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    "headline": "Ayra Starr’s NFL London halftime slot is a first for Afrobeats",
    "description": "The 24-year-old Nigerian star was billed as the first Afrobeats act to headline an NFL London halftime show, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.",
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    "keywords": "Afrobeats, Ayra Starr, Jacksonville Jaguars, London, NFL, Philadelphia Eagles",
    "articleBody": "Ayra Starr was booked for the halftime show at Sunday’s Philadelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, a slot billed as the first time an Afrobeats act has headlined the NFL’s London halftime show. Five years after her first EP, the Beninese-born Nigerian singer is playing to an American football crowd in north London. The booking says as much about the league as it does about her. The NFL is staging seven halftime shows across its 2026 International Games, which span seven countries and four continents, the widest spread it has attempted in one season. In London, the game went out free-to-air on 5 as well as on Sky Sports, so the halftime audience reached well beyond ticket holders. From a debut EP to stadium halftimes Born Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe in June 2002, Starr released her self-titled debut EP in early 2021, followed months later by her first album, 19 & Dangerous. Its single “Bloody Samaritan” became the first song by a solo female artist to reach number one on Nigeria’s Top 50 chart. “Rush”, released in 2022, carried her into the UK, Irish and Swiss charts and earned her a Grammy nomination for Best African Music Performance, the first of two in that category. She has since won a BET Award for Best International Act and played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. Her third album, Starrgirl, arrived on 14 August with guest spots from Wizkid, Rema, ZAYN and Leon Thomas, so the London show landed less than two months into a new campaign. Her catalogue has passed seven billion streams. Why London, and why her London has hosted regular-season NFL games since 2007, and the league has spent years trying to make them feel like events rather than imports. Picking a headliner with deep roots in the city’s music scene is part of that. Afrobeats has been a fixture of British radio and festival bills for years, and Starr has already played Glastonbury’s biggest stage. The NFL called her “a generational talent with a real connection to fans in this market”. Starr said simply that she was “so excited to perform at the NFL halftime show in London”. For American viewers, many of whom were watching a 9:30 a.m. Eastern kickoff, the slot was also an introduction. A London halftime show reaches a smaller audience than the Super Bowl, but it is a public, prime-position test of how a global star plays to a US sports crowd. What comes next The London game is one of several International Games stops this season, each with its own halftime act. For Starr, the next date to watch is the Grammy nominations, where Starrgirl will be eligible for its first nominations. Further reading Ayra Starr — Wikipedia NFL International Series — Wikipedia Tottenham Hotspur Stadium — Wikipedia Afrobeats — Wikipedia Image: Ultima Studios Nigeria, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. How we work.",
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