsing through the Latin beats of Bad Bunny’s endlessly catchy tunes, a sign that hung overhead Levi’s Stadium said it all: "The only thing more powerful than hate is love."

Bad Bunny closed out his #SuperBowl performance with a billboard behind him saying:

“The only thing more powerful than hate is love” pic.twitter.com/anIvbxr4NT
— Pop Base (@PopBase) February 9, 2026

From the start, Bad Bunny injected his very own cultural meaning to the performance. Forget the fact that Pedro Pascal and Jessica Alba, among others made cameo appearances—the lasting images that stayed from this performance were much more powerful than celebrity headshots.

Dancers swinging on telephone poles as a subtle nod to “El Apagón” and the island’s power outage. Bad Bunny emotionally handing his Grammy award to a young boy. And him walking off the stage swarmed by his dancers holding flags of different countries, a truly unforgettable tribute to the immigrants in today’s America.

Bad Bunny’s connection to his roots were everywhere in his mesmerizing performance, and while he didn’t make any bold political proclamations, he did throw in some personality (his cheeky “God Bless America” and him spiking a symbolic football at the end).

Bad Bunny naming dozens of countries in the Americas and then holding up a football that reads "together we are America"....such an iconic Super Bowl performance wow pic.twitter.com/zU3R8WBkNL
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) February 9, 2026

Last year, Kendrick Lamar brought his own culturally significant take to the nation’s grandest sporting spectacle, and Bad Bunny followed it up with an equally expressive one of his own.

In a nation currently divided by its tense socio-political landscape, Bad Bunny brought unity to the Super Bowl for just a short breather—ironic as that is, with him being a proud Spanish-language artist and being very vocal about his “ICE out” stance at the Grammys. There’s nothing “fake” about him, his music or his unexpected and historic rise to fame, and that kind of authenticity is something all of America can stand behind.

How exactly did the humble son of a working-class truck driver and English teacher become one of the world’s most popular artists of the decade (he had over 19.8 billion streams on Spotify in 2025)? Just by being himself. And on Sunday night at the Super Bowl, that’s exactly what Bad Bunny did.