Second season of Netflix’s acclaimed animated series Esoteric will be accompanied by a soundtrack released by Virgin Music Group, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group.
Riot Games – creator of League of Legendsthe hit multiplayer online game on which Esoteric is based on – has partnered with Virgin to release the Season 2 soundtrack this fall, the two companies announced Thursday (August 22). Season 2 of the series is set to hit Netflix in November.
Virgin will distribute the album worldwide, except in China, where it will be distributed by Riot Games’ parent company, Tencent.
The soundtrack for the series’ first season proved to be a major commercial success. The theme song, Imagine Dragons‘ Enemyreached number one on Billboard‘s Diffusion pop charts in the United States and number two on the Rock music broadcast chart.
Published by UMG Interscope et Children’s Corner, Enemy charted for 54 weeks on Billboard Diffusion alternative and has also been a top 10 hit on dozens of other charts worldwide. It has racked up more than 3 billion broadcast worldwide.
The full soundtrack, released by Virgin and Riot Games, brought together more than 5.6 billion streams since its release in November 2021. It peaked at number five on Billboard American Soundtrack Albums graphic, and currently has 12,3 millions monthly listeners on Spotify alone.
The series itself has also been a commercial and critical success. It was the most-streamed series on Netflix worldwide during the three weeks in late 2021 when new episodes were released, and reached the Netflix top 10 in 87 countries.
The show was nominated for five awards Les Emmy Awardswinning four of them, including Best Animation Program – fabrication Esoteric the first video game adaptation to win in this category.
“Each song is a true collaboration between the show’s creators, our in-house music team and some of the biggest artists in the world, many of whom play our games and love the League of Legends “Intellectual property”.
Maria Egan, Riot Games
“At Riot, we deeply believe in the world-building power of music and with Esoteric This vision is fully realized through the show’s all-original soundtrack,” said Maria EganGlobal Head of Music at Riot.
“Each song is a true collaboration between the show’s creators, our in-house music team and some of the biggest artists in the world, many of whom play our games and love the League of Legends “IP,” she added.
“After the record-breaking success of the first season soundtrack, we have even greater ambition for the second season soundtrack and needed an international team behind us. Jacqueline Saturn and everyone at Virgin Music Group are best-in-class. We are thrilled to partner on this groundbreaking project.”
Jacqueline SaturnPresident of Virgin Music Group North America and Executive Vice President of Global Artist Relations, Riot Games said “is an expert in creating incredibly powerful moments around global fandom – first in gaming and now in entertainment and music.
“With local experts in over 30 countries around the world, Virgin Music Group is uniquely positioned to partner with Maria and the Riot music team to fuel the global community around this hugely exciting soundtrack album.”
Music has long been an integral part of League of Legends IP and Riot Games, which is a leader in the field of virtual music group creation.
“Riot Games is an expert in creating incredibly powerful moments around global fandom – first in video games and now in entertainment and music.”
Jacqueline Saturn, Virgin music group
League of Legendswhich has been one of the biggest multiplayer online games since 2009, and has integrated musical groups into its events, including K-pop stars New jeans during its 2023 world championships.
Riot has relationships with the music industry beyond Virgin Music Group, including a collaborative venture, formed in 2023, with BMGwith whom Riot also has a global publishing administration agreement.
In 2020, Riot signed a deal with Spotify to make the streaming service the official audio streaming partner for League of Legends esports events.
