The 20 Most Memorable Super Bowl National Anthems
The Super Bowl is an enormous night for international television. Each year, more than 100 million people are estimated to watch the game, its advertisements and its halftime show. But it all begins with the performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The Super Bowl National Anthem is a great American tradition that has been carried out by some of the greatest voices in pop music history. The song isn’t easy to deliver—it helps if you remember the words, as Christina Aguilera discovered. But there have been many exceptional performances. This year, the challenge goes to Chris Stapleton. Click through to see the best star-spangled renditions.
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Diana Ross (1982)
Image Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images Super Bowl XVI was played in Detroit, so who better to start it off than the ultimate Motown legend? After being announced as “Detroit’s own superstar, Miss Diana Ross,” she proved why she’s the Boss with this impeccably beautiful version of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” She also got the crowd to sing along, asking them, “Can we sing our National Anthem with authority?” It had all the diva energy of her famed 1996 halftime show, where she made her exit via helicopter.
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Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan (2021)
Image Credit: Patrick Smith/Getty Images Two renegade artists Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan joined forces for this unexpected yet perfect duet, bringing both country and R&B flavor to it. Church plays his electric guitar with a Nashville twang that suits Sullivan’s Philly soul, as she sends her high notes soaring.
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Cheryl Ladd (1980)
Image Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images Those were the days—the NFL would invite one of Charlie’s Angels to do the “The Star-Spangled Banner” in front of 100,000 fans at the Rose Bowl. Cheryl Ladd performed with the Los Angeles City High School Choir—many fans didn’t know about her singing career, but this Angel proved she could do a lot more than bust perps. The game took place in the middle of the Iranian hostage crisis, so Ladd paid her respects, saying, “We’d like to dedicate this to our American hostages in Iran.”
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Christina Aguilera (2011)
Image Credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images Definitely one of the most distinctive National Anthems that America ever so proudly has watched. Aguilera’s performance is remembered for how she butchered the lyrics, skipping the “ramparts” and turning “the twilight’s last gleaming” into “the twilight’s last reaming.” (Hey, Francis Scott Key wishes he wrote it that way.) Fortunately for Aguilera, all her musical sins were forgiven later in the game, when the Black Eyed Peas reamed everyone with the most nightmarish halftime performance ever.
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Wynton Marsalis (1986)
Image Credit: Ebet Roberts/Getty Images A bold move: since Super Bowl XX was in New Orleans, at the Superdome, young jazz master Wynton Marsalis played the anthem on trumpet. It had been over a decade since anyone tried doing an instrumental version, but it worked beautifully, with a hometown jazz touch from a local hero. (Herb Alpert also played a great trumpet version two years later.)
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Carrie Underwood (2010)
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage The Super Bowl anthem was sung by three American Idol alumnae in a row: Jordin Sparks in 2008, Jennifer Hudson in 2009, Carrie Underwood in 2010. Underwood kept up the momentum with a strong country-tinged rendition. Kelly Clarkson sang it in 2013 to complete the Idol Fab Four sweep.
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Charlie Pride (1974)
Image Credit: ABC/Getty Images Charley Pride was the first singer to do the honors on his own. Until Super Bowl VIII, the National Anthem was handled by marching bands, choirs, or Doc Severinson. But they couldn’t have chosen a cooler legend to kick off a new tradition. The greatest of Black country stars did both “America the Beautiful” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Charley Pride was the guy who made the Super Bowl anthem a great American ritual. However, the next year the NFL brought in the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America.
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Kelly Clarkson (2012)
Image Credit: Jim Davis/The Boston Globe/Getty Images As any Kellyoke fan can tell you, this woman can sing anything. Clarkson did a strong anthem at Super Bowl XLVI that really rocketed the red glare. She also kept it tight, at 94 seconds—one of the shortest Super Bowl anthems of the post-Whitney Houston era. A year later, Alicia Keys made it last a full minute longer.
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Garth Brooks (1993)
Image Credit: George Rose/Getty Images The country megastar did a solemn tribute, with actress Marlee Matlin, who is deaf, performing in sync via American Sign Language. But Brooks threatened to walk out right before the game, to protest the network refusing to show his pro-tolerance “We Shall Be Free” video. The producers didn’t have a Plan B, so they agreed. Not coincidentally, this is when the NFL began requiring all singers to provide them with pre-recorded back-up tracks.
