On February 5, Indianapolis will host Super Bowl XLVI — the 46th iteration of America’s biggest game. Millions of fans will gather ’round the television set with seven-layer dip and cold drinks to watch an epic match-up of teams, the year’s funniest and most expensive commercials and most importantly — as far as we’re concerned — Madonna’s Super Bowl halftime show. The newly minted Interscope singer has been on her grind lately, promoting her Golden Globe-winning directorial debut W.E., unleashing a super sexy fragrance line and gearing up for the release of her 12th studio album MDNA and a world tour.

With so much going on, can Madonna still quarterback a show as memorable as these 10 amazing Super Bowl halftime performances?

TOP 10 MOST MEMORABLE SUPER BOWL HALFTIME PERFORMANCES

10. U2 honor the victims of 9/11 at Super Bowl XXXVI (2002). Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the Irish supergroup gave a bittersweet performance of “Where The Streets Have No Name”, while the names of FDNY, NYPD and the passengers of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 93 were projected on stage behind the band.

9. Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake get NSFTV at Super Bowl XXXVIII (2004). Litigation for perhaps the most controversial Super Bowl halftime moment of all time was just recently put to bed — seven years after the MTV-produced segment first aired. The five-minute set saw Janet rocking a medley of “All For You” and “Rhythm Nation” before JT joined her on stage for the big, um, reveal during “Rock Your Body”, off Justified.

8. Gwen Stefani gets Stung at Super Bowl XXXVII (2003). Halftime shows have frequently paired together odd combos of musicians. And when Gwen Stefani joined Sting on stage for “Message in a Bottle” there was a definite “Well, that’s not something you’ll see everyday” vibe.

7. Stevie Wonder shares the stage at Super Bowl XXXIII (1999). Apparently someone thought Stevie Wonder didn’t pack enough star power to command the entire Super Bowl halftime stage, so producers brought Gloria Estefan, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and tap dancer Savion Glover along for the ride. The show was all over the place, with Wonder running through his hits before clomping along with Glover, then making way for Estefan’s salsa-tinged, baton-wielding finale.

6. It’s a small world for New Kids on the Block at Super Bowl XXV (1991). The groundbreaking boy band’s first run happened to coincide with America’s first war in the Middle East: Desert Storm. The resulting feel-good Disney-fied performance was actually pre-recorded and then aired after the game, due to news coverage of the conflict.

5. Everybody loves Paul McCartney at Super Bowl XXXIX (2005). After “Nipplegate,” the NFL powers that be thought it wise to go with a “guaranteed-not-to-get-naked” act. Sir Paul McCartney is a classy guy and turned in a sterling set of Beatles faves “Drive My Car” and “Get Back”, before delivering a pyrotechnic punch with “Live and Let Die” as a finale.

4. The Black Eyed Peas rep GNR at Super Bowl XLV (2011). Who, besides people with short-term memory loss, could forget last year’s halftime show, which introduced the world to Fergie’s Axl Rose impression? The show experienced an array of sound and technical problems that critics were enthusiastic to point out.

3. Pop royalty reigns at Super Bowl XXXV (2001). Basically everyone you cared about in 2001 took the stage that night: *NSYNC, Britney Spears, Aerosmith, Mary J. Blige and Nelly all performed, with a hilarious comic lead-in from Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller and Chris Rock. There’s really nothing else that needs to be said.

2. Michael Jackson brings the “World” to Super Bowl XXVII (1993). It’s no surprise that the King of Pop sits so high on our list: MJ gave an electrifying performance with all the right moves, performing his biggest hits to date, including “We Are The World”.

1. Prince makes it (purple) rain at Super Bowl XLI (2007). When Prince took the stage with his powder blue guitar with matching leopard strap, the crowd erupted in cheers only a true giant of pop can produce. He whipped through his own hits as well as a surprise cover or two (who expected to hear a Foo Fighters jam?). But it’s the finale, when mother nature decided to get into the act, that truly makes this performance. As the Artist Formerly Known As The Artist shifted into “Purple Rain”, the skies opened fully and it… rained. With water dripping down his guitar, streaking down his face, and the A&M marching band glowing neon through the downpour, it was a moment of high drama and celebration, and the perfect way to cap off our list.

Did our list of Most Memorable Super Bowl Halftime Performances makes your list of Most Memorable Lists? Sound off in the comments below, or on Twitter and Facebook.

—Reporting by Maud Deitch

Who needs a House Full Of Toys when you have entertainers like these to hold your attention?

Now that’s one birthday party we’re sorry we missed!

(Photos via WireImage.)

The headline-maker told MuchMusic: “Stevie Wonder is a very close friend of mine. I’m honored to call him a friend, someone who embraced me very early in this music business. Stevie Wonder is actually on Take Care. He helped me out with a lot of the music, just came and sat with me, listened to my music, told me where I could add a couple things to make it more sonically appealing, and not only that but we actually are writing together, which is an incredible experience.”

