Japanese music is still pretty unknown, despite shaping most of internet culture.

There’s been a slow creep into the mainstream – not as mainstream as say, Reggaetón or K-pop – but, it’s had its moments.

Like – huge, internet culture shaping moments.

I thought it would be fun to see how Japanese music has gone viral and changed the internet over the years.

So, here’s a timeline of viral internet Japanese music.

*Nico Nico Douga, or NND, is Japan’s version of Youtube that was quite popular even before YouTube. A lot of internet culture in general came from there, but the platform itself is pretty dead nowadays.

• 1. Ievan Polkka (2006)
• 2. Geddan (2008)
• 3. Motteke Sailor Fuku (2009)
• 4. World is Mine (2008/2010)
• 5. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (2011)
• 6. Nyan Cat (2011)
• 7. Guren no Yumiya (2013)
• 8. Cruel Angel’s Thesis (2014)
• 9. Zenzenzense (2016)
• 10. Peace Sign (2017)
• 11. Lemon (2018)
• 12. Mayonaka no Door (2020)
• 13. Renai Circulation (2021)
• 14. Usseewa (2021)
• 14. Shinunoga E-wa (2022)
• Runner Ups…
  1. Natori – Overdose, Imase – Night Dancer, and Vaundy – Odoriko (2021-2023)
• 15. Idol (2023)
• 16. Bling-Bang-Bang-Born (2024)
• 17. Loli God Requiem (2024)
• 18. Mesmerizer (2025)

1. Ievan Polkka (2006)

The original viral video for Ievan Polkka featured a gif of Orihime from Bleach doing the leekspin. The song got popular internationally, and you could use your parent’s credit card to buy the ringtone for ten payments of $100.

A Hatsune Miku version was released less than a year later, and the song kept blowing up.

Children would be fighting in the comments about the singer’s identity. No one really knew, since the idea of Vocaloid wasn’t familiar to many people yet. “ITS MIKU!!1” “ITS LOITUMA!” “It’s Japanese!” “No it’s not!”

The Miku audio would get tossed around everywhere, and its what brought Miku to the front of the internet for the first time, even though the song wasn’t in Japanese.

2. Geddan (2008)

A deep cut from NicoNico Douga. This was probably one of the first widespread “animation memes” to ever exist.

It was brought over to Youtube by users reposting NND videos with their favorite characters (usually Touhou) doing the Geddan dance, but there was that one guy in the horse mask who was iconic for doing the dance irl.

It was spread between anime fans and the “WTF JAPAN?!!?” side of early YouTube.

3. Motteke Sailor Fuku (2009)

If you didn’t film yourself doing this dance, I don’t know what you were doing in the summer of 2009.

Lucky Star and Haruhi Suzumiya were all over early Youtube, with this video and dance being popular at anime cons and for parody videos.

It was one of the first widely shared anime OPs, but remained within the “anime fan” confines.

4. World is Mine (2008/2010)

This marks our first /actual/ Hatsune Miku song.

Originally released in 2008, it got popular internationally thanks to a concert performance by hologram Miku on Youtube.

The Western Vocaloid fandom is born!

The Vocaloid part is going to be important the rest of the way – so don’t forget it.

5. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (2011)

Kyary was the first Japanese artist to go viral online.

She was able to push further than the niche Japanime crowd and slip into the fashion, beauty, and “regular” pop music fandoms.

She made it all the way to Coachella thanks to her PonPonPon video blowing up, and was the first Japanese artist to leverage YouTube views to gain icon status abroad.

6. Nyan Cat (2011)

Oh boy. Oh jeez. Yes, it’s “Japanese music”. It’s even Vocaloid.

And, it was one one of the first globally shared memes. Eek.

7. Guren no Yumiya (2013)

Attack on Titan was the biggest breakthrough for Japanese media into the West.

There had been cult hits and anime pushed by major broadcasting channels, but the moment AoT episode 1 was uploaded to so-and-so shady anime sub site, the whole world was going bonkers for the story and song.

(All in Japanese – not dubbed like the Pokémons and Narutos of the past)

8. Cruel Angel’s Thesis (2014)

This song has always been a joke on NND and a staple karaoke pick in Japan, but it suddenly blew up on English Youtube after an edit was made ft. Cory in the House.

There was that whole thing for a while about “Cory in the House is the best anime”. Very Tumblr humor. We are in peak Tumblr era now if you could not tell.

This sparked a whole trend of anime OP edits on YT, and marked the start of anime and meme culture’s relationship on YouTube.

Another important thing was happening at this time – NND was dying, and Japanese users were flooding into YouTube.

9. Zenzenzense (2016)

AoT marked when anime, especially subbed anime, was becoming more common to watch. But, many people looked at it and didn’t understand the appeal of “cartoons”.

