55 Best Animated Music Videos Across Generations

Mar 15, 2024 8:00:00 AM

Who doesn’t love music? And who doesn’t like cartoons? 

Like peanut butter and chocolate, it was inevitable that someone would combine the two.

Let’s explore the wild and dazzling world of animated music videos.

It’s a fascinating place where these two intensely creative worlds collide.

This is a pretty detailed post, so feel free to skip to the bits you’re interested in:

  1. The History of Animated Music Videos
  2. Music Videos in The 70s and 80s
    1. “Accidents Will Happen” by Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1979)
    2. “Take on Me” by A-Ha (1985)
    3. “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel (1986)
    4. “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits (1985)
    5. “Brothers in Arms” by Dire Straits (1985)
    6. “Sign O’ The Times” by Prince (1987)
    7. “Opposites Attract” by Paula Abdul feat. MC Skat Kat (1989)
  3. Music Videos in The 90s
    8. “I Miss You” by Björk (1995)
  4. The Influence of Comic Books and Animation on Music Videos
    9. “Freak on a Leash” by Korn (1999)
    10. “Do the Evolution” by Pearl Jam (1998)
    11. “Push it” by Static-X (1999)
  5. The Golden Age of Animated Music Videos
    12. “Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz (2001)
    13. “Do The Bartman” by The Simpsons (1999)
    14. “Hold Me, Kiss Me, Thrill Me, Kill Me” by U2 (1995)
    15. “Go Forth and Die” by Dethklok
  6. The Different Types Of Animated Music Videos
    1. 2D Animation Music Videos
      16. "Something About Us" by Daft Punk
    2. 3D Animation Music Videos
      17. “Californication” by Red Hot Chili Peppers (2000)
    3. Rotoscoping Animation Music Videos
      18. “What If It's Not Enough” by Lubalin (2023)
    4. Stop-Motion Animation Music Videos
      19. "In Your Arms" by Kina Grannis
      20. "The Rifle's Spiral" by The Shins
    5. Claymation Animation Music Videos
      21. “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by Primus (2003)
      22. “Three Little Pigs” by Green Jelly (1993)
    6. Kinetic Typography/Text Animation Animation Music Videos
      23. “Word Crimes” by Weird Al Yankovic
      24. “Is it Love” by 3LAU
  7. Case Studies: Animated Music Videos We’ve Created Here At B2W
    25. Sanctioned to Life
    26. It's All Turtles
  8. Our Favorite Animated Music Videos
    27. “Party at the CIA” by ‘Weird Al Yankovic
    28. “Jurassic Park” by ‘Weird Al Yankovic
    29. “Man-Sized Wreath” by R.E.M.
    30. "Earth" by Lil Dicky
    31. “Sunflower” by Post Malone, Swae Lee
    32. “Only” by Nine Inch Nails
    33. “Aline” by The French Dispatch
    34. “Feels Like Summer” by Childish Gambino
    35. “La de da de da de da de day oh” by Bill Wurtz
    36. “Feel Like We Only Go Backwards” by Tame Impala
    37. "One More Time" by Daft Punk
    38. “The Darkness That You Fear” by The Chemical Brothers
    39. “The Rip” by Portishead
    40. “you should see me in a crown” by Billie Eilish
    41. “Sour Candy” by Lady Gaga and BLACKPINK (Lyric video)
    42. “Levitating” by Dua Lipa
    43. “We are Bulletproof: The Eternal” by BTS
    44. “Cold Cold Heart” by Dua Lipa and Elton John
    45. "Anvil" by Lorn
    46. “The Music Scene” by Blockhead
    47. "The Wolf" by Siames
    48. “Brother” by Stuck in the Sound
    49. “Oh Mama” by Run the Jewels
    50. “Let’s Go” by Stuck in the Sound
    51. “Delta” by C2C
    52. “Into the Night” by Nero
    53. “Revenge” by CaptainSparklez
    54. “Fell in Love With a Girl” by White Stripes
    55. “Her Morning Elegance” by Oren Lavie
  9. How Much Does it Cost to Make an Animated Music Video?

The History of Animated Music Videos

In 1981, MTV introduced the world at large to the music video.

While initial reactions were mixed at best, it didn’t take long for this bizarre and dazzling format to prove itself as an all but essential component in the music industry.

Music videos are an unusually creative format, with few restrictions or rules.

The director is free to try just about anything they see fit, so long as it complements and enhances the song that the video accompanies.

