Super Bowl halftime show: Michael Jackson ushered in the era of megastar performers

When it comes to television ratings, nothing compares to the big game. And when you’ve got the biggest audience of the year sitting in front of their screens, you need the biggest star to keep people entertained at halftime.

The last seven Super Bowls have been the top seven most-watched programs in American television history. If you expand Nielsen’s list to a top 20, the only non-Super Bowl on there is the series finale of M*A*S*H. In 2015, the big game earned three times the viewers of the next closest non-football broadcast.

That Super Bowl captive audience turned performing at halftime from a chore into an honor reserved for superstars.

This year, six-time Grammy Award winner Lady Gaga will have the task of stitching the second quarter to the third without losing too many viewers to food runs. She’s the latest megastar to headline football’s biggest intermission, joining the ranks of Beyonce, Prince, U2, Bruce Springsteen, and The Rolling Stones.

Of course, it wasn’t always this way. The Grambling State marching band and the gratingly happy Up With People organization were constant musical fixtures of early Super Bowls. Even as the big game picked up steam as a cultural phenomenon, its intermission served as little more than a bathroom break. Super Bowl XXIII in 1989 was headlined by an Elvis Presley impersonator who, impressively, didn’t sing a single Elvis song. Three years later, Gloria Estefan teamed up with figure skater Brian Boitano to get people on their feet and moving to the Metrodome’s concession stands.

That all changed in 1993. Michael Jackson’s star touched down on Super Bowl XXVII, where the King of Pop would set the standard for all halftime appearances going forward. Jackson used body doubles to teleport his way across the Rose Bowl in a spectacle unlike any the big game had ever seen before. It was a surprising bright spot in an otherwise forgettable blowout loss for the Buffalo Bills.

The die was cast, and though there were some clunkers in the years that followed — Clint Black, a bastardized version of the Blues Brothers with John Goodman filling in for John Belushi, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy — the 20-minute break evolved and expanded into a must-see spectacle.

That’s especially evident when you look at the performers who have graced the stage in the past decade alone. The list includes Rock and Roll Hall of Fame mainstays and future inductees, along with some of the hottest acts in the world. And also Coldplay.

Lady Gaga, a woman who has sold 26 million albums, has earned her spot on that list. The “Bad Romance” singer has branched out from her early days of cranking out No. 1 hits, focusing on her philanthropy and even teaming with nonagenarian Tony Bennett to record a jazz album in 2014. She’ll return to the spotlight Sunday when she headlines the most watched concert of the year at Super Bowl LI.