For years, anime television shows and movies like Attack on Titan and NARUTO have been making their way from Japan to TVs around the globe. Over time, the Japanese animation style has become known not only for its visual aesthetic, but also for the rich audio experience behind the medium. And for some, the music is just as important to the culture of anime as the animation itself.
These days, thanks in part to the availability of anime on Spotify in over 20 Spotify playlists, the music behind anime hits is experiencing its own surge in streaming. What’s more, the classical, J-Rock, and J-Pop musicians behind some of the genre’s beloved theme songs have also seen an increase in their stream counts.
To continue to raise the volume on the genre, we recently launched our newAnime Hub. Now fans in Japan, the U.S., Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Brazil, Mexico, India, South Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, and the 13 regions in MENA can find and stream anime music more quickly and easily than ever.
Since the hub launched on October 8, fans in the U.S., Japan, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico have streamed anime music the most, with about 25,000 daily active users streaming playlists inspired byAttack on Titan,My Hero Academia, andTokyo Ghoul. Plus, four new playlists—Genesis of Aquarion,Kantai Collection,Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, andCARDCAPTOR SAKURA—have recently come to Spotify from Victor Entertainment’s Flying Dog label, known for its rich categories of anime-related music. This adds over 1,300 anime-related tracks to Spotify, including theme songs and an original soundtrack album for Genesis of Aquarion mainly composed by YokoKanno.
Anime isn’t just a style of animation—it’s a rich and exciting world of storytelling. A futuristic city where humans clash with titans, the adventures of a teen wizard … anime can mean action, fantasy, supernatural, comedy, or romance, but it’s far more sophisticated than Saturday morning cartoons.
Anime fans know that music plays a major role in heightening the drama. While the vast sonic landscape of anime music is no secret in Japan, it’s now traveling faster than ever to millions of new fans globally—and as streaming numbers prove, they’re just as obsessed. As a result, the adults and teens who love anime are now discovering more about Japanese music and culture as a whole.
Today, J-Pop (Japanese pop) and J-Rock (Japanese rock) are now popular genres around the world. Thanks to the international explosion of anime, a song like “Red Swan,” the sweeping opening theme of Attack on Titan season three, finds an audience far beyond Japan. The cinematic rock ballad was created by composer, pianist, and rock drummer YOSHIKI, leader of the world-famous rock band X Japan, and HYDE, vocalist of legendary rockers L’Arc~en~Ciel.
“When I first heard that the producer and director of Attack on Titan might be interested in having me as a composer for the opening theme song, I said ‘Whoa, this is such an honor,’” YOSHIKI told us. “It’s one of my favorite series.”
“Guren No Yumiya” by Linked Horizon, the opening theme for Attack on Titan season one, has collected 13 million global streams on Spotify—so this new collaboration between two of Japan’s biggest rock stars is just another way that Japanese music is crossing over and making major waves. Hear more from YOSHIKI about how “Red Swan” came together in the video below.
Spotify’s recent Global Cultures initiative speaks to the importance and responsibility of sharing diverse genres across the globe, including Japanese music.
“The music streaming era only came over to Japan recently, mainly because physical sales are still strong here,” explains Noriko Ashizawa, Senior Editor, Shows & Editorial in Japan. “However, more and more Japanese artists are finding a lot of potential listeners of their music outside of the country—where physical sales aren’t as popular anymore—on Spotify. Anime is one of the most effective channels to attract global listeners to Japanese music. We’ve started creating a variety of Anime playlists dedicated to each popular series such as Attack on Titan and JOJOs Bizarre Adventure to help promote J-Tracks and spread them around the globe, similar to the recent rise of Latinx music and K-Pop.”
With the help of Global Cultures, we can spread the word on anime fan favorites like TK from Ling tosite sigure’s “unravel,” the opening theme song for “Tokyo Ghoul” season one. In just nine months, the song has been streamed more than 11.6 million times on Spotify. And as proof of anime music’s crazy-quick expansion, its number of monthly listeners in the U.S. is even bigger than in Japan.
Similarly, the rock band FLOW, whose high-octane sound blends elements of punk, ska, and pop-rock, is also on fire. The band’s top 10 Spotify songs—all anime related—have already reached over 25 million streams. (And their catalogue only became available in Japan this past July.)
Whether you’re a die-hard otaku (a young obsessed fan) or a total newbie to anime, there’s plenty of Japanese music to discover on Spotify. Get a taste with the mega-popular “Red Swan” right here.
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