There is another creative format that is, similarly, limited only by the creator’s imagination: animation.

A filmmaker’s vision is challenged by budgets, special effects and set-building and so on; that of an animation studio is not. 

Music Videos in The 70s and 80s

1. “Accidents Will Happen” by Elvis Costello & The Attractions (1979)

 

But did you know that the first ever fully-animated music video was released two years BEFORE MTV began broadcasting? 

Talk about being ahead of your time!

The music video for “Accidents Will Happen” by Elvis Costello & The Attractions in 1979 was initially met with mixed reactions at best.

But it was a taste of things to come.

The first major, successful animated music videos hit the screens internationally in 1985 with “Take on Me” by A-Ha:

2. “Take on Me” by A-Ha (1985)

 

This was a mix of live-action, sketchy static comic book art, and fluid animation.

The video depicts a young girl (the band’s lead singer’s girlfriend, for you trivia buffs) in a cafe reading a comic book, when the characters come to life from the pages and draw her in.

The lead singer is depicted using rotoscoped animation, a technique where live film is physically traced or drawn over.

It’s tedious work but yields an unusually fluid, lifelike, realistic feel. 

Just the next year (1986), Peter Gabriel released “Sledgehammer”:

3. “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel (1986)

 

This video employed a technique called stop-motion animation.

Simply put, imagine taking a series of still photographs of the same subject with minor changes in each step, and then “playing” them like a very fast slideshow. 

Peter Gabriel has always had a reputation for fearless innovation, and put a lot of thought and effort into his music videos.

Around this time period, Dire Straits blew everyone away with the world’s first 3-D, computer-generated (CGI) animated music video:

4. “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits (1985)

 

“Money For Nothing” pushed the very limits of technology at the time.

In an era where Microsoft Windows 1.0 was brand new, even the concept of wire-frame 3D computer animation was practically science fiction.

The video was almost not made at all, as Mark Knopfler was unimpressed with the idea of music videos in general.

He was a bit of a purist who hated gimmicky stunts.

He only relented when his girlfriend at the time insisted it was a good idea. 

The rest, as they say, is history.

The response and critical acclaim are credited with legitimizing not only the concept of an animated music video, but arguably the music video artform entirely. 

From this moment onwards, it was without question that one could not seriously release a single without a music video if you expect widespread airplay and success.

The band followed this quickly with “Brothers in Arms”:

5. “Brothers in Arms” by Dire Straits (1985)

 

This, too, was animated.

But while “Money For Nothing” was glossy, colorful, and high-tech for its time, “Brothers in Arms” was subdued, noisy and grainy, and in black-and-white.

Like a living charcoal sketch, it mirrored the somber spirit of the song.

Not surprisingly, this video won a Grammy.

The Artist Formerly Known as Prince was an artist as diversely talented as he was groundbreaking and revolutionary.

It’s no surprise that the video was something completely new and different for “Sign O’ The Times” in 1987:

6. “Sign O’ The Times” by Prince (1987)

 

“Sign O’The Times” was a stark, minimalist and haunting zeitgeist in song form.

And the video complemented it perfectly: It consisted essentially of just the lyrics, word by word, over a few simple shapes and colors, emphasizing the message rather than distracting from it.

Therefore, this was the first successful lyric video, well over a decade before lyric videos became commonplace.

7. “Opposites Attract” by Paula Abdul feat. MC Skat Kat (1989)

 

Some of us remember the 1988 movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” which deftly combined goofy, over-the-top cartoon animation with live actors on film.

In a similar fashion, the music world followed suit with the video of Paula Abdul’s “Opposites Attract” in 1989, where she danced and sang alongside a rapping 2D cartoon character named MC Skat Kat.

In a continuing trend, it also won a Grammy.

Music Videos in The 90s

As the decade turned, animated music videos were nothing particularly unusual or rare into the 1990s. But there are a few notable works that stand out amongst the crowd.

Much like how 1989’s “Opposites Attract” emulated “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, Icelandic artist Björk teamed up with the creators of the animated cartoon “Ren & Stimpy” for her single “I Miss You”: 

8. “I Miss You” by Björk (1995)

The animators stuck with their trademark bizarre and somewhat disturbing style for this video, causing MTV to be apprehensive about airing it during daytime hours.

Björk rejected requests to edit the video, and once the song started rising through the charts, MTV relented and aired it at all hours anyway.

Just like “Ren and Stimpy,” the video was goofy, surreal, bizarre and subtly disturbing - although one can never pinpoint why.

