10 million views in 24 hours. That was enough for FIFA to come knocking on IShowSpeed’s door. 🤯
Darren Watkins Jr., the 21-year-old American streamer, released ‘World Cup (Champions)’ on June 1, 2026 through Warner Records — an unofficial World Cup anthem that mentions the 48 participating countries, with flags, Ghanaian dancers, and everything. He was so confident in his song that he wrote directly to FIFA on social media asking them to consider it for the tournament’s official album. Two days later, FIFA replied to him via Instagram DM: they accepted. On June 3, the track was officially included in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Album tracklist, alongside Shakira, Lisa, and Anitta. 🏆
Speed found out in the middle of a livestream, read the message live in front of his followers, and celebrated with a flip on the floor. It’s not the first time he’s pulled it off: his song for the 2022 Qatar World Cup already has more than 212 million views on YouTube, where netizens are comparing the current anthem with Shakira’s song Dai Dai, which racked up more than 11.5 million views on YouTube in just 48 hours. In this way, with the views rising to match the World Cup icon herself, how many artists can say they earned a place in FIFA through audience power alone? 🎶🌍