LONDON (Reuters) - "It's coming home, it's coming home" - England's 1996 soccer anthem is making its way back up the music charts this week as fans fantasize about World Cup victory in Russia.
The song "Three Lions" by comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner and band The Lightning Seeds was originally written for the Euro '96 tournament which England hosted but left in the semi-finals after a penalty shootout against Germany.
Since it topped the charts 22 years ago, it has become the soundtrack for England fans at a string of international tournaments, particularly this year's World Cup.
When England beat Colombia on Tuesday to pass through to the quarter-finals, fans belted the chorus line in pubs, buses and streets across the country.
England striker Alan Shearer, a veteran of the 1996 campaign, chanted the refrain on television.
That same day, the track streamed more than 450,000 times on Spotify, reaching an all-time high, according to music streaming service.
It has also been "surging" up the rankings, according the Official Charts Company, and is set to break back into the Top 40 Official Singles Chart later on Friday - just before England play Sweden at the weekend.
"This is a song about how we've lost so often," Baddiel said in a BBC radio show about the tune. "And yet it's a song that we want to sing."
(Reporting By Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