This is a video that will stick around in your memory just like the catchy earworm of the song itself.

The Influence of Comic Books and Animation on Music Videos

Comic books and graphic novels have always had a connection with the world of animation.

The 90s saw some acts experimenting with blending a decidedly graphic-novel kind of aesthetic into their music videos, such as “Freak on a Leash” by nu metal rock band Korn (1999), notably directed by comic book artist Todd McFarlane:

9. “Freak on a Leash” by Korn (1999)

 

With “Freak on a Leash,” the dark, gritty, highly stylized comic book art blended so perfectly with the explosively angsty and brooding sounds and themes of nu metal and hard rock, that it’s hard to believe it took this long for such a collaboration to happen. 

10. “Do the Evolution” by Pearl Jam (1998)

 

The video of Pearl Jam’s “Do the Evolution” was burdened with the daunting task of summarizing the violent history of the planet Earth in just four minutes.

This is a feat that, arguably, only animation could have pulled off so well.

The video pulls no punches, viscerally painting the cruelty of the human race in a frantic, furious slideshow of nihilistic horror, from neanderthals to Nazis and napalm, ending in a world-ending nuclear inferno.

The song is explosive and seething, Pearl Jam at their best.

Combining the two, the viewer endures a spectacular assault on not just their senses, but their psyche as a whole, and the effect isn’t blunted by repeated viewing. 

Both “Freak on a Leash” and “Do the Evolution” were directed by Todd McFarlane.

Trivia: McFarlane is a comic book artist and writer who created “Spawn,” a comic book series that was later adapted into a suitably special-effects soaked Hollywood movie. 

Videos like these prove just how diverse, flexible, versatile and wildly creative the world of animation can really be.

It seems one is only limited by one’s imagination.

Rock music in particular seemed to enjoy a close relationship with animation. Consider industrial metal band Static-X’s debut, “Push It” (1999):

11. “Push it” by Static-X (1999)

 

This delightfully bizarre video employed stop-motion animation heavily.

The look, style and feel seamlessly complemented the genre of industrial rock, which is essentially hard rock and/or metal saturated with heavy effects, programming and post-production.

For example, Static-X frontman Wayne Static famously described their music as “evil disco.”

The video leaves little doubt.

The Golden Age of Animated Music Videos 

If there ever was a golden age of animated music videos, then we have Gorillaz to thank.

2001 saw the world’s first ever “virtual” band, Gorillaz, literally comprising of comic book characters who only interact with our world through animation and cartoons.

They were an instant hit with their debut, “Clint Eastwood” (2001):

12. “Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz (2001)

 

For the first time, cartoons and animation were not only important, but essential to a successful mainstream band. 

Some could argue, however, that the first animated band would be television show The Simpsons’ foray into the music world, with “Do The Bartman” in 1999:

13. “Do The Bartman” by The Simpsons (1999)

 

Animation is an artform that seems infinitely comfortable collaborating with other forms of film and media, from comic books to movies and music.

A good example of this would be the music video for “Hold Me, Kiss Me, Thrill Me, Kill Me” by U2, a song commissioned specifically for the movie “Batman Forever” (1995):

14. “Hold Me, Kiss Me, Thrill Me, Kill Me” by U2 (1995)

 

The music is 2D animated with Batman heroes and villains complementing the driving rock sound, with even the band members animated as characters as they perform.

Despite the movie itself being widely panned and suffering much scorn from critics, the song was well received and was even nominated for a Grammy.

However, Gorillaz are not the only animated virtual band.

A somewhat lesser-known but equally notable project was the animated cartoon series Metalocalypse.

According to its creators, the show was both homage to, and satire of, heavy metal culture and music.

It surrounds the adventures of an implausibly successful and wealthy heavy metal band, Dethklok, and featured an array of amazing original music performed by many of the world’s best real-life metal musicians.

To date it enjoys a cult fan following.

15. “Go Forth and Die” by Dethklok

 

Dethklok is a virtual animated death metal band, comparable to the more famous Gorillaz.

The band exists in the fictional world depicted in the Adult Swim animated series “Metalocalypse,” a show perhaps best described as “being both a satire of, and loving homage to, heavy metal counterculture.”

While the band is fictional and animated, their music has been critically acclaimed in the real world.

The creators even formed a real-life band to go on tour. 

