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The World Cup final made history as the most-watched soccer game of all time in the United States, averaging nearly 39 million viewers.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup final on Sunday broke records in the United States as the most-watched FIFA World Cup final and most-watched soccer game overall in the country’s history.
According to Nielsen, the game averaged 38,937,000 viewers on Fox. Viewership spiked at 51,685,000 as Spain secured its victory over Argentina with the only goal of the game. Once the Telemundo and Peacock ratings are accounted for, the total is expected to jump higher once both English and Spanish broadcasts are included.
In terms of the halftime show, the event was an easy win for all the performers involved. This year’s official anthem, “Dai Dai,” by Shakira and Burna Boy, saw a 155% streaming boost. Robbie Williams and Laura Pausini’s previous FIFA anthem, “Desire,” saw a massive 945% increase in streams.
Justin Bieber’s acoustic performance of “Everything Hallelujah” earned a 240% boost, while Madonna’s “Music” triggered a 180% surge in streams. BTS’ football-lyric rendition of “Dynamite” netted a cool 105% streaming spike. Interestingly, Oasis’ “Wonderwall” is also back on the charts, despite not appearing in the halftime show, after England fans adopted it as their team anthem.
However, despite a record-breaking turnout in the U.S., the event still can’t hold a candle to the Super Bowl. This year’s halftime show with headliner Bad Bunny scored nearly 126 million views—more than three times the FIFA final. But that just speaks to the power American football holds over the country compared to soccer in the rest of the world.
Still, the 2026 FIFA final’s viewership was up 132% on the 2022 edition (France vs. Argentina, held in Qatar), which averaged 16,784,000 viewers. The 2018 final in Russia (France vs. Croatia) raked in 11,441,000, meaning the 2026 edition was up 240% in viewership.
The U.S. Men’s National Team’s loss to Belgium in the Round of 16 on July 6 at Seattle’s Lumen Field set the previous record for the most-watched soccer broadcast on U.S. English television with 33,089,000. Before 2026, the most-watched soccer game in U.S. history was the 1994 World Cup final between Brazil and Italy, which saw an estimated 14.5 million viewers on English-language television, and around 26 million overall when combined with the Spanish-language broadcast.
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This story originally appeared on Digital Music News.
