The FIFA World Cup is the second biggest sporting event in the world, falling a little short behind the Olympics in terms of viewership. According to CBS Baltimore, 2012 Olympics drew 3.6 billion viewers while 2010 FIFA World Cup drew 3.2 billion viewers. However, 2018 Football World Cup viewership is expected to surpass its previous record.
Getting back to the topic at hand, the World Cup anthems and songs are a main spectacle of the event. More often than not, one or multiple songs are specially made for the Football World Cup event. Hence, the hype for the official anthem is quite high as well. Some songs have reached iconic statuses, whereas some have become fond memories of that World Cup match Maradona saved.
In this article, we expect to list down the top 5 greatest Football World Cup songs of all time up until the latest World Cup unfolding now in 2018. This is the opinion of JustRandomThings and should not be considered as an official listing.
Top 5 Best Football World Cup Songs of All Time
05. “Waka Waka” by Shakira (2010)
Most of us will remember this amazing, hyped up song and music video released by the ever so talented Shakira. The song gained attention from all over the world-even non-football-playing nations, as the song was extremely catchy and the music video shows Football scenes from the great legends such as Ronaldo, Messi, Zidane, Pele, Maradona, and Baggio.
The song also captures the essence of Africa with the lyrics and the dance choreography to best suit the country that hosted the 2010 Football World Cup-Africa.
“Waka Waka” is also the most successful song among Football World Cup songs in terms of chart performance and viewership. The song reached #38 on Billboard Hot 100 and has over 1.8 billion views on YouTube now.
04. “El Rock del Mundial” by Los Ramblers (1962)
1962 FIFA Football World Cup is where the fusion of music with the game started. The world cup tournament held in Chile was introduced with a hit from the native rock’ n roll band Los Ramblers.
The music video features footage of football games from pre-1962 and although the outfits and the equipment have changed over the years, the passion for the game has only grown today.
03. “Dar Um Jeito (We Will Find a Way)” by Carlos Santana Ft. Alexandre Pires, Wyclef, and Avicii (2014)
The upbeat track with the composition of several superstars on the track makes this 2014 official Football anthem one for the record books.
The song speaks about the passion for the game even among the children, and them growing up to superstars one day. The inspirational message, surrounded by the sweet music of Carlos Santana and Avicii alike, make this song a special addition to the Brazilian games.
02. Coca-Cola Football World Cup Theme Songs
This might be a cheat on the list, but this needs a mentioning somewhere, as these theme songs sponsored by Coca-Cola for the football season have been massive hits.
At the 2010 world cup, we saw a brand new twist on K’naan’s “Waving Flag” as the unofficial world cup anthem, even closely competing with the official anthem “Waka Waka.” The song was officially released as an inspirational song for Somalia, however, the use as the promotional track made it a massive hit around the world.
The current world cup going on in Russia got its own Coca-Cola promotional track as well. The original track titled “Colours” is done by Jason Derulo, however, for the world cup, Maluma joins in and the music video is redone to suit the football theme.
01. “Cup of Life” by Ricky Martin (1998)
If you were either a music fan or football fan and lived through the 90’s, you could not have missed “Cup of Life.” This song stands as the hallmark of all Football World Cup songs and is rhymed in synonymous to active sports.
The extremely hype beat and lyrics by Ricky Martin, along with some vibrant dance moves, have made this song very catchy. The track is also one of Ricky Martin’s all-time successful songs, which made over a million sales worldwide. The song topped many music charts around the world and re-entered the charts when Ricky Martin performed the song live at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony.
BONUS: “World Cup Willie (Where in this World are We Going)” by Lonnie Donegan (1966)
We go all the way back to the FIFA Football Worldcup of 1966 where the official mascots were introduced to the game.
This is probably one of the highest praises for a mascot ever, and the song sings about the passion of World Cup Willie for the game. This passion resembles the traits of the football players taking part in the game.
This is our list of the best 5 football world cup theme songs of all time. We would love to know if your favorite song made it into the list. If not, do leave a comment below mentioning why you think your favorite track should make the top 5.
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