“Your Name” changed the game.

It was cool to want to go to Japan and experience the scenery, like in “Your Name”. It was aesthetic. You were cool if you liked this song.

10. Peace Sign (2017)

Similar to AoT, My Hero Academia blew Yonezu Kenshi’s song up and made him a global icon in the J-pop and Anime OP community.

This marked a closer relationship between singers and anime OP’s in the West, with many viewers beginning to watch shows because their favorite artist sang the OP.

Yonezu wasn’t an overnight anime pop hit though – he had been building up years of songs and rapport under his Vocaloid-Producer name, Hachi. He made some of the internet’s earliest Vocaloid viral hits.

11. Lemon (2018)

A year later, the song Lemon was uploaded to Youtube by Yonezu Kenshi, and now sits as the most viewed Japanese music video of all time.

12. Mayonaka no Door (2020)

City Pop, and specifically Mayonaka no Door, marks the beginning of Japanese music going viral without anime influence or Vocaloid.

Playlists began popping up everywhere, and it seemed like everybody was bitten by the City Pop bug.

Everyone admits it catchy – whether you like anime or not.

13. Renai Circulation (2021)

Originally popular within the barely existing gamer circle a few years back on rhythm game Osu!, it started to re-surface when YT voice actors and nerdy song writers started covering it… partially for the meme, and partially because its just too catchy and a d*mn good song.

It’s been used as joke for anything overly cute and innocent, like kawaii fan edits and cosplay in recent years.

14. Usseewa (2021)

It may have been prime time for Ado to go viral – Vtubers were trending after COVID took everyone inside, and this faceless song-cover vocalist nailed that trend. And, absolutely blew it out of the water with her insane singing power.

The song was created by a famous Vocaloid producer, syudou. Ado was originally a small-time singer born out of NND’s utaite (cover singer) culture uploading her song covers to YT.

Ado continues to cover songs and sing originals, usually created by Vocaloid producers, and remains one of the best selling Japanese artists today.

14. Shinunoga E-wa (2022)

Another change of pace from the anime and Vocaloid heavy bops of the past.

Fujii Kaze was already a well known jazz/pop musician in Japan. His song, Shinunoga E-wa, suddenly blew up on TikTok seemingly overnight, years after the song’s original release.

He is somewhat of an enigma – no meme quality, no Vocaloid backing, and no anime or major movie/drama tie ins. Just good music.

Kaze is still going strong and just announced his World Tour.

Runner Ups…

Natori – Overdose, Imase – Night Dancer, and Vaundy – Odoriko (2021/2023)

All non-anime/Vocaloid related bops that make you want to take a night drive.

Domestic Japanese artists began to see that anime or “cool Japan” was not necessary for global appeal and going viral.

15. Idol (2023)

This time we have the ultimate beast – an anime OP made by a Vocaloid producer.

There was no escaping this song in 2023. It was everywhere online. It was on every Jpop music playlist. Apparently, it was the most googled song in Japan of the year.

Yoasobi is the second artist on this list to make it to Coachella thanks to online fame.

16. Bling-Bang-Bang-Born (2024)

I have a fond memory of returning to the US after living in Japan.

I skipped all the Creepy Nuts music in my playlist so I wouldn’t bother my friends with silly hip-hop from Japan.

Never thought they would be the ones cranking up the Creepy Nuts years later. Bless.

Like – even little American kids were singing this song!!! What is going on!!

Another trend to note – the YT channel “TheAnimeMen” played a big role in making Yoasobi and Creepy Nuts’ music popular. They make funny skits with Japanese music and helped take the songs even more viral.

17. Loli God Requiem (2024)

The most popular Vtuber song to date. It caught traction thanks to edits over car videos on TikTok and cosplay dance videos.

Song is a little sus, but I guess the fun dance saves it for people.

18. Mesmerizer (2025)

Life is just a biiiiig circle.

This was the fastest Vocaloid video to get to one million views.

Vocaloid is going stronger than ever, and its already been holding up viral and global Japanese music for nearly 20 years now. Phew. Miku knows no bounds.

❤️❤️❤️

That’s everything! When I was writing this, I realized just how important Vocaloid and NicoNicoDouga are to Japanese music. Yonezu was the producer king of NND. Yoasobi is produced by a former Vocaloid-P and NND user, and Ado came out of the same culture of NND artists, even though age wise she missed NND’s peak by a few years.

They are the biggest global earners in Japanese music today.

I wrote more in-depth about internet culture shaping Vocaloid producers here.

Maybe Fujii Kaze is one of the only globally popular Japanese artists that don’t have some kind of NND history. He uploaded to YT a lot as a child, though.

Until next time!