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Charlie Puth kicked off the 2026 Super Bowl at Levi's Stadium on Feb. 8—where the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks face off—by singing the national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."
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The NFL declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.
The "Attention" singer took to the field ahead of the 2026 Super Bowl on Feb. 8, performing the national anthem at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
Before the big game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots kicked off, Puth—clad in a brown leather jacket—stepped up to the keyboard and launched into his special arrangement of "The Star-Spangled Banner." The camera showed players from both teams watching the 34-year-old from the sidelines.
It was a meaningful moment for Puth to step into the spotlight at this year's game, as he's also hitting another milestone later in 2026: Welcoming his first baby with wife Brooke Sansone, who announced her pregnancy in October.
Joining him in the opening festivities were “Lift Every Voice and Sing” performer Coco Jones and Brandi Carlile, who joined in with “America the Beautiful.”
And although many—including Taylor Swift, who gave Puth a shoutout on her Tortured Poets album—have praised the Grammy nominee for his talents, some sports fans were surprised when he was announced as the national anthem performer, with one social media user writing in December, "Man we’ve fallen from when Whitney Houston sang at the Super Bowl. Charlie Puth? He’s not gonna give us vocals I’m afraid."
But Puth took the skepticism in stride, responding to the user directly to say, “I’ll never claim to be as good of a singer as Whitney Houston ever was. But I assure you we’re putting a really special arrangement together—in D major. It’ll be one of my best vocal performances.”
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And that's a tough feat, considering he explained in the November 2025 announcement why he was worried about hitting all the right notes.
"Did you know that one of the most beautiful pieces of music also happens to be one of the hardest to sing?" he shared in a promo video at the time. "Ah, yes 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is a piece of music that has extreme vocal range."
"Most hard-to-sing songs span just one octave range, like a low D to a high D," Puth continued. "But 'The Star-Spangled Banner' goes from a low D to a high D plus five more notes, all the way up to a very high A."
But Puth won't be the only hitmaker bringing his literal A-game to entertain the Super Bowl crowd. Bad Bunny is also set to deliver a spectacular halftime show performance, following in the footsteps of Kendrick Lamar, Usher, Rihanna and The Weeknd in recent years.
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Keep reading to see all the celebrities who aren't fumbling their chance to see the game in person.
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Jay-Z, Blue Ivy Carter and Rumi Carter
Jay-Z brought his and Beyoncé's daughters—age 14 and 8—to the 2026 Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif.
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Travis Scott
The rapper snapped pics ahead of the big game between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.
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Jon Bon Jovi
The longtime Patriots fan attended the game to introduce his fav NFL team before kickoff.
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Chris Pratt
The Marvel star—who was on hand to officically introduce the Seattle Seahawks—turned the day into a father-son outing.
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Travis Kelce
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end—who is engaged to Taylor Swift—didn't make the finals this year, but still showed his support from the sidelines.
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J Balvin
The Latin Grammy winner completed his game day look with a black beret and shades.
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Roger Federer
The tennis champ showed up to support a different sport this time.
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