Spotify Crowned This Anime Opener as Japan’s Song of the Year

It’s early December, which means one thing – it’s time for everyone’s respective music streaming platforms to expose their listening habits for the past year! Spotify, which gets annual buzz for its Spotify Wrapped campaign, has released all of its data about listeners’ streaming habits, which can be fun to share and compare with friends. But it’s also an excellent opportunity for artists, labels, and even entire countries as they can gain insight into their listeners or residents. Japan is a great example of the latter as more of its music starts to gain traction overseas through the popularity of anime and other mediums.

As evidence of this, PR Times has announced which Japanese songs and artists performed the best on Spotify both within Japan and abroad. For 2024, the same song was at the top of both lists, truly speaking to its global popularity. You probably have an idea what the song is if you’ve been on the anime – or even just anime-adjacent – corners of the internet, given how viral it went with reactions and dance videos. 

Creepy Nuts’ Viral Mashle Intro Takes the Top Spot for Japanese Artists

The contagiously catchy croonings of Creepy Nuts’ “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” have been named the most streamed song by Japanese artists on Spotify for 2024, both in Japan and in other countries. According to PR Times, this is the first time a song from Japan has achieved this double crown, making this a historic achievement. 

If the song title doesn’t sound familiar just by name, it may help to know that it was used as the intro for the second season of Mashle, an anime about a teenager named Mash who can’t use magic in a world where that’s heavily frowned upon. Instead, he’s incredibly strong and durable and deceives an entire magic school into mistaking his incredible feats of strength as a unique brand of “muscle magic.”

The music video to Creepy Nuts’ “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” premiered on YouTube on March 3, 2024, and has more than 284 million views as of this writing. The numbers are sure to climb, as major hits always seem to. Creepy Nuts, a duo consisting of DJ Matsunaga and R-Shitei, released a statement responding to the great news. 

“Thank you for letting us know that “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” was selected as the most-played Japanese song in Japan and overseas in 2024 on Spotify,” said the hip-hop duo according to PR Times. “We are happy that so many people in Japan and worldwide have listened to our music! We hope you will continue to listen to Creepy Nuts!”

The duo is far from a one-hit wonder, as they’ve already got another hit lined up with the intro for Dan Da Dan, which made a lot of fans curious about the show in the first place. 

[RELATED: Mashle Season 2 Marks One of Anime’s Most Viral Songs]

The Top Played Songs on Spotify by Japanese Artists in 2024

For those curious about the other popular Japanese artists and songs on Spotify, here’s a list of what performed the best both in and outside of Japan. You may recognize a few recognizable names from other anime, like Mrs. GREEN APPLE, which made the epic first intro for Fire Force. And there’s always the classic song from Tokyo Drift that will never get outplayed. 

The Top 10 Played Songs by Japanese Artists Overseas in 2024

1. “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” Creepy Nuts
2. “Shinu noga Iiwa” Kaze Fujii
3. “SPECIALZ” King Gnu
4. “Idol” YOASOBI
5. “NIGHT DANCER” imase
6. “Ao no Sumika” Tatsuya Kitani
7. “Tokyo Drift (Fast & Furious) – From ‘The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift’ Soundtrack” Teriyaki Boyz
8. “KICK BACK” Kenshi Yonezu
9. “Yoru ni Kakeru” YOASOBI
10. “Kaikai Kitan” Eve

The Top 10 Played Songs by Japanese Artists in Japan in 2024

1. “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” Creepy Nuts
2. “Lilac” Mrs. GREEN APPLE
3. “Ikuoku-kounen” Omoinotake
4. “Kesera Sera Sera” Mrs. GREEN APPLE
5. “Dinner Song” tuki.
6. “Ao to Natsu” Mrs. GREEN APPLE
7. “Dance Hall” Mrs. GREEN APPLE
8. “Kaiju no Hanauta” Vaundy
9. “Idol” YOASOBI
10. “GOAT” Number_i

H/T PR Times