Shakira was spending the holidays at her farm in Uruguay, across a vast ocean from South Africa, host country of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, when she conceived “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa).” Already a global phenom known for her vocals and dance moves, the Colombian star had quickly gone to work when presented with the opportunity to write a song for the upcoming soccer tournament, and she soon turned a track around that fused genres, languages and multinational beats with abandon.

“It was sort of magical the way it happened, because I was just walking from the barn into the house, and I started singing the melody of the verse, with the lyrics, automatically, in English,” Shakira says. “It was like someone was dictating it from above. And I felt so connected to my childhood, to my roots, to my Afro Caribbean roots as well … I was so excited, I called the people at Sony and told them I had just written the most amazing World Cup song.”

“Waka Waka,” produced by Shakira with John Hill, was already catchy — but it became even more so after a fortuitous encounter in a New York studio between Hill and South African pop fusion group Freshly-ground, which then contributed to the song, adding a musical element that honored the host nation.

“Shakira moved swiftly from interest to creation, writing and recording a track that stood apart from the musical landscape at the time,” recalls Dusko Justic, senior vp of international artist strategy and development for Sony Latin Iberia, who at the time was responsible for the A&R and marketing for the official FIFA World Cup music program. “Once FIFA heard the finished record, there was no debate.”

For nearly four decades, FIFA has partnered with prominent musicians to craft songs that celebrate the World Cup and its competing nations. “Waka Waka,” the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, remains the most successful World Cup song in history and a global juggernaut; its video has been viewed a staggering 4.4 billion times on YouTube, making it the platform’s eighth most viewed music video of all time. A decade after its release, Shakira would perform the enduring hit at another globally watched sporting event: the Super Bowl LIV halftime show, where it ended her co-headlining set with Jennifer Lopez.

“Waka Waka” had all the elements that make for a successful and enduring World Cup song: a danceable, uptempo beat to resonate with audiences around the world (the song samples “Zamina Mina [Zangaléwa],” by Cameroonian band Golden Sounds), an artist with global appeal and reach, and a featured artist representing the host nation. Shakira also recorded the song in Spanish, which drew in her Latin fan base. And significantly, she was already a genuine soccer aficionado; the song’s music video not only incorporated her signature dance moves but also major soccer stars from Lionel Messi to Gerard Piqué, who became Shakira’s longtime partner and the father of her two sons after meeting her at the video shoot.

World Cup songs are not always such massive hits — nor were they always officially sanctioned by FIFA. The first World Cup was played in 1930, but the event wouldn’t designate a song as “official” until the 1962 event in Chile when Chilean band Los Ramblers’ “El Rock del Mundial” was declared the tournament’s official song.

It’s unclear when FIFA became actively involved in the song’s selection (the organization did not respond to Billboard’s requests for comment), though multiple reports cite Italian composer Giorgio Moroder’s “To Be Number One,” recorded for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

Since then, every tournament has had an official song, anthem or — for the past several World Cups — both. (The exact distinction between these designations has shifted over the years.) Some of them have been performed at the closing ceremony (as was the case with “Live It Up,” performed by Nicky Jam, Will Smith and Era Istrefi in 2018) and some at the opening ceremony (like 2014’s “We Are One [Ole Ola],” performed in Brazil by Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian artist Claudia Leitte).

But record labels didn’t -fully appreciate the possibilities of official songs until the 1998 tournament in France when, in addition to the official anthem (Youssou N’Dour and Axelle Red’s “La Cour des Grands [Do You Mind If I Play]”), Ricky Martin released the official song, “The Cup of Life.” With both English and Spanish (“La Copa de la Vida”) versions and its French rallying cry of “allez, allez, allez,” the track made the World Cup “the most influential and pivotal platform in the transition of helping to create the Latin explosion,” says Tommy Mottola, who was then Sony Music chairman.

“The Cup of Life,” with its mix of brash trumpets and Brazilian batucada, was a global hit, peaking at No. 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spending 34 weeks on the chart, long after the monthlong tournament had ended. It was so successful, in fact, that when Martin earned a 1999 Grammy nomination for best Latin pop performance for his Spanish-language album Vuelve (which included “The Cup of Life”), Mottola pushed hard to have him on the show, over the Recording Academy’s objections.

