Eiichiro Oda’s “One Piece” has kicked off the new year with an epic Coup de Burst by taking the top spot for the most Google-searched anime of 2021 in the United States.
The study, conducted and published by CenturyLinkQuote on Jan. 14, gave insight into which states searched which anime the most, ranging from classics to newly released titles. The results showed that “One Piece” was the most Google-searched anime in 25 states – half of all the states in the entire country – including New York, New Jersey and Florida.
The classic series “Pokémon,” first released in April 1997, was the most-searched anime in eight states, landing the classic series in second place. Meanwhile, “Naruto” took third place after being ranked as the most-searched anime in six states.
“My Hero Academia” was reportedly popular in five states, while “Death Note” only showed up as the most-searched title in three states. “Sailor Moon,” “Attack on Titan” and “Jujutsu Kaisen” all landed in sixth place, being the most-searched in California, Utah and Hawaii, respectively.
CenturyLinkQuote explained that the study “compiled a list of the 100 most popular anime (both classic and recently released series)” based on data from websites such as MyAnimeList and CBR.
“We found each show’s search volume in SemRush and plugged the eight most most-searched shows into Google Trends to see which show was googled most by each state in the past 12 months,” the study further explained.
“One Piece” was first released as an anime in October 1999, and it aired its 1,000th episode in January 2021. The manga which the anime is based on also reportedly surpassed its 1,000th chapter last year. To celebrate this milestone, “One Piece” updated its opening for its 1,000th episode. Japanese animation studio Toei Animation remade the anime’s original opening with the song “We Are!” and also included an announcement about “One Piece Film: Red,” which is set to release in August this year, as NextShark previously reported.
At the Tokyo Olympics last year, “One Piece” was paid tribute to after a few athletes struck familiar poses of two Straw Hat Pirates members, NextShark previously reported.
