Ludacris is the name attached to a new layer of ’s Monday Night Football presentation, as and Apple Music said Apple Music will curate the music used across MNF for the 2026-27 season. The move reaches promotional spots, live telecasts and Monday Night Countdown, turning the soundtrack into part of the broadcast package, not just a side note.
Matt Plotnik said, "There’s nothing like the energy of a Monday Night Football game" and added, "We’re giving that energy a soundtrack, powered by Apple Music’s deep bench of curators and tastemakers." Curtis Friends pushed the point further: "Lil Baby sets the tone at kickoff for us."
Apple Music and MNF
The first selection is Lil Baby’s recently released single, Dead Fresh, and it will open Week 1 as lines up Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs on Monday, Sept. 14, at 8 p.m. ET. For viewers, that means the music choice is not a one-off promo flourish; it is built into the season’s broadcast rhythm from the first kickoff.
Apple Music’s role also gives a more controlled rollout than a standalone artist tie-in. The company is now curating the music that will thread through MNF promotions and the Monday Night Countdown pregame window, so the soundtrack can move with the broadcast instead of sitting outside it. That is a cleaner fit for a league presentation that is trying to keep every part of the game night on the same wavelength.
25th season for Buck and Aikman
Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge will return to lead Monday Night Football, and Buck and Aikman are entering their record 25th season together as an NFL broadcast duo. says the season sits inside its largest NFL game portfolio ever, with 28 games plus Super Bowl LXI on Feb. 14, 2027.
Curtis Friends called this "the biggest season yet for," and said Apple Music is meant to carry that energy from Monday Night Football to the Apple Music Super Bowl halftime show. The pairing is practical as much as promotional: gets a recurring music engine for MNF, while Apple Music gains a weekly broadcast stage that can keep changing without losing the season’s identity.
Road to Halftime begins
The Road to Halftime countdown on Apple Music begins today, which puts the MNF music plan inside a larger season-long push toward Super Bowl LXI. had already used MNF music curation in past seasons with Diplo, DJ Khaled, Drake, Marshmello, Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, J Balvin and Saweetie, but the current arrangement ties the weekly soundtrack directly to the same Apple Music orbit that will carry the season into the halftime show.
Ludacris fits that shift as a headline signal, but the real test is the weekly rollout after Dead Fresh. and Apple Music have set the frame; the next reveal is which artists and songs will follow, and whether the curation keeps the same tone from Week 1 through the run to Feb. 14, 2027.
