The Top Ten Anime Songs Of 2022, Ranked

From Demon Slayer to One Piece, here's a ranking of this year's certified weeb classics

PublishedDecember 15, 2022

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An anime collage image featuring Attack on Titan's Eren Jaeger, One Piece's Uta, and Demon Slayer's Tengen Uzuie and his wives — Image: Mappa / Toei Animation / Ufotable / Crunchyroll / Kotaku

The year 2022 has been good for us weebs, not only in the animation department, but in the audio department, as well. The catchy theme songs that accompany our favorite anime have been especially good this year, so as is the tradition in the anime fandom and end-of-the-year internet retrospectives, the time to rank these funky air vibrations is upon us.

This list’s rankings will be in descending order with the last entry the song I was completely obsessed with this year. I hope your neck isn’t particularly sore today because these jams will have your head bobbing like the dickens.

2 / 12

#10: Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War

Vizmedia

Song: Saihate

Artist: Sennarin

Otaku of Kotaku

Much like how Cowboy Bebop’s opening theme “Tank” pales in comparison to other tracks on its OST, so too does Bleach: Thousand Year War’s opening theme pale in comparison to its closing theme, “Saihate.” This season has been full of hype-as-fuck fight sequences, so a lot of pressure was on Sennarin to bring each episode home with a closing song that not only steadies the heartbeat of the audience but gets them tapping their toes in anticipation for the next episode on “Bleach Mondays.” Sennarin did not disappoint. “Saihate” is yet another banger of a theme song to add to the catalog of one of the “Big Three Anime” series. From the jump, the opening has that booty-bouncing beat that catches viewers’ attention before enticing them into a gentle head bob with its poppy chorus. This track is as fire Genryusai Yamamoto’s bankai.

3 / 12

#9: Demon Slayer

Anicrad

Song: Zankyou Sanka

Artist: Aimer

Otaku of Kotaku

Imma keep it a buck with you, I’m not a huge Demon Slayer fan. Yes, I know, very sacrilegious of me, but I felt season one’s story was pretty substandard shonen anime slock with some admittedly crisp action sequences and a lukewarm catchy theme song in “Gurenge” by LiSA. However, season two cranks it up to 11 with the entertainment arc and its absolute banger of a theme song, “Zankyou Sanka.” It’s got a nice cabaret swing to it and I get to see the show’s sexiest character, Tengen Uzui, chop it up with the bois. What’s not to love? We stan a polyamorous king.

4 / 12

#8: Urusei Yatsura

Anicrad

Song: Aiue

Artist: MAISONdes feat. Minami, SAKURAmoti

Otaku of Kotaku

What else is there to say about Urusei Yatsura’s theme song other than it’s just a really fun song to dance to? Okay, well there is more. The original waifu, Lum Invader, returning to the modern age of anime means she’s gotta get with the times. “Aiue” and its accompanying animation wed the artifacts of the 80s with modern-day pop culture to make an audio baby that has the same amount of fervent energy as this romcom anime. To symbolize Ataru’s fuckboi nature, Urusei Yatura’s opening credits utilize clever Galaga references, Tinder speedruns swipes, and a couple of quick Japanese RPG scenes. The icing on the cake is Lum’s rave dance number. In it, the space ogre princess sings along to the “Aiue” while her castmates go ham on the glowsticks in the audience. It’s camp, it’s cute, and it had me singing along in my kitchen like those white women in drug commercials.

5 / 12

#7: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean

アニメ「ジョジョの奇妙な冒険ストーンオーシャン」OP映像

Song: Ichigo

Artist: Kisida Kyodan & The Akebosi Rockets

Otaku of Kotaku

Despite the poor publicity Netflix gave JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean, its opening theme was just as much of an earworm as its predecessors. Gone are the theme songs evoking the melody of classic James Bond tunes—’cuz baby, this JoJo is in prison. And to make matters worse, it’s a prison in Port St. Lucie, Florida. Jolyne Cujoh’s unfortunate predicament is perfectly communicated through Kishida Kyodan and the Akebosi Rocket’s Paramore-esque beat. Even the song’s lyrics want nothing to do with Green Dolphin Street Prison and its resident Florida men and women. The throughline of the song is about Jolyne’s resolve to break out of prison and, in case its lyrics were too subtle, the chorus straight up has its vocalist repeatedly belt out the words “break out” with a defiant scream in the chorus. This opening cinematic also saw the return of Kamikaze Douga’s iconic mixing of CGI and traditional 2D animation.

