1930–1970: Early influences The Dull Sword (1917), by
Jun'ichi Kōuchi, is regarded as the earliest surviving animated film in Japan.
Noburō Ōfuji's
Kuroi Nyago (1929) is the first Japanese animated work to include music. The film includes characters dancing to a prerecorded song, retroactively seen as the prototype of anime songs. Following
World War II, the 1950s and 1960s saw a revival in entertainment and cultural development. While anime theme songs originally used the name and settings from the series of which they were based, this led to the lyrics of anime songs being centered on the characters' thoughts and feelings for more universal appeal and allowing for context outside of the original animated work. Furthermore, ''
Cat's Eye'' (1983) received widespread media attention for having
Anri, a singer whose activities had no connection to the anime industry, perform its theme songs.
2000–2019: Voice actor boom (pictured 2018) was the best-selling voice actress in 2011. As more late-night anime series were being produced in the 2000s,
Yui Horie,
Yukari Tamura, and
Nana Mizuki, who were signed with King Records, were produced and marketed as
idol singers and voice actors by the record label. During the mid-2000s, there was a "voice actor boom", The voice actor boom was attributed to Mizuki's "
Eternal Blaze" reaching #2 on the Oricon Weekly Single Charts in 2005, and the release of "
Hare Hare Yukai" in 2006 shortly after. In the following years, idol-themed multimedia projects, such as
Love Live!,
The Idolmaster, and
Uta no Prince-sama, became popular.
Billboard Japan launched the
Billboard Japan Hot Animation chart on December 1, 2010 exclusively for anime and video game music releases.
2020–present: Global expansion Since the 2020s, anime songs have experienced a rapid growth in global online popularity due to their widened availability on music streaming services like
Spotify and promotion by fans and artists on social media. In 2020, "
Homura", a theme song for animated film
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, rose to number eight on the
Billboard Global 200. In 2023, the opening theme of the anime series
Oshi no Ko, "
Idol" by
Yoasobi, topped the
Billboard Global Excl. US, becoming the first Japanese song and anime song to do so, "Idol" also topped on the global charts of
Apple Music and
YouTube Music. In the same year,
Kenshi Yonezu's "
Kick Back", an opening theme for
Chainsaw Man, became the first-ever song with Japanese lyrics to be certified gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 2025, Yonezu's "
Iris Out" became the highest peak at number five on the Global 200. ==Derivatives==