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A national anthem is a Patriotism musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or in style. The Americas, , and nations tend towards more ornate and operatic pieces, while those in the Middle East, Oceania, Africa, and the Caribbean use a more simplistic fanfare. Some countries that are devolved into multiple constituent states have their own official musical compositions for them (such as with the United Kingdom, Russia, and the Soviet Union); their constituencies' songs are sometimes referred to as national anthems even though they are not .
In 1795, the French First Republic adopted La Marseillaise as its national anthem by decree, making France the first country in history to have an official national anthem. Some anthems are older in origin but were not officially adopted until the 19th or 20th century. For example, the lyrics of the Japanese national anthem, Kimigayo, were taken from a Heian period (794–1185) poem, but were not set to music until 1880.Japan Policy Research Institute JPRI Working Paper No. 79 . The national anthem of the Netherlands, the Wilhelmus, contains a melody and lyrics dating back to the 16th century, but it was not officially adopted as the country's national anthem until 1932.J. Leerssen: National Thought in Europe: A Cultural History, Amsterdam University Press, 2020, p. 103.
During the early 19th century, it became common for newly formed nations to define national anthems, notably as a result of the Latin American wars of independence, for Argentina (1813), Peru (1821), Brazil (1831), but also in Europe for Belgium (1830). Consequently, adoption of national anthems prior to the 1930s was mostly by newly formed or newly independent states, such as the First Portuguese Republic (A Portuguesa, 1911), the Kingdom of Greece ("Hymn to Liberty", 1865), the First Philippine Republic (Marcha Nacional Filipina, 1898), Lithuania (Tautiška giesmė, 1919), Weimar Germany (Deutschlandlied, 1922), Ireland (Amhrán na bhFiann, 1926) and Greater Lebanon ("Lebanese National Anthem", 1927).
"Il Canto degli Italiani" was written by Goffredo Mameli and set to music by Michele Novaro in 1847, currently used as the national anthem of Italy. The song was very popular during Italian unification and the following decades. However, after the Kingdom of Italy's 1861 proclamation, the Republicanism and Jacobin connotations of "Il Canto degli Italiani" were difficult to reconcile with the new state's monarchic constitution. The kingdom chose instead "Marcia Reale" (Royal March), the House of Savoy's official anthem, composed by order of King Charles Albert of Sardinia in 1831. After the World War II, Italy became a republic. On 12 October 1946, it chose "Il Canto degli Italiani" as a provisional national anthem. The song would retain this role as de facto anthem of the Italian Republic, and after several unsuccessful attempts, gained de jure status on 4 December 2017.
The Olympic Charter of 1920 introduced the ritual of playing the national anthems of the gold medal winners. From this time, the playing of national anthems became increasingly popular at international sporting events, creating an incentive for such nations that did not yet have an officially defined national anthem to introduce one.
The United States introduced the patriotic song The Star-Spangled Banner as a national anthem in 1931. Following this, several nations moved to adopt as official national anthem patriotic songs that had already been in de facto use at official functions, such as Mexico (Mexicanos, al grito de guerra, composed 1854, adopted 1943) and Switzerland ("Swiss Psalm", composed 1841, de facto use from 1961, adopted 1981).
By the period of decolonisation in the 1960s, it had become common practice for newly independent nations to adopt an official national anthem. Some of these anthems were specifically commissioned, such as the anthem of Kenya, Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu, produced by a dedicated "Kenyan Anthem Commission" in 1963.
A number of nations remain without an official national anthem adopted de jure. In these cases, there are established de facto anthems played at sporting events or diplomatic receptions. These include the United Kingdom (God Save the King) and Sweden (Du gamla, Du fria; the country also has a royal anthem, Kungssangen). Countries that have moved to officially adopt de iure their long-standing de facto anthems since the 1990s include: Luxembourg (Ons Heemecht, adopted 1993), South Africa (National anthem of South Africa, adopted 1997) and Israel (, composed 1888, de facto use from 1948, adopted 2004).
They are played on National Day and festivals, and have also come to be closely connected with sporting events. Wales was the first country to adopt this, during a Rugby football game against New Zealand in 1905. Since then during sporting competitions, such as the Olympic Games, the national anthem of the gold medal winner is played at each Podium; also played before games in many sports leagues, since being adopted in baseball during World War II. When teams from two nations play each other, the anthems of both nations are played, the host nation's anthem being played last.
