Wavin' Flag

"Wavin' Flag"
Single by K'naan
from the album Troubadour
Released	18 March 2009
Recorded	June 2008
Genre	World reggae fusion
Length	3:41
Label	A&M Octone
Songwriter(s)	Keinan Abdi Warsame
Producer(s)	Kerry Brothers Jr. Bruno Mars
K'naan singles chronology
"ABCs" (2008) "Wavin' Flag" (2009) "Stop for a Minute" (2010)
Audio video
"Wavin' Flag" on YouTube

"Wavin' Flag" is a song by Somali-Canadian artist K'naan from his album Troubadour (2009). The song was originally written for Somalia and aspirations of its people for freedom. The original single was a hit in Canada and reached number two on the Canadian Hot 100 as the second official single from the album, after the single "ABCs", a minor hit. After an earthquake in Haiti in 2010, a remake of the song by an ad hoc supergroup of Canadian artists, credited as Young Artists for Haiti, became a charity single in Canada, reaching number one on the Canadian Hot 100 in its own right.

The song became a global hit when it was chosen as Coca-Cola's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, hosted by South Africa. This amended international version with additional lyrics reached the top ten in more than twenty different charts around the world. The English version was released as "Wavin' Flag (Celebration Mix)" by K'naan to differentiate it from the original Canadian hit or from the Canadian Haiti charity hit. The Spanish cover featuring David Bisbal became very popular. A version of the song featuring will.i.am and David Guetta was targeted for international markets. Many other bilingual and country-specific versions were released, such as the Brazilian version featuring Skank singing in Portuguese.

In 2012, K'naan published a children's book, When I Get Older: The Story Behind Wavin' Flag, about the song and its history.^[1]