From Tyla & Future to Shakira & Burna Boy — FIFA 2026’s official soundtrack is the most globally ambitious music event in World Cup history.
When the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off across the United States, Canada, and Mexico this June, it won’t just be the world’s greatest football tournament — it will be the most sonically diverse sporting event ever staged. FIFA’s official soundtrack strategy this year is something genuinely new: instead of one anthem, they’ve built an entire multi-genre, multi-continent album that reflects the global scope of the expanded tournament.
And if the early releases are anything to go by, this soundtrack might just outlive the tournament itself.
The Tracks That Are Setting the World on Fire
The May 29 release of “Game Time” by Tyla and Future immediately became the most-talked-about drop of the week. The track blends Future’s signature Atlanta trap energy with Tyla’s smooth Afrobeats-influenced vocals — a pairing that perfectly mirrors the tournament’s transatlantic ambitions. Tyla, fresh off winning Best Afrobeats Artist at the American Music Awards, is one of the most exciting voices in global pop right now. Future, with his Grammy pedigree and Billboard dominance, adds an undeniable weight to the collaboration.
But “Game Time” is only the latest chapter. Before it, Shakira and Burna Boy dropped “Dai Dai” — the official World Cup song — which fuses Shakira’s Latin pop mastery with Burna Boy’s genre-defining Afrobeats style. Then came “Goals”, a three-way explosion featuring K-pop superstar LISA, Brazilian queen Anitta, and Nigerian star Rema. Three continents. One banger. And the album’s very first track, “Lighter” by Jelly Roll and Carín León, perfectly blended American country with traditional Mexican sounds — a direct nod to the host nations.
“Established stars and new voices representing different styles and different cultures from around the world — collaborating to create one global rhythm that will celebrate our beautiful game.” — Gianni Infantino, FIFA President
For decades, the World Cup anthem was a single song — often forgettable, occasionally iconic (Shakira’s own “Waka Waka“ from 2010 remains the most-viewed music video in World Cup history). But 2026 is different. This is the first 48-team, 104-match World Cup ever played — and FIFA knows it needs a soundtrack that can carry three nations, dozens of timezones, and billions of fans through six weeks of football.
The decision to build a full multi-song album — with each release strategically rolled out in the weeks before kick-off — is genuinely clever. It keeps the tournament in the cultural conversation long before a ball is kicked. Each drop generates its own news cycle, its own streaming spike, its own social moment. FIFA isn’t just promoting a football tournament anymore. It’s running a pop culture campaign.
And perhaps most significantly: for the first time, the host countries themselves are audible in the music. “Lighter” was a direct nod to the United States and Mexico as hosts — pairing Nashville country star Jelly Roll with Mexican regional music icon Carín León. That’s not an accident. That’s a statement of intent.
What FIFA is doing in 2026 reflects a larger truth: football and music have never been more intertwined. The global rise of Afrobeats, the unstoppable spread of K-pop, the mainstream crossover of Latin music — all of it is converging at this tournament. The artists on this soundtrack aren’t just performing at an event. They’re representing movements.
Tyla’s presence signals the arrival of African pop on the world’s biggest stage. LISA and Anitta’s collaboration shows that the future of pop music is genuinely borderless. And Shakira’s return — two World Cups after “Waka Waka” — feels like a passing of the torch and a reclaiming of it at the same time.
As the tournament approaches its mid-June kickoff, expect more track releases, more opening ceremony announcements, and more moments where sport and sound collide in ways that will be talked about long after the final whistle blows.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup won’t just be the biggest football tournament ever played. It might also be the best-sounding one.
FIFA 2026’s official soundtrack — featuring Tyla, Future, Shakira, Burna Boy, LISA, Anitta, Rema, Jelly Roll & Carín León — is a multi-genre, multi-continent album built for the most ambitious World Cup ever. The tournament kicks off June 2026. The music is already here.