Best Sporting Anthems Ever
Published on 19 June 2024
Nothing improves a triumphant sporting moment like an empowering piece of music. Whether it’s a slow-motion 100m sprint at the Olympics, a heart-in-mouth penalty kick at the 89th minute of the World Cup Final or the entrance music of your favourite boxer/MMA fighter/wrestler, all great sports moments are elevated by music.
2024 is looking good for sport fans: we have the European championships right now (if you’re reading this in June!) and the Olympic games next month in Paris, followed by the Paralympics. What all of these upcoming sports moments require is an epic soundtrack to their greatness. I’ve done some digging through the history of sports anthems - both official and adopted - to find the best, most inspiring music: sounds of triumph over adversity, of poetry in motion, of…well, you get the idea.
Today, I aim to serve you up a tasty meal of the greatest tunes, peppered by some offside choices and hopefully no false-starts! Why not incorporate these songs into your morning workout? Lace up your trainers, don that headband and let’s jog, run, swim, skate and climb our way through the Greatest Sports Anthems EVER!!!
Or just have them on in the background when you’re sinking pints during the Euros. Your choice!
The Songs at a Glance
Another One Bites the Dust - Queen
Welcome to the Jungle - Guns ‘n’ Roses
Seven Nation Army - White Stripes
Chariots of Fire - Vangelis
When it comes to moments of slow motion triumph, nothing beats Vangelis’ Oscar-winning score for Chariots of Fire. Encapsulating both determination and glory, it’s a dazzling herald of success that all athletes secretly hear in their head as they reach that unforgiving finish line.
Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
For sportspeople striving for greatness, nothing will pump them up like this power-tune from Rocky III, the second best Rocky movie (discuss amongst yourselves). Importantly, this song speaks to the underdog, about ‘rising up to the challenge of our rivals’ in a way that lights a fire under anyone with burning ambition.
Plus - and I’ve said this before - this tune has the toughest sounding hi-hat performance in music.
We are the Champions - Queen
On the surface of things, this tune seems like the ultimate boast from a winner to their teammates, but when you stop for a second to consider the lyrics, you’ll realise the true meaning. The game/fight/whatever is far from over, and the song’s subject considers themselves a champion not because they’ve won, but because they refuse to give up.
This ‘no time for losers’ mentality is what is required to become as epic as Queen.
Another One Bites the Dust - Queen
That said, Queen also don’t mind pushing their opponents’ noses into the dirt, either. This tune may have been written about any manner of subjects, but for anyone under 50 years old, it’s the soundtrack to weedy opponents getting owned on TV show Gladiators, with the baying crowd dutifully pointing their giant foam hands into the air in time with the song.
Imagine hearing that iconic bassline starting up on the venue PA as you face plant into a padded mat, with some Herculean monster looming over you in triumph! It’s disgraceful. Someone needs to find their Eye of the Tiger, surely.
Nessun Dorma - Puccini
I’m certainly not one to say that popular culture dumbs things down, but I do think it’s a shame that for many people, this incredibly beautiful (and dramatic) piece from Puccini’s opera Turandot is nothing more than the ‘Italia 90 tune’.
Yes, Pavarotti and his pals made a great job of this song, which has never had anything to do with football at all (it’s about a guy keeping everyone in town awake to save his beloved…long story), but it would be amazing to be able to separate the music from the moment. Not so: it will forever be linked to the World Cup, so perfect was the fit between song and sentiment.
The Chain - Fleetwood Mac
Formula One isn’t the type of thing you’d normally associate with tunes, but all anybody has to do is hum the first few notes of The Chain’s bassline and you’ll instantly start smelling burning rubber and engine oil. It’s so associated with fast cars rattling around corners that it’s almost bizarre when you stick the song on by itself and realise there’s a whole entire tune there before that bassline shows up!
Song 2 - Blur
From football to ice hockey and pretty much every competitive sport going, there is and will always be the need for a crowd to shout ‘WOO-HOO’ at the top of their lungs.
Blur have kindly obliged the world with perhaps the most simple and direct song they’ve ever written. Audience participation relies on things not getting too complicated, but even the drunkest of sports fan can yell ‘woo hoo’ at the correct moment, making this a mainstay for sporting events.
Welcome to the Jungle - Guns ‘n’ Roses
This huge stadium anthem has everything a proper sports anthem needs: a singalong chorus, a banging riff and a crazy/infectious vocal part (n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-knees, knees!) that ensures audience participation.
It matters not which ‘jungle’ (sport) you find yourself in: if you’re in the jungle baby, you’re gonna diiiiiiie!
Seven Nation Army - White Stripes
I’m led to believe that this particular tune has been co-opted into the Euros by a certain competing country, though for neutrality, I shall refrain from further description!
Aside from this use, Seven Nation Army has enjoyed a long association of inclusion at sporting events. I suspect it’s mainly because of the ear-worm bassline and stomping groove, but the lyrical content “I'm gonna fight 'em off, A seven nation army couldn't hold me back” also delivers the requisite ‘performance’ edge that all real sports anthems require.
Thunderstruck - AC/DC
You hear it at the wrestling, you hear it at the UFC, it’s on at the rugby even: AC/DC’s Thunderstruck is just one of many great acka-dacka tunes that fit perfectly into the sports arena.
Whilst this and most other songs on this list don’t have a literal connection to a particular sport, it’s the energy of the tune (and probably the implied effect of being ‘thunderstruck’ by one’s opponent) that makes this a sporting anthem for the ages.
Rollin’ - Limp Bizkit
I could fill an entire blog with wrestling intro themes. It might not actually be a bad idea, but until I get around to that, let me choose this one for its crossover appeal!
Most guitarists of a heavier persuasion don’t need to be convinced of the value of Wes Borland, the arty & enigmatic guitarist of Limp Bizkit. He’s a one-off and one heck of a riff-writer, as you can no doubt notice here in this hit nu-metal song, which also happens to be the entrance music for The Undertaker.
Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
When England won the Women's Euros in 2020, the moment was made extra special when a little girl performed Sweet Caroline, the unofficial anthem of the event.
This Neil Diamond classic is also a big song for baseball team the Boston Red Sox, so it has a strong across-the-board appeal.
World Cup Anthems
This is another one that could fill a whole blog: World Cup tunes. I used Nessun Dorma earlier because it’s quite distinct from the poppier efforts of usual World Cup tie-in tunes.
For those kinds of songs, there are loads of contenders, ranging from the sublime to the bonkers. Favourites (not mine) include Waka Waka by Shakira (2010 World Cup), and the ubiquitous Three Lions by the Lightning Seeds with Baddiel and Skinner.
Top spot for World Cup tunes, though, still has to be the cringey mess/total genius that is World in Motion. It’s by New Order, but you have to love how Google lists it as by ‘England National Football Team and New Order’, as if Gazza and co were up all night with their acoustic guitars bashing out a good writing sesh!
Joy Division/New Order bassist Peter Hook tells the tale of this tune’s recording quite hilariously in his book Substance, so head there for the first-hand lowdown. If you watch the video below, do make sure you hang on for John Barnes’ immortal rap section near the end. Absolute, solid gold. It even has its own section in Wikipedia!
Sport and Music
Whilst it is possible to play sport without music accompanying it, it’s obviously much better when there’s a soundtrack. I think today’s magnificent blog choices have made this quite plain: music makes everything better, so sport obviously counts too.
Do you have any particular favourite sporting anthems? Do certain songs remind you of amazing times with friends, watching sport and having a great time? I hope so, because that’s what it’s all about.
I hope this year brings lots of excellent new sporting moments to you all, delivered with the best tunes in the world to accompany them!