6 / 12

#6: Mob Psycho 100 III

Crunchyroll Collection

Song: 1

Artist: Mob Choir

Otaku of Kotaku

At this point, a new Mob Psycho 100 season guarantees three things: stellar animation from Studio Bones, an emotionally mature storyline, and a funky opening theme song by Mob Choir. While “1” doesn’t necessarily reach the heights of the previous season’s “99.9,” it is just as catchy and serves as an appropriate emotional climax to Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama finally coming into his own as a young man in full control over his autonomy and emotional wellbeing.

7 / 12

#5: Bastard: Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy

Netflix Anime

Song: Bloody Power Fame

Artist: coldrain

Otaku of Kotaku

If an anime has the gall to call itself a heavy metal dark fantasy, it’s gotta deliver with its theme song. Thankfully, the Bastard remake understood the assignment. Netflix’s skip intro button was essentially nonexistent whenever a new episode would autoplay, because I never touched it once. As the name would lead you to believe, Bastard’s theme song is the personification of its titular protag Dark Schneider’s ambition to become the most feared wizard in the world. Coldrain’s heavy guitar riffs, rumbling drum beats, and falsetto vocals evoke the same heavy metal vibes of the famous American musicians it references in its many dark magic incantations.

8 / 12

#4: One Piece: Film Red

Crunchyroll Collection

Song: Backlight

Artist: Ado (Uta)

Otaku of Kotaku

My ears perked up the moment the opening riff of Ado’s “Backlight” played when I watched One Piece: Film Red in theaters. The first thing to slip out of my mouth was “Persona”, thanks to how similar the guitar twangs are to the chords for Persona 5’s “Life Will Change.” While the riffs are virtually identical, the subject matter is wholly different. Whereas “Life Will Change” takes on an optimistic approach to life’s obstacles, “Backlight” serves as the film’s defiant siren song to shoot down your enemies. Needless to say, Ado’s impeccable vocals transformed “Backlight” into my own personal forever concert whenever the song would play on Spotify. I’ve gotta hear it at least five times before moving on to the next weeb chart-topper.

9 / 12

#3: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Cyberpunk 2077

Song: This Fffire

Artist: Franz Ferdinand

Otaku of Kotaku

While Cyberpunk: Edgerunners’ “I Really Want to Stay at Your House” is a smash-hit sad boy anime tune, its was impossible to keep myself from headbobbing to the beat of its opening theme song, “This Fffire,” by Franz Ferdinand. The track has a grungy melody befitting Edgerunner’s storyline and Studio Trigger’s prevailing theme of open defiance against institutions of authority. The cherry on top comes with Edgeruner’s modified chorus. You see, the original chorus, “this fire is outta control / I’m gonna burn this city” was modified to say “this fire is outta control / I’ll burn.” This alteration wasn’t happenstance. The anime’s minimalistic opening cinematic depicts David Martinez charging forward before getting shot in the head by an imposing figure with the skyline of Night City filing his silhouette. Keeping the lyrics as is would have suggested that David was gonna overcome the odds stacked against him. As is the case for most legendary figures in Night City, the city always wins. That’s film noir for ya.

10 / 12

#2: Attack on Titan Final Season

Crunchyroll Collection

Song: The Rumbling

Artist: SiM

Otaku of Kotaku

My Eldians, do you remember when Death Note’s second opening theme song “What’s Up, People?!” by Maximum The Hormone opened your third eye to the appeal of screamo death metal music? Like Apollo stealing the flames from Olympus, SiM recaptured that infectious desire to go apeshit with Attack on Titan The Final Season Part 2. This song’s chorus not only hints at the forthcoming calamity in AoT’s final arc, but its lyrics also give us insight into the inner monologue of the series’ protagonist-turned-antagonist, Eren Jaeger. While this phenomenon isn’t entirely unique to AoT, it’s particularly insightful considering the other shoe has yet to drop for anime-only watchers in terms of Eren’s heel-turn this season. We’ll have to wait until next year to see if Eren’s reasoning lands with them.

11 / 12

#1: Chainsaw Man

Mappa

Song: Kickback

Artist: Kenshi Yonezu

Otaku of Kotaku

Yessir. Chainsaw Man’s opening theme “Kickback” by Kenshi Yonezu is the certified weeb classic of 2022. If I were less charitable to the previous entries, this list would be comprised of Chainsaw Man’s many closing theme songs duking it out because this anime has been putting out straight bangers (and the second-place winner of this list would’ve been Maximum the Hormone’s “Hawatari Nioku Centi,” btw). First and foremost, “Kickback” tops this list because it’s got a sexy baseline, which is an absolute must in the Colbert household. But what makes the song my favorite piece of music to come out of the anime space this year is the infectious melody of its chorus. According to music YouTuber, Alex Moukala, the reason why this song has Denji, Power, and the Future Devil dancing their asses off is because the melody is Salsa-inspired. The more you know.

12 / 12