In some countries, the national anthem is played to students each day at the start and/or end of school as an exercise in patriotism, such as in Tanzania. In other countries the state anthem may be played in a theatre before a play or in a cinema before a movie. Many radio and television stations have adopted this and play the national anthem when they sign on in the morning and again when they sign off at night. For instance, the national anthem of China is played before the broadcast of evening news on Hong Kong's local television stations including TVB Jade. In Colombia, it is a law to play the National Anthem at 6:00 and 18:00 on every public radio and television station, while in Thailand, "Phleng Chat Thai" is played at 08:00 and 18:00 nationwide (the Royal Anthem is used for sign-ons and closedowns instead), also in Indonesia, Indonesia Raya is played at 06:00 on national television networks started from December 11, 2024 as mandated by president Prabowo Subianto, while TVRI is the only national television that played it twice at 06:00 and 18:00. The use of a national anthem outside of its country, however, is dependent on the international recognition of that country. For instance, Taiwan has not been recognized by the International Olympic Committee as a separate nation since 1979 and must compete as Chinese Taipei; its "National Banner Song" is used instead of its national anthem.Yomiuri Shimbun Foul cried over Taiwan anthem at hoop tourney . Published 6 August 2007 In Taiwan, the country's national anthem is sung before instead of during flag-rising and flag-lowering, followed by the National Banner Song during the actual flag-rising and flag-lowering. Even within a state, the state's citizenry may interpret the national anthem differently (such as in the United States some view the U.S. national anthem as representing respect for dead soldiers and policemen whereas others view it as honouring the country generally).
Various solutions may be used when countries with different national anthems compete in a unified team. When North Korea and South Korea participated together in the 2018 Winter Olympics, the folk song "Arirang", beloved on both sides of the border and seen as a symbol of Korea as a whole, was used as an anthem instead of the national anthem of either state.
Very few countries have a national anthem written by a world-renowned composer. Exceptions include Germany, whose anthem "Das Lied der Deutschen" uses a melody written by Joseph Haydn, and Austria, whose national anthem "Land der Berge, Land am Strome" is sometimes credited to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The music of the "Pontifical Anthem", anthem of the Vatican City, was composed in 1869 by Charles Gounod, for the golden jubilee of Pope Pius IX's priestly ordination. When Armenia was under Soviet rule, its anthem, the "Anthem of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic" used a melody by Aram Khachaturian.
The committee charged with choosing a Negaraku (later Malaysia) at independence decided to invite selected composers of international repute to submit compositions for consideration, including Benjamin Britten, William Walton, Gian Carlo Menotti and Zubir Said, who later composed "Majulah Singapura", the national anthem of Singapore. None were deemed suitable. The tune eventually selected was (and still is) the anthem of the constituent state of Perak, which was in turn adopted from a popular French melody titled "La Rosalie" composed by the lyricist Pierre-Jean de Béranger.
A few anthems have words by Nobel laureates in literature. The first Asian laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, wrote the words and music of "Jana Gana Mana" (the first stanza of the original song "Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata") and "Amar Shonar Bangla", later adopted as the national anthems of India and Bangladesh respectively. Both songs are originally composed in Bengali language. Tagore is the only individual to have written the national anthems of two countries. The national anthem of Sri Lanka, "Nama Nama Sri Lanka Mata," is also directly influenced by Rabindranath Tagore. While Tagore didn't compose the anthem himself, he inspired his student, Ananda Samarakoon, who wrote the music and lyrics, and translated them into Sinhala language. Tagore initially composed the song in Bengali language and melody in 1938. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson wrote the lyrics for the Norwegian national anthem "Ja, vi elsker dette landet".
Other countries had their anthems composed by locally important people. This is the case for Colombia, whose anthem's lyrics were written by former president and poet Rafael Nuñez, who also wrote the country's first constitution, and in Malta, written by Dun Karm Psaila, already a National poet. A similar case is Liberia, the national anthem of which was written by its third president, Daniel Bashiel Warner.
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