This is one of those “information I stumbled across while looking up something else” sorts of thing.

A variety of national anthem information, with tunes, sorted by various headings.

Including “formerly official/unofficial” anthems no longer being played.

The list includes an anthem from China, the czarist anthem from pre-Soviet Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, East Germany (which has gone out of business completely) and the original 19th century Prussian anthem — before Prussia created modern Germany and got another.

It also includes a few popular songs from polities no longer in existence that were a sort of unofficial anthem — from Nazi Germany and the Confederate States of America, for instance.

It just demonstrates how anthems can be a passing thing. They come, they go, and a revolution or lost war can lead to the old being replaced by the new — and sometimes not replaced at all.

Returning to the current age, lots of lists of “best anthem” compilations can be found on YouTube. I just picked one out, and here it is.

And, just for fun/cringing … someone’s compilation of 10 bad performance of the U.S. national anthem.

The U.S. anthem is played all the time, far to often, actually, and so many of the performances are awful, that I long ago became convinced it should not be played before regular-season games in any league in any sport.