Interest

U.S. Secretary of State's 2021 Spotify Playlist Includes Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Movie Theme

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed himself as a fan of LiSA when he published his list of favorite recent songs on Spotify last Friday. The "Secretary's 2021 Playlist: On the Road" playlist represents 36 songs that were released either in 2021 or recently by artists around the world. Notably for anime fans, it includes LiSA's "Homura" single, the theme song for the Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train anime film.

The "Homura" single shipped on October 14, 2020, and sold 68,000 CD copies in its first week. LiSA is the first artist to rank #1 for three straight weeks in 12 years and 10 months, since the band SMAP achieved the feat with their "Dangan Fighter" single in January 2008.

The Recording Industry Association of Japan certified LiSA's "Homura" single with a streaming Platinum for being streamed over 100 million times as of January 2021. It took 81 days for the single to achieve the feat, the fastest in the Recording Industry Association of Japan's history. The single's disc release is also certified Platinum for selling more than 250,000 CD copies.

The song is the third ever single to rank #1 on Oricon's weekly digital singles ranking chart for at least six consecutive weeks, after Kenshi Yonezu's 2018 single "Lemon" and 2019 single "Uma to Shika" accomplished the feat. LiSA is also the first female artist to accomplish this feat. The single ranked #1 on Oricon's weekly digital singles ranking chart for 13 consecutive weeks.

Blinken's Spotify playlist also includes songs by the Korean singer-songwriter Minzy, Filipino boy band SB19, and Filipino folk-pop band Ben&Ben, among other artists from Asia. The playlist description reads: "Music has been a constant in my life, and as we close the year, I wanted to take a moment to share some of my favorite songs released this year (or recently) by artists from across the globe. No matter where we live, music can inspire us. Hope you enjoy these tunes as much as I have."

Source: Spotify via AllKPop