DJ Vlad shared his take on the NFL’s decision to tap Latin superstar Bad Bunny as the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show headliner. In a post on X, Vlad expressed skepticism about the move, arguing that language and audience demographics make it a puzzling choice.
“Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl is strange to me. I’m glad he’s getting such a huge opportunity, but none of his songs are in English, and I don’t speak Spanish. Most of the audience at the Super Bowl won’t speak Spanish. Only 14% of Americans speak Spanish, so most of the television audience won’t know or understand his songs either. I can see him doing a major event like FIFA or the World Cup, where there is a massive Spanish audience, but the Super Bowl doesn’t make sense. It seems like the NFL is trying to expand its Latino audience at the expense of its existing fans.”
Is Vlad’s “14%” Figure Accurate?
Vlad’s statement hinges heavily on the claim that “only 14% of Americans speak Spanish.” The truth is somewhat more nuanced:
•According to U.S. Census Bureau data and related language‐use reports, about 13.4% of the U.S. population speaks Spanish at home.
•In one estimate from 2022, approximately 13.7% of Americans aged 5 and older speak Spanish at home — roughly 43.4 million people.
•The figure Vlad cited (14%) is very close to these estimates, so while his phrasing “only 14%” frames it as a minor segment, it is not far off from accepted data.
•However, “speaking Spanish at home” is not the only measure of who might understand or enjoy a Spanish‐language performance. Many bilingual Americans, second‐ or third‐generation Hispanics, or non-Hispanics learning Spanish could also connect with the music.
According to a report by Luminate last year, non-English music is rapidly growing among U.S. audiences, particularly Latin, K-Pop, and Afrobeats, which have surged since 2021. The dominance of English-language tracks in the top 10,000 most-streamed songs has noticeably declined, with 57% of Millennials and 59% of Gen Z listeners more likely to engage with international artists.
Bad Bunny in particular has the most stream album on Spotify of all time. Last year Peso Pluma, the Mexican singer known for blending traditional Latin music with modern sounds, was the most stream artist in the US on YouTube with over 1.7 billion views. Earning 100 million more views that NBA Youngboy.