The Different Types Of Animated Music Videos

2D Animation Music Videos

2D (standing for two-dimensional) animation is what most people think about when you say the word “cartoons.” It’s classic, old-fashioned animation, once exclusively hand-drawn.

It was tedious work, with large teams of artists painstakingly hand-drawing thousands of “cells” to create individual frames.

Nowadays software has taken over a lot of the grunt work, but artists’ hands are still needed.

They’ve just exchanged pen and brush with a digital stylus, Wacom drawing tablets, and software.

Here's an example of a 2D animated music video from Daft Punk:

16. "Something About Us" by Daft Punk (2001)

 

3D Animation Music Videos

Whereas 2D is “flat,” 3D involves creating entire three-dimensional virtual worlds.

This is the kind of graphics usually seen in mainstream big-budget animated movies like the kind produced by Pixar and Dreamworks, and also in most video games.

Like everything else, it has advantages and disadvantages. 

Let Red Hot Chilli Pepper show you how a music video  using 3D animation is done:

17. “Californication” by Red Hot Chili Peppers (2000)

 

Rotoscoping Animation Music Videos

Rotoscoping is a technique where animators would “trace” and draw over every frame of an existing piece of live footage, and then run all the traced artwork in a sequence to create the animation.

While incredibly tedious and time-consuming, the resulting animation is startlingly lifelike in its movements, motion and depth, because it is in fact real footage that’s just been drawn over - as opposed to traditional 2D animation, where the shots are “imagined” up, as it were.  

An example of a music video employing rotoscoping:

18. “What If It's Not Enough” by Lubalin (2023)

 

Stop-Motion Animation Music Videos

Stop-motion is a technique where, basically, a series of photographs is taken, as opposed to a series of drawn artworks.

The advantage here is that one can employ puppets, models, figurines, toys etc and bring them to life. It sounds simple but it is at least as tedious and detail-oriented as 2D animation. 

Here are some examples of stop-motion music videos:

19. "In Your Arms" by Kina Grannis

 

20. “The Rifle's Spiral” by The Shins

 

Claymation Animation Music Videos

Claymation is stop-motion animation using real clay figurines / characters specifically, as opposed to hand-drawn art on cells to create frames.

This gives the animation a realistic and detailed feel, because each frame consists of essentially a photograph of real figurines / dolls / structures.

A good example of claymation in a music video was experimental metal band Primus’ unique rendition of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (2003):

21. “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by Primus (2003)

 

A much earlier example was the comedy metal band Green Jelly’s “Three Little Pigs” (1993):

22. “Three Little Pigs” by Green Jelly (1993) 

 

Kinetic Typography/Text Animation Animation Music Videos

This type of video consists of the lyrics of the song appearing prominently on the screen, with all the focus and animation centering around the text.

Kinetic typography is distinct from lyric videos, which are a relatively recent genre where a supplemental lyric video complements the original “main” music video.

Some notable examples include:

23. “Word Crimes” by Weird Al Yankovic

 

A typically hilarious parody of the hit “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke by the master of lyrical parody, Weird Al Yankovic, the entire video consists of the lyrics in animated text.

This video is another good example of kinetic typography in a successful music video.

24. “Is it Love” by 3LAU

 

A sublime, ephemeral song with a delightfully light and breezy lyric video to match, the kinetic typography blends in perfectly with the mood of both the live-action video and the song.

Case Studies: Animated Music Videos We’ve Created Here At B2W

Two notable projects we’ve worked on include:

25. Sanctioned to Life

 

It’s tough being an up-and-coming band, trying to stand out and get noticed.

So New York-based Sanctioned to Life asked us for an unusual music video that wouldn’t break the bank. 

It was quite a fun challenge for us to fit a character animation video on a tight budget, but we found creative ways to pull it off.

And we’re pleased to say they were delighted with the results!

26. It’s All Turtles

 

Our client was a fan of the old Looney Tunes-style classic animation, rather than the more high-tech 3D stuff that’s popular today.

So with this in mind, we blended character animation and hand-written kinetic typography to enhance the music video with a layer of storytelling. 

With animation, you’re constantly thinking outside the box!

Our Favorite Animated Music Videos

Here’s a curated list of our top picks!

27. “Party at the CIA” by ‘Weird Al Yankovic

 

They say you haven’t really arrived at true success in your musical career, until ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic does a parody of one of your songs. 

Here, pop music’s foremost satirist takes on Miley Cyrus’ hit summer anthem “Party in the USA” and turns it into a brilliant parody about the infamous intelligence agency.