After the academy relented, the rest was history. Martin’s exuberant performance of “The Cup of Life” — complete with a huge backing band and performers on stilts — became what then-UTA head Rob Prinz called “the single biggest game-changing moment for any artist in the history of the Grammys.” It not only catapulted his career into the mainstream but also helped to usher in “the Latin explosion,” as it would become known stateside. “[Taking it] from the platform of the World Cup to the stage of the Grammys really was the key to set off this Latin explosion,” Mottola says. “There would probably be no Bad Bunny without this.”

The World Cup is, by far, the most widely seen sporting event in the world, with an estimated 5 billion people tuning in to watch the 2022 edition at some point, including 1.5 billion viewers for the tournament’s final match, according to FIFA. But while that platform “100% provides value” to any music release, Mottola says, it doesn’t guarantee huge, or lasting, commercial success.

Sony Music — which was FIFA’s official label partner for many years until 2019 — released “The Cup of Life” and “Waka Waka,” and in their wake, the importance of music as a promotional vehicle during the World Cup soared. What was once one “official” song became many, with tournament sponsors, broadcasters and individual countries commissioning original tracks.

“It used to be that there was a single song that FIFA chose and everybody used that song,” says Afo Verde, chairman/CEO of Sony Music Latin Iberia. “But after ‘Waka Waka,’ every brand, every network wanted to have a World Cup song. And while a hit is not something you simply dictate … it helps when there is a single song that’s played everywhere you go.”

But, Verde continues bluntly, “you need a real hit. And you look for a hit informed by what’s happening on the planet, what the social climate is. You need to embody the spirit of the sport, convey a message of unity, understanding it’s a competition. The song needs to reflect that each team is going to give their all.”

In 2021, FIFA launched its FIFA Sound strategy, meant to connect soccer and music fans, and partnered with Universal Music Group for a series of releases and initiatives that included the first-ever multisong FIFA World Cup official soundtrack for the 2022 event in Qatar.

From that soundtrack, “Arhbo,” performed by Ozuna with Congolese French rapper and singer–songwriter GIMS and produced by RedOne, topped Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart for three weeks in 2022.

At press time, FIFA had yet to announce an official tournament song or anthem for this year’s event, which will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. But official FIFA songs already include Robbie Williams’ “Desire” (penned for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup), while last year Telemundo premiered its own official song, “Somos Más,” performed by Carlos Vives, Xavi, Wisin and Emilia.

There have been notable World Cup songs through the years. In 2014, “We Are One” hit No. 59 on the Hot 100; as of Jan. 22, it has 146.5 million on-demand official streams, according to Luminate. And K’Naan’s “Wavin’ Flag” from 2010 was chosen by Coca-Cola as its official song for the tournament, garnering 161.6 million on-demand streams in the United States and reaching No. 82 on the Hot 100.

But none have come close to “Waka Waka” in consumption or longevity — perhaps in part because Shakira fully understood the importance of the sport in the creation of the music, a rare combination.

“A World Cup song needs to have that feeling of adrenaline that you get when you’re playing or when you’re watching an exciting game,” she says. “A suspenseful pre-chorus, a joyous, explosive chorus. You have to feel the payoff. And I think the rhythm is important, so people can celebrate not only with the words but also with dancing, with their bodies. I think music is the best vehicle for moments of extreme emotion, like a World Cup can be.”

This story appears in the Feb. 7, 2026, issue of Billboard.

If it seems like your favorite K-pop star is everywhere all the time when they have a new album or tour to promote, there’s a good reason for that. In a new chat with The Hollywood Reporter ENHYPEN member Jake broke down the rigors of the K-pop fame machine, telling the magazine that “you can’t really expect to have a normal life,” when you’re thrust into the genre’s hype cycle.

“Other K-pop artists or other K-pop seniors that have been doing this for longer than me. They know what I’ve gone through,” he said of the grueling scheduled of rehearsals, recording and promotion. “They all went through the same thing. I feel like it’s important to share what you’re feeling because if you want to ask advice for anything related to your life or my life as a K-pop artist, there’s no one that can relate to it other than the same people that are doing it. I don’t really know a lot of people, to be honest.”

