Coldplay Will Perform During the 2016 Super Bowl Halftime Show

NFL announces Chris Martin and band to lead show

By Kendall Fisher Dec 03, 2015 8:51 PMTags
ColdplayJason Kempin/Getty Images for Clear Channel

The Super Bowl halftime performance has been announced, and it's going to, drumroll please…

Coldplay!

Yes, E! News can confirm that the NFL has decided that Chris Martin and his band will head up the major show on Feb. 7.

A source tells us that, since this is the 50th Super Bowl, the NFL will also definitely showcase other acts in addition to Coldplay. The performance is slated to highlight "the past, present and future of music."

Rihanna, Beyonce and several others make cameos on Coldplay's latest album—which will be released tomorrow—so our hopes are high for seeing some major names pop up throughout the performance!

Rob Carr/Getty Images

Meanwhile, we had originally reported that Maroon 5 was in the lead to head up the show. A source told us at the time that the NFL had also discussed Coldplay and Bruno Mars—who just performed in 2014 at Super Bowl XLVIII—but the source said Levine's band was definitely the frontrunner.

Last year, Coldplay were also one of the finalists in addition to Rihanna and Katy Perry, who ended up taking on the deal.

The Super Bowl is perennially the most-watched television event of the year, as Perry's Super Bowl performance drew 121 million viewers, the highest viewership for the halftime special according to Nielsen. Mars' performance brought in 115 million, the second highest.

Super Bowl 50 will take place at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. , 2016, and air on CBS.

The Wall Street Journal originally reported the story as well as announced it via Twitter.