National anthems are weird. They were first invented and started becoming popular in the 1700s. Before then, most people identified more with their family, tribe, city, religion, or ethnic group. Before then, regular people didn’t much care or notice who ruled the land they lived and worked on.

Only a handful of countries play their national anthem on a regular basis, and most countries only play them before international contests or events. The United States is unique in that our national anthem is played at almost every major gathering and is given almost spiritual significance. As the rise of nationalism gained strength over the last couple of centuries, the more important national anthems have become.

Here are a few of the more interesting and controversial anthems we found.

#1 Marcha Real

In a refreshing take on national anthems, there are only four in the world that don’t have any words: the anthems for San Marino, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Spain’s Marcha Real.

It is one of the oldest national anthems in the world, first being printed in 1761. There have been multiple variations of the song and different versions with lyrics, but the official anthem has no words.

#2 God Defend New Zealand

As a Commonwealth nation, New Zealand actually has two national anthems: God Save the King and God Defend New Zealand, though the latter is usually played at events.

God Defend New Zealand has two verses with similar meanings, with the first being sung in English and the second being sung in Māori. It is one of only a few anthems to include a second language at all, and the only one to have two verses in completely different languages.

#3 Wilhelmus

The national anthem of the Netherlands dates all the way back to 1572, which makes it the oldest national anthem in use today.

Wilhelmus is a story of William of Orange, the Father of the nation, told in first person. There are fifteen stanzas in the full song, which is structured to be acrostic. This means the first letters of every line spell out a message. In this case, they spell “Willem van Nassov”.

#4 My Kazakhstan

The interesting thing about Kazakhstan’s national anthem isn’t necessarily the anthem itself, but how many times other songs have been mistaken for Kazakhstan’s anthem. A parody anthem made famous by the character Borat was played by mistake at the 2012 International Shooting Grand Prix. This version says Kazakhstan is the “greatest country in the world” and is the top “exporter of potassium”.

Another time, “Livin’ La Vida Loca” by Ricky Martin was mistaken for the anthem and played at the opening of a Kazakh ski resort.

My Kazakhstan was adopted as the new national anthem in just 2006 and includes lyrics from the president of Kazakhstan.

#5 “Where My Home Is” and “Lightning over the Tatras

These two songs, the anthems for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, respectively, are actually two different verses of the same song: “Where my home is”, which was the national anthem of Czechoslovakia before it split.

To match the split of the country, the national anthem was also split, with the Czech Republic taking the first verse and Slovakia taking the second verse.

#6 Kimigayo

In English, the national anthem of Japan is usually translated as “His Imperial Majesty’s Reign” but there is no official translation of the title or the lyrics.

Though the Netherlands has the oldest national anthem, Japan lays claim to the oldest lyrics used for a national anthem, with the words for Kimigayo coming from a poem written between 794 and 1185 CE.

#7 El gran Carlemany

Andorra’s national anthem (The Great Charlemagne), like the anthem of the Netherlands, is one of the only songs told in the first-person from the perspective of the country itself. The anthem references Andorra’s heritage as one of the only remaining nations from the Carolingian Empire.

#8 Sayaun Thunga Phulka

The national anthem of Nepal (Made of Hundreds of Flowers in English) is the anthem to go to if you’re looking to actually have a good time instead of falling asleep. It was officially adopted as Nepal’s national anthem in 2007. The fact that the anthem is typically played using a keyboard makes it even more fun.

It was ranked third in the BBC’s The Most Amazing National Anthems list in 2016.

#9 God Save the [Monarch]

The lyrics to the United Kingdom’s national anthem, God Save the King/God Save the Queen, change depending on the gender of the current monarch. While there is no official or definitive version of the lyrics, the version everyone sings is usually what is available on the website for the Royal Family.

This is the official national anthem for all Crown Dependencies, most nations in the Commonwealth, and is a folk tune in some other countries.

It was such a popular song that Ludwig van Beethoven once said, “I have to show the English a little of what a blessing ‘God Save the King’ is”.

#10 Star Spangled Banner

We can’t have a list of national anthems without including the Star-Spangled Banner.

While there are plenty of national anthems written by people with troubling histories, and most of them include violence and killing your enemies in some way, not many include overt racism and slandering people of other races. 

Besides the fact that Francis-Scott Key was a well-known racist who thought black people were sub-human, the third verse of our national anthem makes this abundantly clear and slanders “the hireling and the slave” who ran to Britain during the war of 1812 for freedom. At the time of its writing, Key’s poem had the unmistakable message that any slave caught fighting for the British should be hunted down and killed. Even at the time of its writing, its overt racism was apparent and is what prevented it from being adapted as the national anthem until 1931.

Behavior during the playing of the national anthem is outlined in U.S. Code 36, however, these regulations are suggestive and not actual regulations. Failure to adhere to the code does not break the law.

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