Evangelion Anime Opening Theme is the 30-Year Karaoke Champion

Joseph Luster October 17, 2022

evangelion

The Neon Genesis Evangelion anime hasn’t been out for 30 years—though it’s getting dangerously close!—but it does hold a reign for that period of time in the world of karaoke. Nagoya-based company XING announced the JOYSOUND Karaoke 30th Anniversary Ranking in celebration of its own 30th anniversary, ranking the songs that have topped the karaoke charts for the past three decades. Much to the surprise of, well, pretty much nobody, Evangelion’s “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” came out on top over the allotted time frame.

The song, performed by Yoko Takahashi, didn’t just top the ranking of anime songs, it managed to hit the number one spot in the overall ranking that includes songs from all genres. That makes the Evangelion theme the most popular karaoke song over the last 30 years, which is quite the feat!

Here’s the HD music video for the theme to the landmark 1995-1996 TV anime:

Here’s the rest of the top 20 for anime songs from 1992-2022:

2. “Touch” (Yoshimi Iwasaki / Touch)
3. “Single Bed” (Sharam Q / D·N·A2)
4. “Sobakasu” (JUDY AND MARY / Rurouni Kenshin)
5. “Himawari no Yakusoku” (Motohiro Hata /Stand By Me Doraemon)
6. “Sekai ga Owaru Madewa…” (WANDS / Slam Dunk)
7. “God Knows…” (Aya Hirano as Haruhi Suzumiya / The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
8. “Lion” (May’n and Megumi Nakajima / Macross Frontier)
9. “Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari” (Supercell / Bakemonogatari)
10. “Let It Go – Ari no Mama de” (Takako Matsu / Frozen Japanese dub edition)
11. “Sousei no Aquarion” (AKINO / Aquarion)
12. “Butter-fly” (Koji Wada / Digimon Adventure)
13. “Anata no Kiss wo Kazoemashou ~You Were mine~” (Yuki Koyanagi / Reign: The Conqueror)
14. “Melissa” (Porno Graffitti / Fullmetal Alchemist)
15. “Cutie Honey” (Kumi Koda / Re: Cutie Honey)
16. “Moonlight Densetsu” (DALI / Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon)
17. “1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou” (SIAM SHAD / Rurouni Kenshin)
18. “Uso” (SID / Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
19. “Gekkouka” (Janne Da Arc / Black Jack)
20. “only my railgun” (flipSide / A Certain Scientific Railgun)

XING also shared the JOYSOUND top 10 anime songs for the 2020s, which had LiSA coming out on top with the unstoppable “Gurenge”:

1. “Gurenge” (LiSA / Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba)
2. “Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis/A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” (Yoko Takahashi / Neon Genesis Evangelion)
3. “Homura” (LiSA / Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train)
4. “Himawari no Yakusoku” (Motohiro Hata /Stand By Me Doraemon)
5. “Niji” (Masaki Suda / Stand By Me Doraemon 2)
6. “Kaibutsu” (YOASOBI / BEASTARS)
7. “Cry Baby” (Official Hige Dandism / Tokyo Revengers)
8. “Yesterday” (Official Hige Dandism / HELLO WORLD)
9. “Sugar Song to Bitter Step” (UNISON SQUARE GARDEN / Blood Blockade Battlefront)
10. “Single Bed” (Sharam Q / D·N·A2)