Chance the Rapper, 50 Cent and Mariah Carey Lead Culture-Shifting 'Rockin’ Eve'

Chance the Rapper, co-host of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2026,” will lead the show’s first-ever live Central Time Zone countdown from his hometown of Chicago, joining 50 Cent, Mariah Carey and Coco Jones in a lineup that blends hip-hop, R&B and pop across four time zones. (Courtesy ABC / Dick Clark Productions)

The clock still drops in Times Square, but this year the sound belongs to us. For the first time in its half-century run, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve feels less like a network broadcast and more like a playlist — one where hip-hop, R&B and pop collide in real time instead of being boxed off by genre.

The 2026 lineup is its most ambitious yet: 50 Cent, Chance the Rapper, Ciara, Coco Jones, Busta Rhymes, Wyclef Jean and T.I. share space with Mariah Carey, Charlie Puth, Post Malone, and country star Maren Morris, while newcomers like Chappell Roan, LE SSERAFIM, and BigXthaPlug stretch the sound across generations and continents. Over 80 performances will air across four time zones and eight hours of live television — the show’s longest broadcast in its history.

Chance the Rapper hosting the first-ever Central Time countdown from Chicago hits different. For a city that’s given the world everyone from Common and Kanye to Chief Keef and Noname, seeing Chance lead a national celebration from home feels like a long time coming. Out east, 50 Cent returns as New York royalty — not the provocateur he once was, but a fixture of the same culture that built Times Square’s pulse.

And in a moment that says everything about R&B’s quiet resurgence, Coco Jones takes center stage with the same voice that made “ICU” one of the genre’s defining songs of the decade. Then there’s Mariah Carey — timeless, theatrical and inevitable — the connective tissue between every generation the show’s ever tried to serve.

But the real cultural moment comes when DJ Cassidy’s “Pass the Mic Live!” unites Busta Rhymes, Wyclef Jean, and T.I. for a run that’s part cipher, part celebration — the kind of thing that never used to make it to network TV. For a show built on pop polish, this year’s lineup finally looks like the culture it’s been chasing for decades: messy, electric, and unapologetically Black at its core.

Sure, pop and rock names like Goo Goo Dolls, OneRepublic, and New Kids on the Block will keep the nostalgia crowd covered. But what gives Rockin’ Eve 2026 its spark is the mix — a reflection of how people really listen now: crossfade to crossfade, mood to mood, vibe to vibe.

It’s not that the show suddenly belongs to hip-hop or R&B. It’s that television finally understands it can’t ring in a new year without them. Because when midnight hits, it won’t be the confetti that gets remembered — it’ll be the bassline that carried us into the next one.

For more information on the show and to view the full lineup click here.

Antone 'Chubby' Tavares, Lead Singer of R&B Group Tavares, Dies at 81

Antone “Chubby” Tavares, lead singer of the Grammy-winning R&B group Tavares, is pictured in a later-career promotional portrait. Known for his smooth falsetto on classics like “Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel,” Tavares helped define the sound of 1970s soul and disco.

Before the Bee Gees made disco global, a group of Cape Verdean brothers from Massachusetts gave the genre its heartbeat. Antone “Chubby” Tavares — the frontman whose falsetto carried “Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel” and helped shape the sound of ’70s R&B — died Nov. 29 at his home in New Bedford. He was 81.

His son, Antone Tavares Jr., shared the news on Facebook, writing that his father “passed last night at home in peace & comfort” after a year of declining health. “Dad and his brothers touched many people and brought joy worldwide,” he wrote. “They were blessed to experience many places and things.”

 

Tavares’ surviving brothers confirmed the news on the group’s official Facebook page, asking fans for privacy and prayers. “We do know that he is now eternally with our Lord,” the post read. “We thank you in advance for allowing us to mourn privately as a family. We love you and God bless you all.”

Chubby Tavares and his brothers — Ralph, Arthur “Pooch,” Feliciano “Butch,” Perry “Tiny,” and Victor — first performed as Chubby and the Turnpikes before signing with Capitol Records and reintroducing themselves as Tavares. Their breakthrough single “Check It Out” launched a string of R&B and pop hits that helped define a generation of dance-floor soul.

The brothers’ clean harmonies and smooth arrangements drove classics like “It Only Takes a Minute,” “Whodunit,” and the era-defining “Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel.” Their soulful take on the Bee Gees’ “More Than a Woman” landed on the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack — one of the best-selling albums in history — earning them a share of the 1979 Album of the Year Grammy.