28. “Jurassic Park” by ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic

 

It’s no surprise that ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic loves animation for its unfettered creative freedom.

He makes this list yet again with his parody of Jurassic Park, using claymation to bring dinosaurs to life– only to roast them so hard they’ll be grateful they went extinct.

29. “Man-Sized Wreath” by R.E.M.

 

Throughout the nineties and oughts, alternative-rockers R.E.M. were never ones to shy away from experimenting and trailblazing.

So why should their music videos be any different?

Here we see them not just play with animation, but do entirely new things with it.

We’re treated to retro pixel art reminiscent of 1980s-era arcade video games, but it’s also combined with cutting-edge 3D graphics, with a dash of grungy mixed-media-style graphics– all blended seamlessly with live action on top of that. 

Perhaps today this isn’t so new or groundbreaking, but back in 2010 this was pretty crazy stuff, creatively brave, and far more difficult to pull off.

30. “Earth” by Lil Dicky

 

When you have a vision for your music video as big and grand as a love song to the planet Earth itself, you’ll probably need the kind of resources that can launch a Marvel movie.

Or, you can go the DIY route and use the power of animation to bring your song to life. 

A music video like this is no easy feat.

How do you visually depict the kind of message in a song this ambitious? 

Well, as we love to say as often as we can: with animation, you’re only truly limited by your imagination.

And this beautiful music video is proof. Starting out as simple live action, it quickly transforms into a 3D animated world, bursting with life and hope. 

Music videos aren’t just a visual accompaniment to a song anymore, like an afterthought thrown on to give a TV audience something to look at other than a static image for three minutes.

They have truly evolved into an artform in and of themselves.

And if you’re not convinced, you probably will be by the end of this list!

31. “Sunflower” by Post Malone, Swae Lee

 

If you need only one example to demonstrate just how far animation has come, it need only be this dazzling animated music video for the Spider-Man franchise. 

The movie itself is arguably the pinnacle of animation to date, blending comic-book graphics, 2D and 3D art, and even mixed media styles.

So it’s no surprise that the theme song’s music video proudly boasts the same standard.

Note that this video isn’t just a lazy compilation of scenes from the movie set to music, like with too many other examples to list.

There’s original animation here too, with lyrics cleverly blended into the art! 

32. “Only” by Nine Inch Nails

 

As animation evolves, it gets harder to clearly define where it even begins and ends.

Like this innovative example from Nine Inch Nails, which starts out looking like typical live action film, before animated elements slowly emerge into the scene.

3D / CGI is now advanced enough that it’s hard to tell when you’re looking at it, unless it’s intentionally obvious. 

It’s just another example of how, with animation, there really are no limits except your imagination, and rules are made to be broken.

Much like Nine Inch Nails’ music itself. 

33. “Aline” by The French Dispatch

 

If you’re still not convinced that music videos (especially animated music videos) are a legit artform in and of themselves, then here’s a little something directed by the legendary Wes Anderson for you to consider.

We shouldn’t be surprised that it’s charming, quirky, unique and playful– in other words, his signature style, despite it being drawn and not filmed. If anything, this lovely video only adds to his distinct style of visual storytelling.

34. “Feels Like Summer” by Childish Gambino

 

Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover, seems to have no end to his talents.

An accomplished actor in both comedic and dramatic roles, a sharp writer, talented rapper– and now add music video director to the ever-growing list. 

He got hands-on and directed his own music video for his hit song “Feels Like Summer,” using traditional 2D character animation throughout, rather than live action.

It transports you to that warm lazy summer evening vibes that’s hard to define, but we’re all familiar with.

And we do mean vibe.

There’s just something about that perfect summer track combined with just the right visuals to generate a mood that takes us there, whatever the time of the year. 

35. “La de da de da de da de day oh” by Bill Wurtz

 

Bill Wurtz exploded onto the YouTube scene in 2017 with his bizarre and wonderful video, “history of the entire world, i guess” which… well, it defies explanation, even for this list.

So it’s best you check it out and find out for yourself. 

He quickly followed that up with his original music, paired with his unique animation style.

Upbeat, catchy and harmonious, it’s guaranteed to put you in a good mood, while his bizarre animation style will confuse and delight you to boot!

With brilliant creative minds like these, the internet is guaranteed never to get boring anytime soon.

36. “Feel Like We Only Go Backwards” by Tame Impala

 

Claymation is not a new thing in animation.