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Jennifer Hudson (2009)
Image Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic The Academy Award-winning star of Dreamgirls held nothing back in her 2009 performance, delivering a controlled yet astonishingly powerful take on the anthem. There was controversy over the revelation that she was lip-synching to her pre-recorded performance—but only until people found out that was standard procedure at the Super Bowl.
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Cher (1999)
Image Credit: Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images She left the Bob Mackie headdress at home, but Cher did the honors in 1999, right at the moment when “Believe” was blowing up into the world’s favorite song. Cher’s throaty take on “The Star-Spangled Banner” still had the pop icon’s unmistakable style – not to mention some impressive notes.
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Faith Hill (2000)
Image Credit: Doug Pensinger/ALLSPORT/Online USA, Inc./Liaison Agency/Getty Images The country star’s version was straightforward and traditional, yet moving and sophisticated. Hill brought her own distinctive Nashville touch, along with bagpipes.
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Mariah Carey (2002)
Image Credit: Theo Wargo/Getty Images No one expected the Queen of Melisma, Mariah Carey, to perform a simple version of the National Anthem. Her version was comparatively restrained, however, and very elegant. Being Mariah, she did hit one glass-shattering note at the very top of her five-octave range. A proud highlight of her underrated Glitter era.
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Renee Fleming (2014)
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage For the first time, a classical performer sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl. The renowned opera diva Renée Fleming brought her regal touch, doing a unique version in her mighty soprano. No singer has worked “land of the free” quite like Fleming.
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Lady Gaga (2016)
Image Credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images Stefani Germanotta loves her football and her patriotic gestures. Who can forget her immortal halftime show, where she recited the Pledge of Allegiance? Gaga sang an equally great anthem at Super Bowl 50 in red glitter eye-shadow, but she kept it simple and heartfelt, with a powerhouse ending. Almost exactly 5 years later, she sang it at the White House for Biden’s Inauguration.
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The Chicks (2003)
Image Credit: Al Bello/Getty Images It’s a challenge to harmonize at the Super Bowl. Only two pop groups have ever even tried it for the anthem: the Backstreet Boys in 2001 and the then-Dixie Chicks in 2003. Yet the Chicks really rose to the occasion, doing their country three-part harmonies for one of the most impassioned and triumphant versions ever. Ironically, later in 2003, the Chicks would get kicked off country radio and cancelled for criticizing the President.
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Luther Vandross (1997)
Image Credit: Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images The smoothest National Anthem ever. The ultimate love man of soul put a little bit of swing into the song, almost like a Quiet Storm version of bombs bursting in air. Even though Luther could sing rings around anyone, he resisted any temptation to show off here—he just got up there and gave it his own unmistakable touch.
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Beyoncé (2004)
Image Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage Beyoncé has starred in not one but two legendary Super Bowl halftime shows. (The second one was officially headlined by Coldplay, but the only moment people remember is Bey stealing the show when she debuted “Formation.”) But she also did one of the most rousing Super Bowl anthems ever. In 2004, she was still in the dawn’s early light of her solo career, but this was proof she could do it all.
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Aretha Franklin, Aaron Neville and Dr. John (2006)
Image Credit: John Biever/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images Aretha was the greatest singer America has ever produced, so it was always a special occasion when she delivered the National Anthem. But the Queen really pulled out the stops for this historic version at Super Bowl 40. She was on her home turf in Detroit, but she made it a tribute to New Orleans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Aaron Neville started off, with Dr. John on piano. The Queen didn’t make her royal entrance until halfway through, but the suspense just made it more dramatic. A deeply moving tribute in those dark times. Aretha, as always, gave proof through the night.
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Whitney Houston (1991)
Image Credit: Michael Zagaris/Getty Images Still the gold standard for all Super Bowl performances more than 30 years later, Whitney Houston’s prerecorded version of the National Anthem stands as one of the most stunning moments in NFL history. It’s the only Super Bowl anthem that rivals famous versions like Marvin Gaye (at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game) or Jose Feliciano (at the 1963 World Series). It’s gone down in history as of her most beloved performances.