Music has always been intrinsically linked to the World Cup, beginning with the 1962 World Cup which had the song El Rock del Mundial, song by Chilean rock band Los Ramblers, as its official anthem.
On an official note, World Cup Willie (Where In This World We Are Going) , by Scottish singer Lonnie Donegan for England 1966 , is considered the first official World Cup anthem
From then it has been tradition to have an official song: El Mundial (Spain 1982), A Special Kind of Hero (México 1986), Un'estate italiana (To Be Number One) (Italy 1990) and Gloryland (USA 1994), The first official song (as chosen by FIFA) was La Copa de la Vida (The Cup of Life) (France 1998) , performed by Puerto Rico's Ricky Martin.
Aside from being the first song to represent the World Cup officially, its 1999 Grammy rendition was seen by millions of people in over 40 countries.
The songs for South Korea/Japan 22, Boom , and Germany 2006, The Time of Our Lives , had moderate success but all that changed with the extremely popular Waka Waka . The South Africa 2010 official song recorded by Colombian singer Shakira and South African band Freshlyground was an international sensation.
Although the Brazil 2014 tournament has yet to begin, it already has its official song. It is We Are One (Ole Ola) interpreted by Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte.