"In its earliest stages, the song already felt World Cup ready," says marketing specialist Ray Rock. "We knew instantly that Shakira had aced the assignment."
By
Isabela Raygoza
Shakira and Burna Boy‘s global smash “Dai Dai” was always designed to meet a massive moment. The song first premiered at the World Cup opening ceremony in Mexico City on June 11, then continued to build throughout the tournament before reaching another peak with the Colombian superstar and Burna Boy’s performance during the first-ever World Cup final halftime show on July 19 — and, even after the tournament’s close, it has kept surging across Billboard’s charts.
That momentum has now translated into No. 1 placements on 10 charts worldwide for “Dai Dai,” including on the Billboard Global 200, Billboard Global Excl. U.S. and Latin Airplay charts. Its rise was the product not only of the scale of the World Cup stage, but of a carefully paced global strategy led behind the scenes by independent marketing specialist Ray Rock, who works across multiple artist management teams from Philadelphia and Los Angeles and whose active roster includes Shakira, Ariana Grande, Coldplay and Madonna. And that success has earned Ray Rock the title of Billboard‘s Executive of the Week.
