5. Bruno Mars w/ Red Hot Chili Peppers (2014)
This one was high energy from the start. Bruno is an amazing performer by himself, but what sets show apart was his willingness to do other people's music, not just his own. Then he brings out RHCP. Then he closes the set solo with one of the most magical moments in halftime history. It was everything you wanted from Bruno... and exactly what we needed in the middle of such a crappy game.
4. Paul McCartney (2005)
This one might not make a lot of lists, but it makes ours because #1, its freaking Paul McCartney and #2, no other Super Bowl halftime show in history had 100 million people watching at home singing along like this one did at the end with "Hey Jude." (Video might not work embedded here so you might have to go to Youtube site to watch. Worth it, tho.)
3. U2 (2002)
This was the first Super Bowl after 9/11. America was looking to be lifted up. Enter U2. Under enormous expectations they performed brilliantly and in turn made this one of the most iconic performances in Super Bowl history.
2 - Tie. Michael Jackson 1993, Beyonce 2013
I know... a tie. Really? What is this soccer? Well, you try and pick the better of these two. These two shows were 20 years apart but seemingly had the same impact on audiences. Both Michael & Bey tore the roof off stadiums that didn't even have them. From Michael exploding out of the stage to Beyonce going full on Sasha Fierce, these two shook the Richter scale harder than any other artist in Super Bowl history.... except one.
1. Prince (2007)
"It's never rained at a Super Bowl in 40 years. Don't worry." But waking up on Super Bowl Sunday, 2007 was like a halftime show producers worst nightmare. It wasn't just raining... it was pouring. And the wind was almost as bad. But when the director called Prince to let him know, he simply asked, "Can you make it rain harder." That line set into motion the most epic Super Bowl performance in history. Prince took the stage in the middle of a storm and blew our collective minds. He played his stuff. He played other people's stuff. His guitar solos burned through the rain and TV screens across America. And when he closed the show with one of the most amazing renditions of Purple Rain we've ever heard... you almost got the sense that he and Mother Nature had planned the show together.