Jake, 23, who slid into a producer role on the septet’s recent album, The Sin : Vanish, said stepping behind the boards “sparked something inside me that I didn’t really know that I had,” because, if he’s being honest, sometimes being a K-pop idol is “very repetitive. We wake up, we have a very tight and set schedule down to the minute. We have to wake up at this hour, this minute. We end our schedule at this [time]. I used to enjoy that.”

And while he likes that kind of regimented schedule and said he’s just naturally “wired that way,” sometimes without him realizing it the non-stop schedule can get “very tiring.” Switching things up and trying his hand at production, though, has helped Jake escape that exhausting cycle, if only for a little while. Jake said that taking the helm on the new LP’s opening narration track, “The Beginning,” and the song “Sleep Tight” was one of his personal goals for the year.

“It’s the first time I really worked on the track. I would usually just work on the melodies or the topline on a song, but it’s the first time that I really just started working on it from scratch,” he said. “It was a very new experience. I found out that I might be better at the producing of the track. A very close producer that I always worked with, he told me that I might be better at doing the track instead of the top melody. It just all came along together very smoothly, which is kind of surprising because it’s the first time for me to really work on a song on an album. I was very lucky and very surprised.”

Learning a new skill is key to staying relevant in what Jake confirmed is the rapidly evolving K-pop universe, one that is quick to react to trends and changes as the industry cranks out a steady stream of new acts, each striving to carve a unique lane to break through to global audiences. “I feel like the fact about K-pop that every K-pop artist knows but does’t want to talk about is that [the] K-pop industry is very competitive, right?,” Jake said. “We all say we don’t want it to be, or we want everyone to do their own thing… Every K-pop artist is different.”

Jake said the ever-changing, “fast-paced” series of concepts his fellow K-pop bands roll out in search of a leg up on the competition keeps the genre as up-to-date as any other. “You have to be on top of everything,” the singer said. “We would be lying if we said we didn’t feel any pressure. We are very confident in our abilities to always put out something different or a different concept. I feel like we’re confident in that way… We all try to be the first to do something and be the first to do something different, and I think we definitely did that for this album.”

Don’t get him wrong, though, Jake loves what he does and wouldn’t change it for anything. “We enjoy performing in front of our fans, and I think that’s what motivates us during the hard times, which is before we come back, before we put out an album, the few months or the half a year that we have to put in doing the music videos, recordings, making the album, that’s the hard bit,” he explained. “Just the thought of putting this album out and singing this song in front of our fans is what helps us get through the few months.”

ENHYPEN recently released the trailer for ENHYPEN [WALK THE LINE SUMMER EDITION] IN CINEMAS, a tour documentary for the film that will hit movie theaters for a limited engagement on March 5 and 7.

The Bad Bunny Bowl is in the books. Now, only one question remains: Who should headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2027?

As always, the internet is already rife with speculation about which major artist could take the baton at the next Big Game, which is slated for Feb. 14 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. One name that inevitably comes up every year is Taylor Swift, who definitely has the star power and catalog of hits to dominate the stage for 10 minutes — though she said in 2025 that she probably won’t take the gig for as long as fiancé Travis Kelce is playing in the NFL.

“Can you imagine that he’s out there every single week, like, putting his life on the line, doing this very dangerous, very high pressure, high intensity sport, and I’m like, ‘I wonder what my choreo should be?’” she joked to Jimmy Fallon in October.

But who knows? The Eras Tour might change her mind, or maybe either of the world’s biggest K-pop groups — BTS and BLACKPINK — will get the gig, with both of them scheduled to make huge comebacks with new albums in 2026. Post Malone and Morgan Wallen, with their widely loved, chart-topping discographies are also favorites, while either Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus or Harry Styles could bring some pop energy to the league. Perhaps Lil Wayne will get the chance to headline the mid-game spectacle after feeling snubbed a year ago when Kendrick Lamar won it over him, or Drake could finally have his opportunity to hit back at Dot’s 2025 halftime disses with a show of his own.

And then there’s always the possibility that Jay-Z himself will do the honors. The rap icon’s Roc Nation has overseen the booking of the halftime performer since 2019, and though he hasn’t released an album in nearly a decade, there’s always a chance he’ll use the Super Bowl stage to launch his long-awaited, highly anticipated return to dropping music and performing.

