Facts for Kids

An anthem is a piece of music people use to celebrate and stand for a group. The most familiar kind is a country’s national anthem, which many people sing at ceremonies, sports events, or when a flag is raised. An anthem helps people feel connected to the same ideas, history, or place.

Anthem also has a long history in churches. Long ago it meant a short sacred choral song used in worship. In English-speaking churches this kind of anthem began around 1550 and used English words, unlike the older Latin motet that churches had used before.

One clear type is the national anthem—a patriotic song meant to honor a country’s history, traditions, or struggles. Some national anthems are officially set by law, and others become official because people and leaders use them a lot. Many are written like marches or hymns, but styles vary around the world. Parts of larger countries or islands sometimes have their own official songs too, even if they are not separate countries.

There are also flag anthems that praise a country’s flag and are played at flag ceremonies. Some places use a separate flag anthem by law or custom. Beyond countries, popular songs often become sports anthems (for example, songs by Queen are used at games), and some events and companies have their own anthems to bring people together.

The word “anthem” comes from older languages. It traveled from the Greek word ἀντίφωνα (antíphōna) into Old English as “antefn,” and then became “anthem” in modern English.

That Greek word points to the singing style called an antiphon. An antiphon is a call-and-response way of singing, where one group sings and another group answers. Over time the idea of singing together and answering grew into the short choral pieces and later the national songs we call anthems.

The United Kingdom’s national anthem is God Save the King, but the parts of the UK often use different songs for sports and big events. England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland each have tunes people feel close to, and places like the Isle of Man also sing local anthems.

England often uses God Save the King but also sings “Jerusalem,” “I Vow To Thee, My Country,” and “Land of Hope and Glory” at some events; “Jerusalem” is used at the Commonwealth Games. Scotland commonly uses “Flower of Scotland,” “Auld Lang Syne,” and “Scotland the Brave,” with “Flower of Scotland” at many games. Wales’s song is Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau and is sometimes paired with “Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer” at rugby matches. Northern Ireland usually uses God Save the King for international matches and may use “Danny Boy” (the “Londonderry Air”) at the Commonwealth Games. The Isle of Man uses God Save the King as the royal anthem and “O Land of Our Birth” locally.

Anthems grew out of church music in England. In the late 1500s (the Elizabethan age), composers such as Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Christopher Tye, and Richard Farrant wrote important early anthems. The Book of Common Prayer of 1662 even includes a note telling choirs where anthems should be sung.

In the 1600s and 1700s other composers—Orlando Gibbons, Henry Purcell, John Blow, and later Samuel Arnold and others—kept the tradition alive. After the 1600s, the “verse anthem,” which mixes solo voices and choir, became popular. In the 1800s composers like Samuel Sebastian Wesley and Charles Villiers Stanford shaped the anthem again, borrowing ideas from big works like oratorios and from symphony music.

Some songs travel across countries and become shared symbols. The hymn Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika began as a song for hope and unity and was used by several African nations after they became independent. Parts of it were adopted into national anthems, though some countries later chose new songs.

A clear example of mixing songs is South Africa, whose national anthem since 1997 joins new English words with parts of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika and lines from the old anthem “Die Stem van Suid-Afrika.” Other melodies also cross borders: for example, “Arirang” is a beloved tune in both North and South Korea, and many countries sometimes share similar tunes or borrow hymns for their own anthems.

In the United States the official national anthem is the Star-Spangled Banner. In addition to this national song, most states have their own state songs to celebrate local history, places, or heroes. Washington, D.C. also uses songs for local events.

Some states are unusual. New Jersey has never had an official state song. Maryland took its old state song away in 2021 and has not chosen a new one. Tennessee has the most—about a dozen official songs, plus a special bicentennial rap. Arizona even has a state anthem from 1915 and an alternate one from 1982. Virginia changed its song in 1997 and named “Our Great Virginia” the state song in 2015. Iowa’s state song uses the tune of “O Tannenbaum.”