10 Best Super Bowl Commercials in 2023: Roundup – Billboard

The 2023 Super Bowl will go down in history as the moment Rihanna revealed to the world that she was pregnant with her second child. Well, that and the whole thing with the football game. After an intense face-off between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, the Missouri team emerged victorious, winning the game at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., with a score of 38-35.

Of course, Rihanna was also a huge winner; her halftime show performance – the first one since Apple Music took over halftime show sponsorship from Pepsi – was full of a jaw-dropping parade of hits, from “Umbrella” to “Work” to “Bitch Better Have My Money” to “Diamonds.” And while she didn’t bring out any special guest performers, she performed the 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show while carrying her second child, which reps confirmed before the game was over.

There were musical guests elsewhere throughout the broadcast, too. The increasing trend toward singers and rappers and rockers popping up in Super Bowl ads continued in 2023, with everyone from Ozzy Osbourne to Missy Elliott to Sarah McLachlan to Diddy to Jennifer Lopez to Jack Harlow appearing in commercials for snacks, apps and (naturally) beer.

In her spot with Harlow and Elton John, Elliott – prior to the game – told Billboard they shared a lot of belly laughs doing the Doritos commercial. “[We] laughed as if we had met years back, especially when we had to keep doing those lines. It would be fun to do those bloopers of us doing the skit,” she said.

Below, check out our roundup of the 10 best Super Bowl commercials – not limited to ones featuring musicians, but certainly including a lot of musical icons.

Meghan Trainor for Pringles

Ever get your hand stuck in a Pringles can? Well, you’re in good company. The salty snack’s Super Bowl ad makes the case that everyone from judges to surgeons to Hot 100-topping artists like Meghan Trainor (who made a surprise appearance in the commercial set to the tune of Tina Turner’s “The Best”) have fallen victim to the lengthy tube’s irresistible appeal. Watch here.
Jack Harlow, Missy Elliott and Elton John for Doritos

Image Credit: Courtesy Photo

Three cross-generational artists teamed up for an ad from everyone’s favorite cheese-dusted chip set to a classic tune from the disco era. The commercial imagines Jack Harlow giving up hip-hop to play the triangle – much to Missy Elliott’s chagrin – and start a new global craze around the polygon. Elton John pops by at the end to remind us there’s very little he can’t do. Aside from bringing together an otherwise unlikely trio, the spot gives Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell” (a Hot 100 topper) some airtime, which is always welcome. Watch here.
Sarah McLachlan for Busch Light

Sarah McLachlan — whose heartbreaking song “Angel” has soundtracked countless American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals commercials, which never fail to elicit tears — had a little fun with her ASPCA association in a Super Bowl spot for Busch Light. When the Busch Guy talks about finding shelter in the wilderness in a tent with a cool beer, McLachlan pops up to intone her familiar, “For just dollars a day, you can find helpless animals find shelter” bit. Before she gets too far, the Busch Guy interrupts her to point out that not only does she have the wrong shelter in mind, but the dog next to her is actually a wolf. Watch here.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck for Dunkin’

Image Credit: Courtesy photo

As Ben Affleck mans a Dunkin’ drive-thru, quizzing customers as to whether they recognize his face from anything, Jennifer Lopez rolls up to the window, asking her husband incredulously, “Is this what you do when you say you go to work?” As Ben makes his way outside to explain, J.Lo has one understandable demand: “Grab me a glazed.” Watch here.
Steve Martin and Ben Stiller for Pepsi Zero

Ben Stiller and Steve Martin sell their all-caps ACTING skills in the new ads for Pepsi Zero, making you wonder if the sugar-free soda’s new taste truly is life-changing or if they’re merely peerless thespians capable of making you believe anything. Quipped Martin on Twitter of his full-circle moment: “When I was 13, I saw my first live comedian ever at Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe Review – sponsored by Pepsi. If someone then had said to me, ‘55 years from now, you will be doing an ad for Pepsi on the Super Bowl,’ I would have said, ‘Sounds about right.’” Watch here.
Diddy with Kelis, Montell Jordan, Donna Lewis, Haddaway and Ylvis for Uber One

Image Credit: Screenshot

“Diddy don’t do jingles.” That may be the case, but the music mogul sure knows a thing or two about hit songs and bringing the right people together in his Super Bowl spot for Uber One. Uber-centric rewrites of iconic songs pepper this nostalgia-fueled ad, with Montell Jordan doing “This Is How We Do It,” Kelis rapping “Milkshake,” Donna Lewis singing “I Love You Always Forever” and Haddaway delivering the Roxbury Guys-approved “What Is Love” – not to mention Ylvis wringing the last bit of relevancy out of “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?).”
John Travolta, Donald Faison and Zach Braff for T-Mobile

Perhaps not as legendary as the Breaking Bad reunion (also on this list), Scrubs co-stars Donald Faison and Zach Braff still got people excited when they teamed up for an ad extolling T-Mobile’s virtues as an Internet provider to the tune of Grease‘s “Summer Nights.” The commercial got a jolt of greased lightnin’ when John Travolta joined forces to ask the two to “tell me more, tell me more” about T-Mobile’s latest foray. Braff combed his hair like a greaser and Travolta showed off his still substantial pipes at the close of an ad that was hopelessly (and delightfully) devoted to nostalgia. Watch here.
Ozzy Osbourne, Paul Stanley, Joan Jett, Billy Idol, Gary Clark Jr. for Workday

Image Credit: Courtesy Photo

Ozzy Osbourne, KISS’ Paul Stanley, Joan Jett, Billy Idol and Gary Clark Jr. are done with corporate suits tossing around the phrase “rock star” a little too generously when complimenting each other. “Hey corporate types, will you stop calling each other rock stars?” pleads Stanley at the commercial’s start. While effortlessly ripping out an electric guitar solo, Gary Clark Jr. taunts, “Hey Liz in HR! Can you do this?”

Whoever came up with this creative concept is an advertising rock staaa… um, pro. Yeah, pro.
Alicia Silverstone for Rakuten

Reprising her role as Cher Horowitz, Alicia Silverstone says “as if!” to aging while spreading the shopping gospel with a reading from The Book of Rakuten, a shopping platform that offers cash back on various brands. Not only does Elisa Donovan bring back her Clueless character Amber for the ad, but brilliant designer Christian Siriano is the person Rakuten tapped to reimagine that iconic yellow plaid outfit from the 1995 film. Watch here.
Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul for PopCorners

It’s hard to say goodbye to a beloved TV show. So why do it? Not only does Better Call Saul continue the Breaking Bad universe, but a new Super Bowl ad just reunited Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul as their instantly recognizable characters Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. Instead of contacting crystal meth, however, the duo make PopCorners in their familiar trailer; throw in a guest appearance from Raymond Cruz and a few hilarious callbacks (“We don’t eat our own supply!”) and you have a winner.