The hook-up was so fruitful that they ended up writing six songs together. “So I hit him, asked him to come by, and with no hesitation he hit me back like ‘I will be there.’ Not only that, but he was supposed to do two songs and he did like, six. It was incredible.”

See pics of the unlikely duo live on stage at Canada’s OVO music festival here.

[Via Rap Radar]

9. Going out with a bang, it’s Beyonce’s kick butt performance of “Run The World (Girls)”.

8. Stevie Wonder surprises huge fan Jake Simpson.

7. Before she was serenading Oprah while atop a large shoe, Lady Gaga performed a medley of The Fame Monster tracks “Monster”, “Bad Romance” and “Speechless”.

6. Speaking of the aforementioned Lady, Oprah goes gaga when she gets a surprise from Tina Turner singing “Simply The Best”.

5. In this amazing blast from the past, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston duet to “When You Believe” from the animated film The Prince Of Egypt for the first time on television.

4. Dolly Parton sings “Livin’ With A Dead Man” a song that mentions The Oprah Show in its lyrics. How meta! Years later, Dolly would bring Mama Oprah to tears with “I Will Always Love You”.

3. Charice performs “I Have Nothing” on Oprah and the media mogul names her “Most Talented Girl In The World”.

2. Patti LaBelle’s first performance on Oprah featured her singing “New Attitude”. She would later go on to sing the infamous “Get with the program, Get with Oprah” theme song we all know and love:

1. What we love the most is when even Oprah is surprised by what happens on her show. And nothing shocked Mama O more than this city-wide flash mob in Chicago, set to The Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feelin’”.

At any rate, Casey was offered one last chance to sing for the judges (he opted for his audition tune, Ray Charles‘ “I Don’t Need No Doctor”). And that’s when Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler opted to use their one-time save this season, to keep Abrams in the competition.

“We were wondering when we heard the results, ‘Why is Casey at the bottom?’ We don’t know. You deserve to be here,” said a stunned J.Lo, while Steven Tyler added, “This is crazy wrong.” Reminder, folks: in the end, there’s only one winner.

Seasoned vet performers throughout the night included Motown legend Stevie Wonder, who appeared on stage as the Top 11 were wrapping up their medley number “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Little Stevie tore through his classic “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,” then called Tyler up on stage and led the audience in singing “Happy Birthday” to him.

And country duo Sugarland offered up their single “Stuck Like Glue” from their chart-topping album The Incredible Machine.

Idol’s Season 3 Oscar/Grammy winner Jennifer Hudson also returned to the show’s stage, to belt out her soulful I Remember Me ballad “Where You At.”

Next week: plan to say goodbye to two contestants on elimination night.

As with Cee Lo, we have a hard time believing Jenny Humphrey’s alter ego has any cash flow problems, but we do enjoy the throaty way the recently-crowned Style Star of 2010 sings the ditty (containing lyrics from Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” that don’t really make sense in the song, but sound nice anyway).

Still, maybe we just love seeing the raccoon eyed-rebel misbehave a little too much, but after we’ve seen her crying blood, stripping and brandishing firearms, Momsen doing the more passive-aggressive edit of this song comes as a bit of a disappointment. Certainly her Material Girl boss would encourage her to push the envelope? It is the BBC, after all. Aren’t Brits supposed to be way more liberal about this kind of thing?

Or perhaps Momsen just can’t help channeling squeaky-clean Cindy Lou Who ’round this time of year?

[Via Neon Limelight]

Jump below to see the best “U” songs over the last five decades.

’60s – “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” – Stevie Wonder

’70s – “Under Pressure” – Queen and David Bowie

’80s – “Uptown Girl” – Billy Joel

’90s – “Unbelievable” – EMF

’00s – “Umbrella” – Rihanna

It’s “Friday Video Time”, when we honor the top songs over the last 50 years that start with a specific letter of the alphabet. This week we cover the letter “I”, and our list was particularly hard to whittle down (just flip through your iPod and see how many songs start with “I” or “I’m”). But we somehow managed! Our collection includes a boy band, some British chaps, and an R & B artist, long before he trapped himself in a closet. Don’t agree with us on our selections? We’re cool with that. Just leave your comments below, and don’t forget, we’ll be doing the letter “J” next Friday. So if there’s a song you think deserves a slot, give us a shout.

Jump below to see the best “I” songs over the last 50 years.

60’s – “I Want You Back” – Jackson 5

70’s – “If You Really Love Me” – Stevie Wonder

80’s – “I Can Dream About You” – Dan Hartman

90’s – “I’m Too Sexy” – Right Said Fred

00’s – “Ignition (Remix)” – R. Kelly