Build Your Own Global Citizen Festival 2026 Hitster Pack with Hitify

Every September, Central Park in New York City transforms into the most star-studded free concert on the planet. The Global Citizen Festival brings together world-class musicians, activists, and hundreds of thousands of fans for a celebration of music and a call to action for a better world.

Global Citizen Festival 2026 takes place on September 19-20 at the Great Lawn in Central Park, NYC. Since its debut in 2012, the festival has hosted some of the biggest names in music history, from Beyoncé and Coldplay to Metallica, The Weeknd, and Billie Eilish. The lineup spans pop, rock, R&B, hip-hop, and everything in between, making it one of the most genre-diverse festivals on the planet.

What makes Global Citizen truly unique is that tickets are earned through activism, not purchased. Fans complete actions like signing petitions, donating, or volunteering to earn their spot on the Great Lawn. The result is a crowd that is as passionate about changing the world as they are about music.

What is Hitster?

Hitster is the wildly popular card game where each card shows a QR code linked to a real song. Players listen to the track and try to guess the correct release year, placing the card in the right spot on their personal timeline. The player who collects the most cards wins.

It sounds simple, but it is genuinely tricky. Even songs you have heard a thousand times can fool you on the exact year. And with Global Citizen's lineup spanning music from 1972 to today, you will get a serious workout for your music memory.

Build Your Own Global Citizen Hitster Pack with Hitify

You do not need a store-bought pack to play Hitster. With Hitify, you can identify any song by scanning it, get the exact release year instantly, and generate printable QR code cards for your own custom pack.

For a Global Citizen-themed Hitster pack, here are twelve iconic tracks from the festival's legendary headliner history:

• Stevie Wonder - Superstition (1972) - the Motown genius who headlined the first-ever Global Citizen Festival, a timeless groove that never gets old
• Queen - We Are the Champions (1977) - the anthem that defines collective triumph, perfect for a festival about changing the world
• Michael Jackson - Billie Jean (1983) - the track that redefined pop music and whose spirit lives at every major festival
• Whitney Houston - I Wanna Dance with Somebody (1987) - pure eighties euphoria that never fails to fill a dance floor
• Metallica - Enter Sandman (1991) - the unlikely Global Citizen headliners proved metal belongs on the world stage
• Beyoncé - Crazy in Love (2003) - the song that made her a solo icon, featuring a horn sample nobody forgets
• Usher - Yeah! (2004) - one of the most played songs in radio history, featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris
• Rihanna - Umbrella (2007) - the defining pop moment of 2007 and still instantly recognizable years later
• Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind (2009) - the unofficial anthem of New York City, perfect for a Central Park festival
• Lady Gaga - Bad Romance (2009) - the song that launched one of the most theatrical careers in pop history
• The Weeknd - Blinding Lights (2019) - the eighties-inspired synth-pop smash that became the most streamed song in Spotify history
• Billie Eilish - Bad Guy (2019) - the whisper-pop record that turned Gen Z's most distinctive voice into a global superstar

Those twelve songs alone span nearly fifty years of music history, from 1972 to 2019, which makes for an incredibly challenging and fun Hitster game. Guests will be arguing over whether Crazy in Love came before or after Yeah! all night.

How to Build Your Pack with Hitify

Head to Hitify, open the app, and start scanning songs. For each track on your list, Hitify identifies the song, pulls the exact release year, and generates a printable QR code card. Print your cards, shuffle them, and your Global Citizen-themed Hitster pack is ready to play.

You can also use Hitify to discover more songs from each artist's catalog. Love Beyoncé? Scan a few more of her tracks and add them to your pack. Want to represent every decade of Global Citizen headliners? Hitify makes it easy to build the exact pack you want.

Start building your Global Citizen Hitster pack at hitify.app and bring the magic of Central Park to your next game night.