Season two of Netflix’s acclaimed animated series Arcane will be accompanied by a soundtrack released through Universal Music Group’s Virgin Music Group.
Riot Games – maker of League of Legends, the hit multiplayer online game on which Arcane is based – has partnered with Virgin to release the season two soundtrack this fall, the companies announced on Thursday (August 22). Season two of the show is scheduled for release on Netflix in November.
Virgin will distribute the album worldwide, except in China, where it will be distributed by Riot Games’ parent company, Tencent.
The show’s season one soundtrack proved to be a major commercial success. The theme song, Imagine Dragons’ Enemy, reached number one on Billboard’s Pop Airplay charts in the US, and number two on the Rock Airplay chart.
Released by UMG’s Interscope and Kidinacorner, Enemy charted for 54 weeks on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart, and was also a top 10 hit on dozens of other charts worldwide. It has racked up more than 3 billion streams worldwide.
The complete soundtrack, released through Virgin and Riot Games, has amassed more than 5.6 billion streams since its release in November 2021. It reached number five on Billboard’s US Soundtrack Albums chart, and currently has 12.3 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone.
The show itself was also a success, commercially and critically. It was the most-streamed show on Netflix globally during the three weeks in late 2021 when new episodes were being released, and reached Netflix’s top 10 in 87 countries.
The show was nominated for five Emmy Awards, winning four of them, including Best Animated Show – making Arcane the first video game adaptation to win in that category.
“Every song is a true collaboration between the show creators, our in-house music team and some of the world’s greatest artists – many of whom play our games and love the League of Legends IP.”
Maria Egan, Riot Games
“At Riot we deeply believe in the world building power of music and with Arcane that vision is fully realized through the show’s completely original soundtrack,” said Maria Egan, Global Head of Music at Riot.
“Every song is a true collaboration between the show creators, our in-house music team and some of the world’s greatest artists – many of whom play our games and love the League of Legends IP,” she added.
“After the record-breaking success of season one’s music, we are even more ambitious for the second season OST and needed a global team behind us. Jacqueline Saturn and everyone at Virgin Music Group are the best in class. We’re excited to partner on this groundbreaking project.”
Jacqueline Saturn, President, Virgin Music Group North America and EVP of Global Artist Relations, said Riot Games “are experts in creating enormously powerful moments around global fandom – first in gaming and now in entertainment and music.
“With local experts in more than 30 countries around the world, Virgin Music Group is uniquely suited to partner with Maria and the music team at Riot to fuel global fandom around this hugely exciting soundtrack album.”
Music has long been an integral part of the League of Legends IP and Riot Games, which has been a leader in the field of creating virtual musical acts.
“Riot Games are experts in creating enormously powerful moments around global fandom – first in gaming and now in entertainment and music.”
Jacqueline Saturn, Virgin Music Group
League of Legends, which has been one of the most prominent multiplayer online games since 2009, and has integrated musical acts into its events, including K-pop stars NewJeans in its 2023 world championships.
Riot has relationships with the music industry beyond Virgin Music Group, including a collaborative venture, formed in 2023, with BMG, with whom Riot also has a global publishing administration deal.
In 2020, Riot signed a deal with Spotify for the streaming service to be the official audio streaming partner for League of Legends esports events.Music Business Worldwide
