The Jam, Chumbawamba, Foster The People, Bastille — just some of the names that somehow didn't make this list. Let chaos commence
Right, let's start this off by stating the obvious: this is an IMPOSSIBLY hard task and we have no idea why we subjected ourselves to it - but
FIFA is on our mind so we did it anyway.
With the release of
FIFA 22, we've been getting stuck into not only the game but its soundtrack. It's one of the greatest honours that can ever be bestowed upon an artist to be included on the list of '
EA Trax'.
Catfish and the Bottlemen once said they knew they'd made it after they popped up on
FIFA for the first time and we couldn't agree mo—oh sh*t, we forgot to put Catfish on the list... Never mind, it's too late now, we're committed! Without further ado, here are
JOE's Top 10 FIFA songs of all time.
10. 'Red Morning Light' - Kings of Leon (FIFA 2004)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv7vr6oE3U8
Oof, strong start if we do say so ourselves.
Kings of Leon practically made their career on our shores and before the likes of 'Sex on Fire', 'Use Somebody' etc., one of their most beloved tunes made its way on to
FIFA '04 (
FIFA Football 2004, to use its full name at the time). They only got bigger from there and so did the game.
9. 'Machu Picchu' - The Strokes (FIFA 12)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt_F4J4O-xo
Fast-forwarding a few years to late 2011 and
FIFA 12 drops right around the time
The Strokes came back after a five-year hiatus that felt more like an eternity. Nevertheless, what better way to welcome them back than by whacking them on the
FIFA soundtrack. Brilliant band, brilliant album, brilliant game.
8. 'The Nights' - Avicii (FIFA 15)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtF6Jej8yb4
We couldn't possibly write this list without including the late, great
Avicii, who the world sadly lost back in 2018. His impact on electronic, dance and pop speaks for itself; he released so many great tracks as an artist and a producer that you'd run out of fingers to count on and 'The Nights' goes down in the annals of great
FIFA tunes purely on merit too. Banger. Rest in peace.
7. 'Helicopter' - Bloc Party (FIFA 06)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R6S5CJWlco
Another huuuge tune.
Bloc Party have plenty of solid tunes, many of which featured on
FIFAs down the years - but there's only one that comes to mind first really. Maybe it's the instantly recognisable vocals, that very British indie-rock sound that captured the zeitgeist of the early 00s, or the sheer pace of the tune but you can almost feel yourself back on the menu screen ready to play.
6. 'Goodbye Mr. A' - The Hoosiers (FIFA 08)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeNNfS0ZTnU
When we suggested this there was some resistance among the camp (you know who you are) but we simply refuse to bend on this one: 'Goodbye Mr. A' is a cheery indie-pop track in its own right but also unavoidably synonymous with
FIFA. The series really found its feet this year too, as it was the first game on the next-gen at the time (
PS3). Strong era for
FIFA and
gaming.
5. 'L.S.F.' - Kasabian (FIFA 2004)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYYp5-mGQRI
We're rewinding to
FIFA 2004 again with
Kasabian and 'L.S.F.' - stands for 'Lost Souls Forever' in case you didn't know, by the way - another band that had literally just broken onto the scene and added fuel to that beautiful
Brit-pop fire. They obviously went on to do huge things and feature on multiple instalments throughout their career but this is surely the best one?
4. 'Rockafeller Skank' - Fatboy Slim (FIFA 99)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMrIy9zm7QY
Now we're talking. Not only a true
FIFA hall of famer (the game and the tune, to be fair) but somehow always feels like a football tune to us; we swear it used to be on every Pepsi advert, in every football-related scene in a movie or TV show and on every highlight reel back in the day. It might not have, we could just be imagining it but you know what we mean, don't you?
3. 'Song 2' - Blur (FIFA: Road To World Cup 98)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSbBvKaM6sk
We're really getting to the business end: top three and starting to question our form throughout the previous seven picks but it's too late for that, we move. This one pretty much picked itself: an utterly gargantuan tune in its own right that obviously transcends
FIFA: Road To World Cup 98 but
Blur's two-minute thrasher is basically a ready-made football compilation song.
2. 'Fools Gold' - The Stone Roses (FIFA 2004)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSD11dnphg0
These last three tracks all pretty much picked themselves to be honest and we're starting to notice a pattern: FIFA 2004 was just elite. From the equivalent of a relentless onslaught of fast, free-flowing football, to the chilled vibes of a freestyler on the courts. For a younger generation, this was likely their first foray into
The Stone Roses and oh my, what introduction it was.
1. 'Jerk It Out' - Caesars (FIFA 2004)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w869Avr_fXI
Say what you will about the rest of our list but we will simply not be backing down on this one. If you somehow don't think this is
the quintessential
FIFA song and the one everyone immediately thinks of when you think of the best
FIFA tracks of all time, you're just wrong — end of.
We've all had it playing in our heads whilst we skinned up a mate on the pitch; we all hope it'll be included as the classic pick when the new game comes out every year, and we all scream our heads off if it comes on in the outside world, at a club or at a party for one reason: 'Jerk It Out' simply
is FIFA and they cannot be separated. A truly iconic marriage.
And that's all folks! Those are our top 10 greatest FIFA songs of all time. It can't be overstated how difficult that was and how many people we've almost certainly pissed off by not including their favourite. That being said, this section is for you.
Honourable mentions
- 'Club Foot' - Kasabian (FIFA 13)
- 'On Top Of The World' - Imagine Dragons (FIFA 13)
- 'Stop the Rock' - Apollo 440 (FIFA 2000)
- 'Love Me Again' - John Newman (FIFA 14)
- 'Do You Remember The Time?' - ISLAND (FIFA 22) - you might not know it yet but trust me, you will.
To be honest, this section could go on forever: K'NAAN's 'Wavin' Flag' from the 2010 World Cup game, 'Fit but You Know' by The Streets, 'Young Folks' Peter Bjorn & John - you have no idea the guilt we feel for all the tracks we had to leave out of this list but had to stop ourselves otherwise it would go on forever.
However, lucky for you, you can find full playlists all over Spotify and the like that have every song ever included on there to get you back in the swing of it. You can also read our full
FIFA 22 review and, rest assured, it's just as jam-packed with bangers as it is every year.
Related links:
