(October 23, 2025) – There’s a strong, non-political case for country legend George Strait to headline a future Super Bowl Halftime Show—just not Super Bowl 60, where Bad Bunny is already set to perform (as the NFL confirmed in a statement on Oct. 22).
The case has everything to do with Strait’s standing as one of the most successful artists in country music history – if not the most successful. He is easily one of the largest concert draws and among the biggest-selling recording artists of all time–of any genre. For nearly 45 years, Strait has broken chart records, outsold every country artist not named Garth, and has registered the largest number of attendees at a ticketed concert in history – the latter being a feat he achieved at age 72, after nearly five decades in the business.
George Strait has 44 No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Country Songs chart, including an unmatched run of eleven consecutive chart-toppers in the late 1980s. Both feats surpass any artist in any other genre.
His album discography is equally record-breaking: 33 LPs with gold or platinum certifications—the most by any artist—and total RIAA certifications that trail only Elvis Presley and the Beatles. In June 2024, Strait drew a then-record-setting 110,905 fans to Texas A&M’s Kyle Field, proving that his legend is still very much alive.
This writer, for one, believes that Strait would be a strong pick to headline a future Super Bowl Halftime show. It would even be a refreshing departure for the event, which, as of late, has been a showcase for hip-hop, R&B and Latino recording acts. The last time a non-hip-hop/R&B/Latino act headlined the show was in 2019 when Maroon 5 took the stage during SBLIII. That was the last big game before the NFL picked rapper/entrepreneur Jay-Z as its entertainment curator.
And the last time a country act even appeared on the halftime stage? That was in 2003 when the big game still occurred in January and country superstar Shania Twain co-starred with pop-rock-ska act No Doubt (with a guest appearance from Sting). Before Twain, one would have to go back to 1994 and the days before single-act headliners. That’s when Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt and the Judds co-billed a “Rockin’ Country Sunday” extravaganza.
That means only one country act has performed at the Super Bowl in the 21st century. Yet country music—no matter how marginalized some claim it is—remains one of the most popular genres in America.
Its reigning superstar, Morgan Wallen, has dominated Billboard charts this decade—second only to Taylor Swift overall—with two record-smashing albums and a third on the way there. But Wallen—for reasons that are well-documented—will likely never headline a Super Bowl as long as Jay-Z oversees the event’s entertainment arm, and Garth Brooks already turned it down years ago.
That leaves George Strait: a non-controversial legend with universal respect and a petition boasting more than 70,000 signatures asking him to replace Bad Bunny at Super Bowl 60.
And therein lies the problem. The argument that people—mostly conservatives—have made for Strait is purely politically and culturally driven. It’s shrouded in anti-Bad Bunny, anti-woke overreach, not pro-George Strait and his legacy. It’s cloaked in an “America-only” ideology that ignores the fact that Bad Bunny, a Puerto-Rican, is also American. It was born out of a manufactured rage that picked Strait as an unwitting political pawn in a cultural war not of his choosing. Where the country music legend leans politically is probably one of music’s worst-kept secrets, but he’s never made it publicly official, and he certainly doesn’t wear it on his sleeve. You won’t even find it mentioned on his Wikipedia page. It’s that silence that’s probably contributed even more to his standing as one of the most successful musicians of all time.
But the NFL has responded to the petition: Bad Bunny is a lock for SB LX—and rightfully so.
In the end, Strait doesn’t need the Super Bowl to validate his legacy—but the Super Bowl could use someone like George Strait one day. Just not this year.
DJRob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.
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