It's something I noticed for a while. Of all the ranked beatmaps in Osu, anime theme songs are the most common, popular, competitive, and highest quality beatmaps. Almost every anime's theme songs will have at least 1 (and usually more) version of a beatmap that's ranked.
Compare that with pop songs, which are overwhelmingly more widespread in America: I couldn't find a single song from 2012-2013 by Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, or One Direction, 3 of the most popular artists. The only beatmaps of their songs are mostly from around 2009, even though their recent songs are equally big hits. I noticed that new animes on the other hand will have opening and ending theme songs ranked in weeks.
Back to the main question: is there any specific reason for the much higher presence of anime songs? Is it because a lot of players are from Asia where anime is a bigger thing than in America? Do Asians tend to be skilled at these kind of fast reaction mechanical skill games?
Compare that with pop songs, which are overwhelmingly more widespread in America: I couldn't find a single song from 2012-2013 by Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, or One Direction, 3 of the most popular artists. The only beatmaps of their songs are mostly from around 2009, even though their recent songs are equally big hits. I noticed that new animes on the other hand will have opening and ending theme songs ranked in weeks.
Back to the main question: is there any specific reason for the much higher presence of anime songs? Is it because a lot of players are from Asia where anime is a bigger thing than in America? Do Asians tend to be skilled at these kind of fast reaction mechanical skill games?