Macy’s announced June 17 that its Fourth of July fireworks show will feature performances by Post Malone, Blake Shelton, Salt-N-Pepa, Noah Kahan, Bebe Rexha and Shaboozey. The 50th edition of the nation’s largest Independence Day celebration will air live on NBC and mark America’s 250th birthday with 85,000 shells in 30 colors launched from six barges.
The broadcast will run from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. EST on NBC and stream simultaneously on Peacock. A Spanish language simulcast will air on Telemundo starting at 8 p.m. EST, with tape-delayed broadcasts for Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones.
An Expanded Lineup Mixes Genres and Generations
The performer roster for the Fourth of July fireworks spans country, pop, hip-hop and R&B. Post Malone has crossed over from hip-hop to country in recent years, while Blake Shelton built a dual career as a country star and longtime coach on NBC’s The Voice. Salt-N-Pepa bring hip-hop legacy from the late 1980s and early 1990s. Shaboozey emerged as a country-rap hybrid artist.
Noah Kahan represents the folk-pop surge that gained momentum through streaming platforms, and Bebe Rexha has accumulated pop and dance hits across the past decade. The Voice season 29 winner Alexia Jayy will perform a vocal accompaniment to the fireworks display itself, adding a live element timed to the pyrotechnics.
Will Coss, executive producer of Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks, said the show will include never-before-seen effects. A new laser show from the Brooklyn Bridge will debut alongside the traditional fireworks, expanding the visual footprint of the celebration.
What the 50Th Anniversary Milestone Means for Macy’s Broadcast Franchise
Macy’s has staged its Fourth of July fireworks show for five decades. The annual pyrotechnic display became a television event that competes with other holiday programming. The 50th edition arrives at a moment when live event television remains one of the few appointment-viewing categories in an otherwise fractured media landscape.
NBC has held the broadcast rights for years, using the special to anchor its holiday programming and draw audiences across generations. The addition of Peacock streaming reflects the network’s push to drive subscribers to its platform, offering the same live feed that airs on linear television.
The America 250 designation ties the show to the semiquincentennial, a branding opportunity that retailers, broadcasters and event producers have begun leveraging as the anniversary year unfolds. Macy’s positions the fireworks as the largest Independence Day celebration in the nation, a claim supported by the scale of the pyrotechnic display and the marquee talent booked for the broadcast.
How Star Power Shapes Holiday Event Programming
Booking six major acts for a single Fourth of July broadcast signals the stakes broadcasters attach to holiday specials. Live musical performances justify longer runtimes, increase social media engagement during the broadcast and create promotional hooks that can be marketed weeks in advance.
The performer mix also hedges across demographics. Blake Shelton and Noah Kahan appeal to different age cohorts within the country and folk markets. Post Malone straddles genre boundaries that attract both younger listeners and crossover country fans. Salt-N-Pepa offer nostalgia for Gen X and elder millennial audiences, and Bebe Rexha and Shaboozey add contemporary pop and hip-hop credibility.
Holiday music specials have grown more competitive as streaming platforms commission their own live events and concert films. NBC’s strategy with Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks leans on scale, exclusivity and the logistical spectacle of a live fireworks show that cannot be easily replicated by a streaming service shooting a concert in a controlled studio environment.
The six-barge setup and 85,000-shell count represent a production scale that requires city permits, waterway coordination and months of planning. This creates a barrier around the franchise that competing networks would struggle to duplicate on short notice.
What This Broadcast Reveals About Celebrity Booking in 2026
The performer slate reflects how holiday specials now function as career maintenance opportunities for established acts and visibility boosts for newer artists. Blake Shelton has used NBC programming, particularly The Voice, to sustain his public profile even as country radio airplay has shifted toward younger artists.
Shaboozey’s inclusion signals that the artist has reached a level of mainstream recognition that justifies a Fourth of July booking. This milestone often precedes award show nominations and larger venue tours. Salt-N-Pepa’s presence follows a pattern of legacy hip-hop acts returning to television specials and awards shows, capitalizing on catalog streams and touring demand driven by nostalgia.
Post Malone’s genre fluidity makes him a flexible booking for producers assembling lineups that must appeal to broad audiences. His recent country collaborations and chart success in that format allow NBC to market him to both pop and country viewers, a dual appeal that few current artists can claim.
The Alexia Jayy booking ties directly to NBC’s The Voice franchise, creating a feedback loop that rewards winners with continued network exposure and reinforces the show’s relevance beyond its seasonal run. This cross-promotion strategy has become standard practice for networks with both competition series and live event specials.
