Super Bowl national anthem singer Chris Stapleton, explained

While the majority of the focus when it comes to Super Bowl entertainment is on Rihanna and the halftime show there’s a whole host of pre-game entertainment and traditional set for Arizona. This includes the national anthem, which follows in a recent pattern of the NFL by utilizing a country music singer.

UPDATE: Stapleton performed the anthem on Sunday and gave it his own blues touch. And it was enough to move Nick Sirianni to tears.

Chris Stapleton will be singing the anthem at the Super Bowl in Arizona, and it marks his first performance in any capacity at the big game. Stapleton is the first male solo artist to sing the anthem since Luke Bryan in 2017.

It’s been a remarkable path to this point for Stapleton, who was largely a struggling musician who didn’t make an impact on the national stage until his 2015 debut album Traveller. Since that point he’s won eight Grammy Awards, 10 Country Music Awards and become one of the best selling country artists in the United States. In 2019 he was named “Songwriter of the Decade” by the Academy of Country Music.

Stapleton will be joined by Troy Kosur who will be translating the anthem into American Sign Language. Kosur won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2022 for his role as in CODA.

In addition to the anthem Babyface will be singing “America the Beautiful,” and Sheryl Lee Ralph will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

There have been concerts throughout the week in Glendale and Phoenix, but the official Super Bowl tailgate concert this year is being hosted by TikTok on behalf of the NFL. It can be watched on the NFL’s official TikTok starting at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday and will feature performances by The Black Keys and Jason Derulo.

Portions of the tailgate concert will also be features on Fox’s official Super Bowl broadcast.