It’ll be many months before we know for sure who’s headlining Super Bowl LXI, but right now, Billboard wants to know who you’d pick. Vote for which artist you think should perform at halftime next year in the poll below.

The 68th annual Grammy Awards were presented just nine days ago, so how can we already be thinking ahead to next year’s awards? Well, even though many execs who flew out to L.A. for the Grammys haven’t even filed their expense reports yet, we’re nearly halfway through the eligibility year for the 69th annual Grammy Awards – Aug. 31, 2025 through Aug. 30, 2026.

Last year at this point, four of the eight albums that were later nominated for album of the year had been released – Leon Thomas’ MUTT, Tyler, the Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA, Kendrick Lamar’s GNX and the eventual winner, Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos. A fifth eventual nominee, Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM, was just weeks away from its March 7 release. The other three nominated albums were both released during the summer: Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out and Justin Bieber’s Swag (both released on July 11) and Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend (on Aug. 29, just one day before the close of the eligibility year).

The 2026 Grammy telecast is already shaping up be a momentous one in Grammy history. The show will air on ABC and stream on Disney+ and Hulu, marking the first time the show hasn’t aired on CBS since the second live telecast in 1972 (which, like the first, aired on ABC). And the show will have a new host for the first time since Trevor Noah first stepped into the role in 2021.

Here are early front-runners for album of the year and record of the year at the 69th annual Grammy Awards. They are listed in alphabetical order, as they will be on the Grammy nominations list this fall. (Last year, nominations were announced on Nov. 7.) They are followed by shortlists of other possibilities, also listed in alphabetical order.

Album of the Year

Best bets

Brandi Carlile, Returning to Myself: This would be Carlile’s third solo studio album in a row to be nominated in this category, following By the Way, I Forgive You and In These Silent Days. Carlile produced this album, her eighth solo studio set, alongside Andrew Watt, Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon. Billboard 200 peak: No. 7.

Olivia Dean, The Art of Loving: This is the second studio album by the British singer who won best new artist on Feb. 1. Dean produced it alongside various producers including Julian Bunetta, Matt Hales, Leon Michels and John Ryan. Billboard 200 peak: No. 3.

Lana Del Rey, Stove: Release date TBD. This would be Del Rey’s third album to be nominated in this category, following Norman F—king Rockwell! and Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. Jack Antonoff, Drew Erickson and Luke Laird produced the album, which is Del Rey’s 10th studio set.

Noah Kahan, The Great Divide: Release date: April 24. This would be Kahan’s first nomination in this category. He was up for best new artist at the 2024 ceremony. Gabe Simon and Aaron Dessner produced the album. If both this and Carlile’s album are nominated, Dessner could have two nominations in this category.

Bruno Mars, The Romantic: Release date: Feb. 27. This would be Mars’ third album to be nominated in this category, following his 2010 debut, Doo-Wops and Hooligans, and his 2016 album 24K Magic, which won. (An Evening With Silk Sonic, his album with Anderson .Paak, very likely would have received a nod in 2023 had the pair not “gracefully, humbly… sexually” declined to submit it for consideration.) Mars and D’Mile produced the album, which is Mars’ fourth solo studio set.

Rosalía, LUX: Last year, the Recording Academy invited members of the Latin Recording Academy to join its ranks and nearly 1,000 took them up on the offer. Their votes helped Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos win album of the year and Buena Vista Social Club win best musical theater album. Given that, it’s hard to imagine them not renewing their Recording Academy memberships. Rosalía’s album has gotten rapturous reviews. The Spanish singer would become the first female artist to land an album of the year nod with a Spanish-language album. In 2020, Rosalía became the first artist who records in Spanish to land a best new artist nod. Rosalía produced the album, her fourth studio set, alongside various producers, including Pharrell Williams and Nija Charles. Billboard 200 peak: No. 4.

Harry Styles, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally: Release Date: March 6. This would be Styles’s second studio album in a row to be nominated, following Harry’s House, which won. Kid Harpoon, who was one of the producers of that album, also produced this set, which is Styles’ fourth solo studio album.

Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl: This would be Swift’s eighth nomination in this category, which is more than anyone else in Grammy history for strictly solo albums. That needs a little explanation: Frank Sinatra received eight nominations, but one was for a collab with Antonio Carlos Jobim. Paul McCartney had nine nominations and George Harrison had eight, but those total combine Beatles and post-Beatles albums. Swift produced the album, her 12th studio set, with Max Martin and Shellback. Swift’s last four regular studio albums – Folklore, Evermore, Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department – were nominated in this category. If Showgirl also makes it, she’ll become just the second artist in Grammy history (following Kendrick Lamar) to be nominated with five consecutive studio albums. Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (12 weeks).

Other possibilities

Zach Bryan, With Heaven on Top; Cardi B, Am I the Drama?, J. Cole, The Fall-Off; Geese, Getting Killed; Ella Langley, Dandelion (April 10), RAYE, This Music May Contain Hope (March 27); Tame Impala, Deadbeat; Lola Young, I’m Only F—ing Myself

Record of the Year

Best bets

Olivia Dean, “Man I Need”: This would be Dean’s first nomination in this category. She performed an abridged version of the stylish song in the best new artist medley on this year’s Grammys. Hot 100 peak so far: No. 2.

Noah Kahan, “The Great Divide”: This would be Kahan’s first nomination in this category. The song was featured in an extended MasterCard ad on this year’s Grammy telecast. Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra,” which was featured in a similar ad on the 2025 Grammy telecast, landed a record of the year nod this year. Hot 100 peak so far: No. 6.

Ella Langley, “Choosin’ Texas”: This would be Langley’s first nomination in this category, and the first for a core country artist performing a country record since Lady Antebellum won for “Need You Now” in 2011. Taylor Swift already had one foot out the door on her transition to pop when “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” was nominated at the 2013 ceremony. Maren Morris’ collab with Zedd and Grey on “The Middle,” nominated at the 2019 ceremony, was marketed as a pop record. Lil Nas X’s collab with Billy Ray Cyrus on “Old Town Road,” a nominee at the 2020 ceremony, was a hip-hop/country fusion. Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ’Em,” a nominee at the 2025 ceremony, was a country foray by a pop superstar. Hot 100 peak: No. 1 (one week so far).

Bruno Mars, “I Just Might”: This would be Mars’ eighth nomination in this category as an artist. In addition, he was nominated at the 2011 ceremony as a producer of Cee Lo Green’s “F—k You.” Only Beyoncé has had more nominations in this category as an artist (nine). Mars performed “I Just Might” on this year’s Grammys. He has performed just-released songs that went on to be record and/or song of the year nominees the following year four times – “Grenade,” “Locked Out of Heaven,” “That’s What I Like” and the Silk Sonic smash “Leave the Door Open.” Just as Grammy voters love Mars, so too do Grammy telecast producers, who keep giving him priceless promotional opportunities. Hot 100 peak: No. 1 (two weeks so far).

RAYE, “Where Is My Husband!”: This would be RAYE’s first nomination in this category. RAYE has received four Grammy nods, including one for best new artist at the 2025 ceremony. This irresistible record is a hoot. Deep trivia: More than six decades ago, there was a record of the year nominee about wives, Jack Jones’ suave “Wives and Lovers.” Unfortunately, the song is marred by a chauvinistic lyric that hasn’t aged well. Hot 100 peak so far: No. 13.

Rosalia featuring Yahritza y Su Esencia, “La Perla”: This would be Rosalia’s first nomination in this category. This would be the second Spanish-language song in as many years to be nominated in this category, following Bad Bunny’s “DtMF.” Hot 100 peak so far: No. 82.

Harry Styles, “Aperture”: This would be Styles’ second nomination in this category, following “As It Was” at the 2023 ceremony. A key line in the song is “we belong together,” which was the title of a Mariah Carey smash that was nominated in this category at the 2006 ceremony. Hot 100 peak: No. 1 (one week so far).

Taylor Swift, “The Fate of Ophelia”: This would be Swift’s seventh nod in this category – a category she has yet to win. (Though her record four album of the year wins probably help ease the sting.) Hot 100 peak so far: No. 1 (10 weeks).

Other possibilities

Brandi Carlile, “Church & State”; Sabrina Carpenter, “Tears”; Lana Del Rey, “White Feather-Hawk Tail Deer Hunter”; Sienna Spiro, “Die on This Hill”; Tame Impala, “Dracula”