Musical icon Madonna has been tapped to perform at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show on February 5, 2012, reports SBNation.com.
The singer follows a trio of performers – Black Eyed Peas, Usher, and Slash – who headlined the 2011 show, the first time organizers had risked using young pop acts after Janet Jackson’s infamous ‘wardrobe malfunction’ in 2004.
Jackson was followed by former Beatle Paul McCartney in 2005, the Rolling Stones in 2006, Prince in 2007, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 2008, Bruce Springsteen in 2009, and The Who in 2010 – a veritable who’s who of classic rock musicians.
Next year’s halftime show in Indianapolis will be Madonna’s first time taking the Super Bowl stage, although she came close on two previous occasions. In both 1998 and 2000, Madonna was reportedly approached by organizers, but the arrangements fell through.
Now speculation has started as to which version of Madonna we’ll see on the stage in February: the wild, envelope-pushing Madonna of the ’80s and ’90s, or the charitable and motherly Madonna of the more recent past.