Originally appeared on E! Online
What else did Bad Bunny have left to accomplish this year?
He already floored 600,000 fans with his sold-out, 31-show summer residency in his native Puerto Rico ahead of his U.S.-eschewing “Debí Tirar Más Fotos“ World Tour, which kicks off Nov. 21 in the Dominican Republic.
He leads all 2025 Latin Grammy nominees with 12 nods, including Album, Record and Song of the Year.
And, Bad Bunny stole scenes right out from under Adam Sandler and Travis Kelce playing a waiter-turned-caddy in “Happy Gilmore 2“, while further sharpening his acting chops in the gritty drama “Caught Stealing” alongside Austin Butler. And, not least, he hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the first time in addition to serving as the musical guest.
“Since I was a kid, I really like to act,” the 31-year-old said in August on “The Sunday Sitdown With Willie Geist,” “and it was part of one of my dreams.”
Take your pick of dreams, the artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio has been fulfilling them right and left.
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And though his 54-date world tour will keep him continent-hopping until July, he has penciled in a stop in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8, 2026, where he’ll headline the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show.
“I’m always doing everything with purpose and of course everywhere I go, I always represent and I always put my country, my music,” Bad Bunny said Sept. 29 on Apple Music’s “Halftime Headliner Special” with Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden. “I really am figuring out yet what I’m going to do on this show. But it’s going to be good.”
If this era of Bad Bunny domination feels inevitable, that’s because he never doubted what he was bringing to the table.
“I’m always doing my best and working with so much passion,” Bad Bunny told Zane and Ebro. “And also, I’m still working. I’m a rookie. I’m still hungry to conquer and to show what I can do.”
He’s obviously not one to rest on his laurels, finding one way after another to top himself, but Bad Bunny couldn’t help but stop to appreciate what he accomplished over the summer.
“What is happening right now in San Juan in that arena is something magical,” he told Willie Geist a month into his residency. “It’s such a pleasure to show my culture, my country, my land, there, right there in my house.”
Yet though the stage may be where he feels most at home, he keeps his personal space under lock and key.
“I’m very intuitive with who and how I spend my time,” he told Variety in May. “I take care of my mental and heart space, bien cabrón. There are people that I work with who I’ve known since I was a kid, and what a blessing that is—to know that despite the outside world and time passing, or anything, they still love me the same.”
Not that he hasn’t occasionally opened his heart up to new influences, such as when he dated Kendall Jenner off and on in 2023 and 2024. They eventually split up due to their respectively packed schedules but remained friends, and neither ever commented publicly on their romance.
Meanwhile, after splitting his time between L.A. and New York for a couple of years, Bad Bunny could barely wait to return to Puerto Rico and stay put.
“The idea for the residency was always there, for as long as I can remember,” he told Variety. “But it became difficult to ignore, the more time passed. I’ll admit, it was hard to complete my last tour, because all I wanted to do was move into this chapter.”
Only official residents of Puerto Rico could buy tickets to his first nine shows, Bad Bunny wanting to pay it back to his O.G. fans before opening the rest of his run to all comers.
And in another flex of his star power and his personal convictions, he decided to not include the rest of the United States on his upcoming tour itinerary.
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“I’ve performed there many times,” he explained to i-D in July. “All of [the shows] have been successful. All of them have been magnificent. I’ve enjoyed connecting with Latinos who have been living in the U.S.”
Instead, since Puerto Rico is unincorporated U.S. territory, his fellow North Americans were free to go to him.
“Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world,” he added. “But there was the issue of, like, f–king ICE could be outside [shows in the U.S.]. It’s something that we were…very concerned about.”
But accepting an invitation to share his music and culture on the world’s biggest stage was a must. And when Bad Bunny brings it for the 100 million people tuning into Super Bowl LX, it will still be all about making his hometown crowd proud.
“I’m really excited for my friends, my family, Puerto Rico, all the Latino people around the world,” he said on the “Halftime Headliner Special.” “I’m excited about my culture. I’m excited about everything, not just for me. You know what I’m saying. It feels really good, the beach where we record is my hometown beach. So it’s a very special thing for us.”
Of course he was excited for himself, too, but, he noted, “This is for everyone.”
Incidentally, 2026 will mark Bad Bunny’s second Super Bowl appearance, the then-burgeoning crossover star previously joining Jennifer Lopez and Shakira onstage in Miami in 2020. Check out where that epic performance ranked among the greatest Super Bowl Halftime Shows of all time:
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