🎵 Yonezu Kenshi. Ado. ORANGE RANGE. JI BLUE. Four of Japan's biggest acts — soundtracking four different platforms. NHK, adidas, DAZN, and the Japan Football Association each picked a heavyweight artist to score FIFA World Cup 2026. On April 28, the final piece dropped: Yonezu Kenshi's brand-new song "Karasu" (Crow) was named NHK's official soccer theme. Here's how Japan ended up with the most stacked World Cup music lineup of any country heading into June.

Yonezu Kenshi's "Karasu" — Premiering May 10, Live on World Cup Broadcasts from June 12

Yonezu Kenshi's new song "Karasu" (read: ka-ra-su, meaning "crow") will premiere on Sunday, May 10 during NHK's "Sunday Sports" program at 9:50 p.m. Japan time. From that broadcast onward, the track will play across NHK's full slate of soccer programming — and on the network's coverage of FIFA World Cup 2026, which kicks off June 12 across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

The song's title carries weight beyond ornithology. The Japan Football Association's official emblem features the Yatagarasu, a three-legged crow from Japanese mythology said to have guided Emperor Jimmu from Kumano to Yamato. Since being adopted as the JFA crest, the Yatagarasu has become the central symbol of Japanese soccer culture. Yonezu's choice of "Karasu" as a title taps directly into that imagery.

In his official comment, Yonezu said he had loved soccer for many years and asked himself what kind of song he, of all people, should make for it in this particular era. The result, he wrote, surprised even him by being unexpectedly personal. He explained that the song was built around a wish — that the people who keep standing tall and looking ahead inside the vast structure of soccer should be both a collective and healthy individuals at the same time.

Release details for the single — physical CD, streaming-only, EP — have not been announced.

Why Yonezu, Why Now

For international readers unfamiliar with Yonezu's status in Japan: he is not just popular. He is the dominant pop figure of the late 2010s and 2020s.

His 2018 single "Lemon," theme song for the TBS detective drama Unnatural, broke essentially every Japanese music record then standing. His 2022 Chainsaw Man opening theme "KICK BACK" became the first Japanese-language song ever certified Platinum by the RIAA in the United States.

Then came "IRIS OUT," released September 2025 as the theme song for the Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc film. It became the fastest song in Japanese chart history to hit 100 million streams in a single week, peaked at #5 on the Billboard Global 200 — the highest position ever achieved by a Japanese-language song — and simultaneously charted in over 50 countries on Spotify's daily viral lists.

In 2025, Yonezu mounted his first true world tour: 8 cities in Japan plus Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul, London, Paris, Los Angeles, and New York. Every overseas show sold out, drawing 90,000 fans abroad and 440,000 across the full tour.

In other words, NHK didn't pick a popular singer. They picked the artist most capable of carrying Japanese music to a global audience right now. Within hours of the announcement, "Yonezu × World Cup" was trending on Japanese X, with international fans posting reactions like "his new song is finally going to debut on a worldwide broadcast."

Ado's "Kira" — The adidas Japan National Team Uniform Song

Less than a week before the NHK announcement, on April 22, Ado dropped a new single called "Kira" (綺羅 — an old Japanese word meaning "beautiful clothing" or "people who shine"). The song serves as the official "uniform song" for adidas's 2026 Japan national team kit. Lyrics, music, and arrangement come from singer-songwriter Tatsuya Kitani.

The track was built around the new uniform's "HORIZON" design concept — the idea of pursuing a view that lies beyond the horizon — and the official campaign tagline "Further. More freely."

The accompanying music video, released April 27 with animation direction by YORUGATA and direction by Nao Watanabe, is set in a fictional World Cup final. Characters modeled on real Japan national team players face off against monstrous opponents representing rival nations. Ado encouraged not only her own fans but anyone cheering for the World Cup to watch it. The video took over YouTube's music trending charts within hours.

Some context on Ado: in 2025, her Hibana world tour played 33 cities and drew over 500,000 fans — the largest-ever world tour by a Japanese solo artist. She became the first Japanese act to sell out Paris's Accor Arena (capacity around 20,000). Having an artist of that international footprint sing the song stamped on the team's actual uniforms is, frankly, unprecedented for Japanese soccer marketing.

ORANGE RANGE Returns — DAZN's Anthem, Twenty Years After "Champione"

Also on April 22, another major announcement landed: ORANGE RANGE, the five-piece rock band from Okinawa, will write the official anthem for DAZN, which is streaming all 104 World Cup 2026 matches in Japan and offering Japan's national team games for free. The concept: "Let's go all-out" (ド派手にいこう！).

