Norwegian striker Erling Haaland has scored a surprise number one single in his home country after superstar producer Kygo remixed a rap track the footballer recorded as a teenager. The reworked song, ‘Kygo Jo’, tops Spotify’s Norway Top 50 chart and has gone viral, underlining Haaland’s growing status as a pop-culture figure during the 2026 FIFA World Cup as much as his prowess on the pitch.

The original track was recorded in 2016 by Haaland — performing as “Lyng” — with his Norway Under-17 teammates Erik Botheim and Erik Tobias Sandberg as the jokey rap trio Flow Kingz, and its lyrics namedrop Kygo. Kygo had promised a remix if Haaland scored against Brazil, which the striker did in Norway’s 2-1 win on 5th July, and the reworked version, featuring Haaland’s original vocals, was released on 7th July. Haaland celebrated on Instagram — “Does this mean I’m officially an artist now?” — prompting Kygo to reply “Part time footballer, full time artist”, and the striker is now set to lead Norway against England in the tournament’s quarter-finals this weekend.