Recapping the World Cup in Pop Stardom, Including Shakira, Justin Bieber and ‘Wonderwall’: Greatest Pop Stars Podcast

This Pop Star Performance Review episode of 'Greatest Pop Stars' looks at the stars who impacted the past six weeks of World Cup action, particularly at the first-ever finals halftime show. Shakira performs at half time during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final match between Spain and Argentina at New York New Jersey Stadium on July 19, 2026 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Ian MacNicol/Getty Images Trending on Billboard It’s been a week of global emptiness following the resolution of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Sunday, where Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 to put an end to an extremely fun six weeks of tournament action. While La Roja celebrates and the 47 countries previously eliminated lick their wounds and begin to prepare for 2030, it’s also a good time to evaluate the impact the Cup had on the pop stars most notably involved — in the tournament’s official theme music, in some of the countries official (or unofficial) anthems, and of course, in the star-studded first-ever final halftime show. Explore See latest videos, charts and news On this week’s Pop Star Performance Review episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, we’re already getting wistful about the 2026 World Cup and the artists and songs that helped to define it. Host and soccer novice Andrew Unterberger is joined by the more-football-versed Thomas Smith of Billboard UK to run down what went right and what went wrong with the music at the tournament — as well as with the performance of his own much-beloved (and occasionally much-hated) Team England. Along the way, we answer all the most pressing questions about music at the 2026 Cup: Was the final halftime show grotesque, inevitable or both? Did Chris Martin make sense as the guy to put the first version of it together? How are we feeling about that Justin Bieber acoustic performance? Did Madonna and BTS really need to choose such old songs when they both have new albums out? Is “Dai Dai” already a World Cup classic (and should Shakira have just done the whole halftime)? Did Oasis’ “Wonderwall” actually gain new resonance as a Team England anthem — and how heartbroken are we that it got stuck at No. 2 on the UK charts again? And perhaps most importantly: What are we gonna do with our lives now that we don’t have the World Cup every day? Check it out above, and please subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom. And as we say in every one of these GPS podcast posts — if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights: Transgender Law Center Trans Lifeline Destination Tomorrow Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe Human Rights Campaign – In Your Area Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up