For overseas readers who don't know the band: ORANGE RANGE wrote NHK's theme song for the 2006 Germany World Cup, "Champione." For an entire generation of Japanese fans, the song's chant — "Champione, Champione, olé olé olé" — was the World Cup. Hearing it was synonymous with the tournament itself.

Twenty years on, with the band celebrating its 25th anniversary, they are back — this time for the streaming era. Vocalist HIROKI said the new anthem packs the kind of energy that makes you want to shout out loud the moment you hear it, and that the band wanted to send a message to enjoy this moment with no holding back. ORANGE RANGE will also reportedly evolve into a "new form" of the band for the tournament, with a "grand setup" planned to support all 104 matches. Details will be announced later.

The Final Piece: JI BLUE's "Keshiki," the JFA Official Theme

The Japan Football Association's own official theme song is "Keshiki" (景色 — "the view"), performed by JI BLUE, a 12-member special unit pulled from the global boy groups JO1 and INI specifically because those members love soccer. The song was written and produced by ☆Taku Takahashi of m-flo, a longtime soccer fan himself.

The CD release is set for June 3. Digital release is from May 1 at midnight. The first live performance happens May 31 at Japan's friendly match against Iceland at Tokyo's National Stadium.

That brings the full lineup into focus:

Platform / Org Artist Song Release
NHK (broadcast TV) Kenshi Yonezu "Karasu" May 10 premiere
adidas (uniform song) Ado "Kira" April 22 (digital) / April 27 (MV)
DAZN (streaming, official anthem) ORANGE RANGE TBA TBA
JFA (official theme) JI BLUE "Keshiki" May 1 (digital) / June 3 (CD)

In past World Cups, Japan's broadcasters typically lined up one theme song each. This time, the streaming platform and the football association joined in too — meaning four major songs from four major artists across four channels. The closest precedent is the 2002 Japan/Korea World Cup, when Porno Graffitti's "Mugen," Dragon Ash's "FANTASISTA," B'z's "Atsuki Kodō no Hate," and Maki Ōguro's "Identity" all dropped for various platforms.

Why Japan Suddenly Has the World Cup's Most Stacked J-Pop Lineup

A few factors line up. First, the broadcast and streaming rights split between NHK (terrestrial) and DAZN (digital), and each needed its own theme — that alone doubled the slots. Second, Yonezu, Ado, and ORANGE RANGE were all riding peak-career momentum in 2025: Yonezu with "IRIS OUT," Ado with the Hibana world tour, and ORANGE RANGE with their first NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen appearance in 19 years thanks to a viral revival of their 2007 song "Ikenai Taiyō." Third, soccer is increasingly a lifestyle category in Japan, and brands realized that hardcore fans, casual viewers, anime fans, and music fans are all distinct audiences worth targeting with distinct songs.

Reactions in Japan have been mixed but largely enthusiastic. Some fans are calling this the most stacked World Cup music slate since 2002. Others have noted that two of the four songs — Yonezu's and Ado's — lean toward anime-style MVs and introspective tones, leaving ORANGE RANGE's "let's go all-out" approach to fill the role of the straightforwardly euphoric stadium anthem.

Streaming-Era J-Pop Meets the World's Biggest Sport

Whether these songs cross borders is now the open question. Given that "IRIS OUT" already set the all-time peak for a Japanese-language song on the Billboard Global 200, "Karasu" has a real shot at making noise on global charts during World Cup season. Ado's "Kira" is already pulling multilingual comments on YouTube, and the pattern of overseas soccer fans engaging with Japanese anime-style MVs has accelerated noticeably since King Gnu's "Stardom" served as NHK's theme for Qatar 2022.

This isn't only domestic cheerleading. It's an experiment in whether J-pop, riding the world's most-watched sporting event, can land on a global stage in Japanese — the way it has begun to do on Spotify, YouTube, and TikTok everywhere else. World Cup 2026 will be one of the biggest stress tests yet of how far that wave can reach.

What About Your Country?

World Cup theme songs vary wildly by country. Some places ride the official FIFA anthems (Shakira and Doja Cat are among the artists for the 2026 cycle). Others lean entirely on local broadcaster picks. Few countries assign four separate top-tier artists across four separate platforms the way Japan just did.

Who's singing the World Cup theme in your country? Or do you mostly hear the official FIFA tracks? Japan is heading into June with Yonezu, Ado, ORANGE RANGE, and JI BLUE on rotation. Tell us in the comments how it works where you are — and which World Cup theme song from any past tournament still sticks in your head.

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