 

While Tavares never sought the spotlight like some of their contemporaries, their influence stretched far beyond their chart run. Their grooves and melodies have been sampled and reinterpreted by generations of R&B and hip-hop artists — from LL Cool J’s “Around the Way Girl” lineage to producers shaping Beyoncé’s retro-soul moments — keeping the Tavares sound alive in modern music. Their harmonies remain a blueprint for any artist trying to bridge church, street, and disco with equal grace.

Tavares in 1977 — From left: Arthur “Pooch,” Ralph, Antone “Chubby,” Feliciano “Butch” and Perry “Tiny” Tavares. The Grammy-winning brothers behind “Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel” helped define the sound of 1970s R&B and disco. (Capitol Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Common)

He was preceded in death by brothers Ralph (2021) and Arthur “Pooch” (2024). He is survived by brothers Perry “Tiny” and Feliciano “Butch” Tavares, along with his children and extended family.

A proud son of New Bedford, Chubby Tavares was a pillar of the Cape Verdean-American community, representing an often-overlooked lineage in American soul. In 2024, the city honored the family’s legacy by naming a downtown street “Tavares Brothers Way.” “They’ve been around the world, and every time they were introduced, New Bedford, Mass., was attached to it,” Councilor Derek Baptiste said at the dedication. “They were at the forefront of a whole era.”

After decades of touring with his brothers, Chubby released solo albums "Jealousy" (2012) and "Can’t Knock Me Down" (2015), proving his voice still carried the warmth and sincerity that made Tavares a household name.

Super Bowl LX pregame show to feature Coco Jones, Brandi Carlile and Charlie Puth

Coco Jones performs during the Essence Festival of Culture at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on July 4, 2025. The Grammy-winning R&B artist will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at Super Bowl LX in February 2026. (Gabriel Brooks, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The NFL announced Friday that Charlie Puth, Brandi Carlile, and R&B star Coco Jones will headline Super Bowl LX’s pregame at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Feb. 8, 2026. It’s a lineup that feels intentional — a mix of pop, Americana and soul designed to speak to a country still searching for harmony.

Puth will perform the national anthem, Brandi Carlile will deliver “America the Beautiful,” and Coco Jones — one of R&B’s brightest new stars — will sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the Black national anthem that’s become a Super Bowl fixture since Roc Nation helped reframe the event as more than spectacle.

“Charlie, Brandi, and Coco are generational talents,” Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez said. “This moment embodies the best of culture, live performance, and our country — perfectly kicking off game day.”
NFL executive Jon Barker called the Super Bowl “the world’s biggest entertainment stage,” adding that the pregame show “spotlights artists who embody the best of music and culture.”

For Coco Jones, it’s a defining milestone in a rise that’s been impossible to ignore. The Nashville-raised singer, actress, and Grammy winner has quickly become the face of modern R&B — a genre that’s found its way back to the Super Bowl stage after decades of being left on the sidelines. Her debut album, “Why Not More?,” has earned eight Grammy nominations, and her platinum single “ICU” still sits heavy on radio rotations two years later.

Carlile, one of music’s few crossover icons who can move between rock, folk, and gospel without losing her soul, arrives fresh off the success of “Returning to Myself.” Puth, whose fourth album “Whatever’s Clever!” drops in March, remains pop’s consummate technician — the guy who can find melody in anything, including the buzz of a text alert.

The performances will be joined by American Sign Language artists Fred Beam, Julian Ortiz, and Celimar Rivera Cosme — the latter signing Bad Bunny’s halftime show in Puerto Rican Sign Language, another first.

It’s a quietly radical lineup: Black, brown, queer, pop, and country, all sharing the same space before the first whistle blows. And it’s no accident that Roc Nation is again in the producer’s chair, guiding the event from spectacle to statement. From Beyoncé’s “Formation” to Rihanna’s midair return, to last year’s Vegas-sized Usher celebration, the Super Bowl has become something closer to a cultural census — one that now sounds like the country it represents.

In 2026, it’s Coco Jones’ turn to carry that torch. Her voice, her presence, and her moment are all part of the evolution Jay-Z predicted when he said the partnership wasn’t about appeasement — it was about access.

Now, America’s biggest game is listening.