Pop diva Lady Gaga well and truly earned her noble title on Monday (AEST) in a flawless performance at 2016’s Super Bowl 50.

The 29-year-old singer was styled as a glitzy homage to Old Glory, performing before the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos took to the field at Levi’s Stadium, in Santa Clara, California.

Gaga’s rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner was labelled the ‘best ever’ by some, an impressive honour when compared to previous performances by the likes of Whitney Houston, Faith Hill and Beyonce.

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Not one for predictability, she even added an improvised ending, which extended the song, causing a flutter among betting houses that set odds each year on how long it would take to sing the national anthem at the annual event.

But it was not the only performance at the 50th edition of the Super Bowl to put the vocal chords to the test, with Beyonce, Bruno Mars and the headliners, British rock group Coldplay, hitting the stage at half-time.

The usually high-energy affair was subdued from the opening bars of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida and, although putting on a respectable display, they were quickly paled by Mars’ sharp choreography with Uptown Funk and Queen Bey’s formidable efforts on new power anthem Formation.

Her song choice was a gutsy move: Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin said last week they wouldn’t perform the band’s collaboration with Beyonce, Hymn For the Weekend, because it was too new. Maybe he should have considered who he was collaborating with.

Formation was released barely a day before she performed it in front of the 100-million-plus watching live and on TV.

When the game resumed, it was the Denver Broncos who emerged on top, winning 24-10.

Gaga’s defining moment

Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, Lady Gaga made a name for herself shocking audiences into taking notice – perhaps most notably by wearing raw meat at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards,

But on Monday, she instead shone at the Super Bowl for raw simplicity.

@ladygaga congrats lovely! your #SB50 performance=absoute perfection! xoP

— Paula Abdul (@PaulaAbdul) February 8, 2016

Why are we all acting surprised by @ladygaga? she has always had amazing vocals

— Sassy In Stilettos (@Sass_Stilettos) February 8, 2016

It was a defining moment for the singer, who recently described it as a “total dream come true”.

“I’ve always wanted to sing the national anthem at a major sporting event since I was a little girl,” she told NFL Network.

“This is one of the highest honours of my career.

“I get a chance to sing for all the athletes, who have been working so hard their whole lives for this moment, the coaches, as well as the fans…”

Gaga burst onto the international music scene in early 2009 after dropping out of New York’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts to focus on her music career at just 19 years old.

“I left my entire family, got the cheapest apartment I could find, and ate s**t until somebody would listen,” she told New York magazine in 2010.

She drifted around New York City, performing and developing her on-stage persona. She found her niche when she moved her musical focus to a mix of pop and rock.

Releasing her first album in 2008, it was when Just Dance found its way to radios across the world in 2009 that she became a household name.

But it wasn’t the voice that sustained the fame, it was her daring sense of fashion, which regularly incorporated giant bows, outrageous shapes and glitter, lots of glitter.

Gaga’s fashion in the early days, including the infamous ‘meat suit’. Photo: Getty

At 29 years old, she is now worth $59 million, according to Forbes, where her education is listed as a “drop out”.

Music isn’t the only venture she has hedged her bets with; she has also created a successful business through promotional deals with Versace and MAC and her own unisex fragrance, Lady Gaga Fame.

The Super Bowl performance was one in a big month for Gaga, who will become the first artist ever to play at the Super Bowl, Oscars and Grammys in the same year.

On February 15, she will perform a tribute for one of her idols David Bowie – the lightning bolt she painted on her face in the early days of her career was inspired by Ziggy Stardust.

“He’s sort of like an alien prince. He still runs my universe as well, like, every morning I wake up and I think, ‘What would Bowie do?’,” she told Alan Carr on Chatty Man in 2013.

An Oscars performance will follow on February 28.

See Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl national anthem rendition below:

– with AAP