NPR | Monday, July 20, 2026 
A cavalcade of international stars headlined the World Cup’s first-ever halftime final show

As of halftime, the World Cup final Sunday was still anybody’s game, with Argentina and Spain tied 0-0. But there’s been one winner already – if for nothing but sheer logistics: FIFA managed to pull off its first-ever World Cup final halftime show, featuring a parade of many of the biggest names in music, from Madonna to Coldplay. The organizers summoned big names from six continents, and oh boy, did they show up to represent.

• From North America: Justin Bieber and Madonna (whose new album just debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200).
• From Asia: the world’s most famous K-pop group, BTS.
• From South America: Shakira (the undisputed World Cup queen) and conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who led hemisphere-spanning musicians from his two orchestras, the New York Philharmonic (where he will start as artistic and music director this September) and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela.
• From Africa: Burna Boy, the Afrobeats superstar who duetted with Shakira on this year’s official World Cup song.
• From Europe, even in this post-Brexit era: Coldplay, fronted by Chris Martin.
• From Australia, the Iraq-born singer Emmanuel Kelly…Read more