It’s official … Madonna has been announced as the performer for the upcoming Super Bowl Halftime Show!

It has been rumored for some time that the Pop Queen would perform during the Super Bowl’s legendary halftime show, but NFL and NBC confirmed the news last night during the network’s “Sunday Night Football” match-up between the New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Madonna has partnered up with a creative team from Cirque du Soleil, choreographer Jamie King and multimedia artists from Moment Factory to create the performance, which will take place during Super Bowl XLVI at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on February 5th 2012.

Billboard is reporting that Madonna’s performance at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show could coincide with the release of her 12th studio album, due out in 2012, similar to how the Black Eyed Peas took the Super Bowl stage soon after releasing their latest album “The Beginning.”

The Super Bowl halftime show is the country’s most-watched musical event of the year. More than 162 million viewers tuned in to watch last year’s performance by the Black Eyed Peas, which was broadcast around the world.

Including BEP, previous halftime performers include Prince, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, U2, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Janet Jackson, who infamously had a wardrobe malfunction in the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.

Watch the commercial that aired on TV Sunday night (Dec. 4) confirming the news that Madonna will perform at next year’s halftime show below:

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