The 2026 World Cup is the most musical edition in the tournament's history. Chartmetric counts a wave of songs from artists, federations, brands, and FIFA itself — with FIFA Sound ranking as Spotify's fourth-fastest-growing artist by monthly listener growth within a week of kickoff. Shakira's new anthem "Dai Dai" with Burna Boy rocketed to 69.7 million Spotify streams within weeks.

But the more instructive story is what these moments do to songs over time. Shakira's "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" from South Africa 2010 became the first World Cup song to enter Spotify's Billions Club — despite never climbing higher than No. 38 on the Hot 100. K'Naan's "Wavin' Flag" — a brand anthem, not even FIFA's official song — has exceeded a billion streams across its versions. Vegedream's "Ramenez la coupe à la maison," recorded for France's 2018 victory, passed 600 million streams while remaining largely unknown outside the French-speaking world.

Three lessons for anyone who owns or manages compositions. First, global moments are catalog accelerators: the right placement at the right moment creates a revenue tail measured in decades, not weeks. Second, the winners are not always the official anthems — brand syncs, terrace chants, and organic viral adoptions routinely out-earn sanctioned releases. Third, none of that value lands with the songwriter unless the works are licensable fast and administered cleanly: clear ownership, documented splits, metadata that matches across territories.

That is the operational takeaway we build for at Massive Music Entertainment: a catalog that is ready when the moment arrives — rights clarity for fast clearance, and administration that tracks earnings across borders once a song takes off.

Every World Cup eventually finds its soundtrack. The question for publishers and catalog owners: when a global moment looks your way, is your catalog ready to say yes quickly?

Source: Chartmetric via Hypebot (Jun 26, 2026).