10 Times Pop Ran The Super Bowl Halftime Show

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114.4 million people is almost half the population of the United States and more than triple the population of Canada — that’s a shit ton of people. It’s also the same number of U.S. viewers that tuned into the Super Bowl last year. Surprised? We weren’t either.

It’s no secret that the NFL’s championship game is coveted airtime. That 12 minute chunk in the middle of the game — halftime for those who don’t speak sport — has been a platform for musicians to leave their mark on an impressionable audience. Ever since that iconic wardrobe “malfunction” (see: publicity stunt) when Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson rocked a little too hard on stage, pop artists have been the most memorable of halftime performances — save for those times their backup dancers stole the spotlight.

Here are all of those times pop dominated the Halftime show:

10 – Up With People Residency (’71 – ’86)

Halftime historically consists of some form of marching band or drill team. Before the halftime show became a lucrative point of advertising interest (See: A loooong time ago), Up With People basically ran the show, shimmy-ing (that’s a word right?) at 5 Super Bowls between 1971 and 1986.

9 – New Kids On The (Halftime) Block (Super Bowl XXV)

Marking the very first time that a pop outfit headlined the halftime show, NKOTB had the “Right Stuff” and took the performance “Step By Step” to greatness with the help of Warren Moon, 2,000 local children, Disney characters and an audience card stunt. Who doesn’t love crowd participation? Apparently only the crowd, considering no one watched this live as the halftime show was broadcast after the game, due to ABC News coverage of Operation Desert Storm.

8 – Michael Jackson (Super Bowl XXVII)

Widely regarded as one of the most watched events in American television history, the King of Pop himself had a “Jam” with a children’s choir on “We Are The World” and proceeded to “Heal The World” with “Black or White.” MJ’s show was so good that it marked a new era of booking almost strictly top pop acts to perform at halftimes.

7 – ‘N Sync, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, Nelly & Aerosmith (Super Bowl XXXV)

Tagged as the “Kings of Rock And Pop,” this show was packed. The show kicked off (get it?) with an over the top locker room scene featuring Ben Stiller as halftime coordinator “Timothy Swackhammer” barging in on his “rock ‘n rollers & out of controllers.” The actor brought the pep by…. shoving his fist in to Stephen Tyler’s throat? Obviously, this could only be succeeded by him running out to the field to have ‘N Sync serenade adoring fans with “Bye, Bye, Bye.”

6 – Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, P.Diddy, Nelly & Kid Rock (Super Bowl XXXVIII)

Two words: Wardrobe. Malfunction

5 – The Black Eyed Peas, Usher, Slash & Dallas/Ft. Worth area H.S. drill teams and dancers (Super Bowl XLV)

After that “malfunction” in 2004, the NFL was so worried about these pop-stars and this “Dirty Pop” life that they billed the next 6 halftime shows with safe, recognizable Classic Rock acts.

Well, all that matters is that you get hyped. Right?

Eventually, someone at the league asked “Where Is The Love?” when it became obvious no one was watching Halftime like they used to. So, they brought the “Boom Boom Pow” back in the show, by having the Black Eyed Peas “Get It Started.” Also Usher and Slash both did a thing and (mostly) everybody was pleased.

4 – Madonna, LMFAO, Cirque Du Soleil, Nicki Minaj, M.I.A., Cee Lo Green, Andy Lewis, Avon High School Drumline, Center Grove High School Drumline, Franklin Central High School Drumline, Southern University Dancing Dolls & A 200 Person Choir consisting of Indianapolis locals (Super Bowl XLVI)

We guess they were celebrating the 10 year anniversary of “Drumline“?

3 – Beyonce, Destiny’s Child (Super Bowl XLVII)

People we’re already doing reunions before this, but that didn’t keep us from “jumpin, jumpin” out of our seats when we saw Kelly and Michelle join Queen Bey. This is also that time that Beyonce learned that you can’t just delete something off the internet.