“File:France champion of the Football World Cup Russia 2018.jpg” by Russian Presidential Press and Information Office is licensed under CC BY 4.0. The World Cup will kick off in Qatar in November 2022, which means the official World Cup anthem will soon be introduced. The organizing committee first established the theme song tradition during the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile, when organizers used songs and anthems to generate interest ahead of the games. Sixty years on, this tradition has caught on and is often one of the main highlights before the tournament. The has historically offered a platform for already established top musicians as well as emerging artists. Whereas some anthems became instant hits, capturing the imagination of sports fans and laypeople alike, there are also those that were a total miss. This list features some ‌of the top anthems since 1962. FIFA released the most recent theme song in April 2022 for the Qatar games. It already has over 14 million hits on YouTube, signifying it might be one for the charts. The choice of artists also may have informed the popularity of the song‌. Various bandmates bring together voices from the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East. Trinidad Cardon is an African-American/Mexican R&B musician, Davido is a Nigerian musician who blends local and English languages, and AISHA who has Arabic roots. FIFA Chief Commercial Officer Kay Madati commented on the multicultural roots of the song, saying, “This song symbolizes how music and football can connect the world.” The lyrics express a bright outlook on the future that is both hopeful and cheerful. Life can be up and down, but what can you do? Eh We navigate through all the rough and the smooth, yeah We got that rock and roll, that rhythm and blues, yeah-yeah I'm never blue if I am rockin’ with you, oh-oh… I promise, I promise, I promise you now Gonna be, gonna be sticking around Every tomorrow, no matter what goes down It has drawn reactions from audiences across the world going by some of the Twitter comments; I'm not here to bant no one. I'm only here to hype Davido. Fifa featuring him in the 2022 world cup theme song was a win for him, his fans, Nigeria and Africa. #ThankyouDavido — J Ndubueze Ejiofor🌍 (@joeejio4) April 4, 2022 Basketmouth has hailed Davido for singlehandedly taking Nigeria to the World Cup via his feature on the theme song for Qatar 2022 pic.twitter.com/ewvUUEoxDW — Naija (@Naija_PR) April 3, 2022 As the tournament draws closer, it is bound to be on heavy rotation. It is, however, still too early to tell how it will perform on the charts. Here are some other hits and misses from over the years. The first World Cup song was sung during the Chilean games in 1962, “El Rock del Mundial” (“The Rock of the World Cup”), composed by Los Ramblers and produced by Jorge Rojas Astorga. The song became a major hit in South America, selling over 2 million copies. They released it as a single a few weeks after the start of the 1962 World Cup, and the group went on a national tour buttressing the success of the song. It established the tradition which has seen a raft of songs become hits, springboarding countless musicians onto the global scene. In 1978, Argentina hosted the World Cup under controversial circumstances of a military regime that sought to use hosting the event to assuage its citizens — a practice known as sportswashing. Perhaps too, this informed the choice of the song El Mundial (translated to The World Cup) performed by the capital city’s symphony Buenos Aires Musical and composed by legendary Italian composed Ennio Morricone. It may have inspired the country to play at its best as Argentina emerged winners after a well-fought final with the favored Netherlands, ending in a 3–1 for the home team. In 1998, they hosted the World Cup in France. Ricky Martin recorded the theme song titled La Copa De La Vida (The Cup of Life). A catchy, energetic, and fun song, it had everything fans wanted in a World Cup theme song. It also helped him transition to international success, and he was invited to perform at the Grammys in the same year, earning a standing ovation. “2010 World Cup opening ceremony” by Shine 2010 – 2010 World Cup good news is licensed under CC BY 2.0. In its Africa debut, it hosted the 2010 World Cup tournament in South Africa. Organizers decided this year's theme song needed to have wide appeal not just across the world but also in the “motherland.” The choice of the song and artist was controversial as critics felt that Shakira did not represent the South African audience, and so to ease off the blow, local act Freshly Ground was incorporated in the final version of the song.