Nintendo Switch and Animal Crossing Are Japan’s Most Used Game Hashtags in 2020

Twitter Japan published the results of #ThisHappened for 2020, listing the most popular topics on the social media platform in both Japan and worldwide between January 1, 2020 and November 15, 2020. Nintendo Switch and Animal Crossing made their way into the fourth and fifth most used hashtags worldwide, respectively. The two hashtags also dominated the top two most used game-related hashtags in Japan in the same order. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

Nintendo Switch and Animal Crossing getting into the top two most used game hashtags in Japan is a remarkable feat, as the country’s gaming scene has been mostly dominated by mobile games. The top ten most used Japanese game accounts were completely filled by mobile and free-to-play games (including Genshin Impact in fifth place). In addition to Animal Crossing, Splatoon 2 also made it into the Japanese ranking.

Here’s the full list of the top 10 most used game hashtags in Japan:

1. Nintendo Switch
2. Animal Crossing
3. Fate/Grand Order
4. Monster Strike
5. Knives Out
6. Splatoon 2
7. Twisted Wonderland
8. Azur Lane
9. Touken Ranbu
10. BanG Dream

On the anime and manga side, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Haikyu!! are the top two most popular franchises in 2020. They dominated rankings for the most used manga hashtags and the most tweeted TV shows in the same order in Japan. They even got the third and fourth places on the worldwide TV show ranking when the Japanese results are combined with the United States, United Kingdom, and Brazil.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons launched simultaneously worldwide on the Nintendo Switch on March 20, 2020. It has become so popular that even many businesses and organizations are utilizing the game to promote themselves.