Most played UK National Football Anthems revealed

Most played UK National Football Anthems revealed

Most played UK National Football Anthems revealed  11 h Newsdesk As competition to reach the UEFA EURO 2020 knockout phase heats up between the UK nations, PRS for Music reveals which football anthems score highly for fans.
Topping the Most Played UK National Football Anthems Chart is 90s football anthem, Three Lions, performed by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and the Lightning Seeds.
This year marks 25 years since the original version was the official song of the England team at EURO ’96. With its popular “It’s coming home” refrain, the single has spent 45 weeks in the UK Official Singles Chart, peaking at Number 1.
Written by PRS for Music members Baddiel, Skinner, and Ian Broudie, the song has been re-imagined numerous times in its 25-year history. An enduring favourite with the British public, it was re-released as an unofficial anthem for England’s FIFA World Cup campaign in 1998. More recently, Lucozade Sport rewrote the lyrics as a powerful soliloquy to support the England team at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, where it was aptly renamed Three Lionesses.
Based on exclusive data collected by PRS for Music, the organisation which represents the rights of over 155,500 songwriters, composers and music publishers, the Most Played UK National Football Anthems Chart ranks the official Football Association, FIFA World Cup, and UEFA EURO songs for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, based on streams and downloads across online music and video-on-demand platforms in 2020.
Wales’ official football song for EURO ‘16, Together Stronger (C’mon Wales), written and performed by Manic Street Preachers, appears in PRS’ Most Played UK National Football Anthems Chart at Number 4. While Scotland’s official song for the FIFA World Cup in 1998, Don’t Come Home Too Soon, performed by Del Amitri and written by founding member, Justin Currie, places eighth on the chart. Northern Ireland’s 1982 official FIFA World Cup song, Yer Man, performed by Dana and the Northern Ireland World Cup Squad, is composed by Gerald Brown and husband and wife duo, Dana and Damien Scallon and comes in at Number 15.
Also featured in the chart is England’s 1970 World Cup song, Back Home, and Scotland’s 1974 World Cup song, Easy Easy. Both songs were co-written by Phil Coulter and his longstanding writing partner, Bill Martin, who sadly passed away in 2020.
No tournament would be complete without an unofficial anthem taken on by fans. Fat Les initially found fame when they released parody song, Vindaloo, in the summer of 1998 ahead of the FIFA World Cup, which England supporters adopted alongside the re-imagined Three Lions ’98.
The success of both, overshadowed England’s official song, (How Does it Feel to Be) On Top of the World, performed by supergroup England United, and composed by Johnny Marr alongside Echo and the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant. McCulloch and Sergeant joined Simon Fowler (Ocean Colour Scene), Space, and the Spice Girls, to record the song for England’s 1998 FIFA World Cup campaign and places at Number 14 on the chart.
Not making it into the Most Played UK National Football Anthems Chart, but worthy of honourable mentions; The Tartan Army belts out Yes, Sir I Can Boogie, a 1977 disco tune by Spanish duo Baccara in support of Scotland, while during EURO ’16, Northern Ireland supporters chanted the internet sensation, Will Grigg’s on Fire, set to the tune of Freed From Desire by Italian singer-songwriter, Gala.
Throughout the years, unofficial singles have also raised money for charity. Dizzee Rascal and James Corden’s, Shout, from 2010 was in support of London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, and the London Northern Ireland Supporters’ Club released, Making Our Way to Paris, in 2016 in aid of the NI Cancer Fund for Children.
Cover songs, although official anthems, have not been included in the chart as they were not originally penned for football tournaments. Some of these include; folk song, Wild Mountain Thyme, retitled, Purple Heather, and performed by Rod Stewart and the Scotland Football Squad for Scotland’s EURO ’96 song; England’s EURO 2000 song, Jerusalem, a version of William Blake’s hymn, performed by Fat Les; All Together Now, originally released in 1990 by The Farm, and re-released featuring the SFX Boys’ Choir as the FIFA World Cup 2004 song; and Take That’s 2008 single, Greatest Day, covered by Gary Barlow, Gary Lineker and a host of celebrity friends, for EURO ’14 in aid of Sport Relief.
As last year’s postponed tournament finally gets underway, Welsh rock band, The Alarm has released, The Red Wall of Cymru, as Wales’ official EURO ‘20 song, while Krept and Konan’s official England song, We Are England, is due to tackle the UK Official Singles Chart any day now.
PRS’ Most Played UK National Football Anthems Chart
Rank
Song
Performer(s)
Football Tournament
1
Three Lions
Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds
EURO ‘96
2
World in Motion
Englandneworder
1990 World Cup
3
This Time (We’ll Get it Right)
England World Cup Squad ‘82
1982 World Cup
4
Together Stronger (C’mon Wales)
Manic Street Preachers
EURO ‘16
5
We’re on the Ball
Ant and Dec
2020 World Cup
6
World at Your Feet
Embrace
2026 World Cup
7
Back Home
England World Cup Squad ’70
1970 World Cup
8
Don’t Come Home Too Soon
Del Amitri
1998 World Cup
9
We Have a Dream
The Scottish World Cup Squad
1982 World Cup
10
We’ve Got The Whole World at Our Feet
England World Cup Squad ‘86
1986 World Cup
11
Big Trip to Mexico
The Scottish World Cup Squad
1986 World Cup
12
All the Way
England football team featuring the ‘sound’ of Stock, Aitken & Waterman
EURO ‘88
13
Sing 4 England
Chris ‘Kammy’ Kamara featuring Joe Public Utd
EURO ‘12
14
(How Does it Feel to Be) On Top of the World
England United
1998 World Cup
15
Yer Man
Dana and the Northern Ireland World Cup Squad
1982 World Cup
16
Ole Ola (Mulher Brasileira)
Rod Stewart & Scottish World Cup Squad ’78
1978 World Cup
17
Easy Easy
The Scotland World Cup Squad
1974 World Cup
18
Come On Northern Ireland (We’ll Support You Evermore)
Northern Ireland Football Team
1986 World Cup
NB: Chart rank based on data from streams and downloads across online music and video-on-demand platforms collected by PRS for Music for the period 1 January 2020 – 31

By Peace