It’s great for creating three-dimensional characters and settings without using puppets or requiring computers, and its “organic” look and feel are a big bonus. 

But it’s pretty unusual, almost counter-intuitive, to use claymation to create flat, 2D images and graphics, like in this colorful and psychedelic video for Tame Impala.

However, the effect is dazzling and fun.

And in a world saturated with animation, this technique also avoids the overused visual cliches that a critical audience has seen too many times before. 

In a space as wild and creative as music videos, it’s not just a cliche to have your video really stand out! It helps that the song is amazing, too.

37. “One More Time” by Daft Punk

 

Daft Punk are eclectic pioneers of electronic music, and their music videos only further underscore this point.

Every one they make is a treat for the eyes.

It’s another example of old-fashioned 2D Japanese animation being used in a music video.

It’s reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons, or binge-watching classic animes in our school or college days.

The music is typically upbeat and catchy in that signature Daft Punk way, and the video blends with and enhances it just so well. 

38. “The Darkness That You Fear” by The Chemical Brothers

 

Before there was Daft Punk, there were The Chemical Brothers.

Arguably one of the earliest acts to break sophisticated electronica out into the mainstream, The Chemical Brothers are no strangers to experimentation and innovation, creating music that seemed to outgrow its own genre and bleed into others. 

Sometimes we see animation that’s so bizarre and so wildly imaginative, that it doesn’t even seem possible.

It’s like someone invented a new color. Like for the music video for The Chemical Brothers’ “The Darkness That You Fear.”

It’s a kaleidoscope of mixed media, photography, painting and color, like someone stuck it all in a blender and poured the resulting soup into our eyeballs.

Just a perfect complement to the kind of fun chaos of The Chemical Brothers’ music itself.

39. “The Rip” by Portishead

 

A good music video will match the song well.

An amazing music video, on the other hand, will enhance and deepen the song, adding to and amplifying it even more.

And this is a great example.

Portishead have been pioneers of the alternative / trip-hop genre since the early 1990s.

Trip-hop or Bristol has been described as “spooky / goth hip-hop,” highly atmospheric and brooding, and Portishead’s music has been described as the soundtrack to a horror movie that doesn’t exist.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that they let their creativity run free with their music videos, too. For “The Rip,” the music video went for scribbly hand-drawn animation with an unapologetically raw, unpolished feel to it.

Its jittery visuals seem to clash with the band’s typically hypnotic and dreamy vibe, and yet seem to enhance and underscore the song at the same time. 

40. “you should see me in a crown” by Billie Eilish

 

We’ve already talked at length about how music videos should be considered an art form, and why.

And while the video for “you should see me in a crown” by Billie Eilish is another fantastic example for all the obvious reasons, bursting with creativity and imagination– we want to highlight something else here.

The animation is so smooth and lifelike, it keeps blowing our minds. It’s almost uncanny-valley levels of fluid and realistic! We’re honestly a little jealous.

Celebrated genre-crossing Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami directed this masterpiece, and his dazzling talent and vision really come through here.

This video is also true to Billie Eilish’s unique style and flair, bringing it to life and letting it take center stage. 

Our eyeballs can’t get enough!

41. “Sour Candy” by Lady Gaga and BLACKPINK (Lyric video)

 

Lyric videos usually just serve the purpose of displaying lyrics to a song so fans can follow along, in a way similar to karaoke videos.

They’re not the focus, more like a companion to the main music video.

And while some effort is put into mainstream pop songs’ lyric videos, they don’t outshine the main music video itself. 

But of course, we can’t expect the likes of Lady Gaga and K-Pop phenom BLACKPINK to stick to convention and take the easy way out.

The lyric video for their team-up effort “Sour Candy” is a visual overload of intensely bright vivid abstract elements.

The closest thing to a description we can come up with here is “imagine if you stumbled across a video game livestream from another planet.” The lyrics don’t even take up a large portion of the screen.

It’s mesmerizing, and yet not distracting from the song itself. 

42. “Levitating” by Dua Lipa

 

Dua Lipa fans already know what to expect when she drops a new single: for her music to blow them into orbit. 

So it’s fitting that the music video for “Levitating” is suitably out-of-this-world– literally.

The animation is traditional 2D Japanese retro anime style, reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons.

And much like old school anime, it’s got a fantastical sci-fi storyline with an animated Dua Lipa as the perfect heroine. 

As a side note: we had a hard time narrowing down which Dua Lipa video to use, since so many of her music videos are animated!

Could it be that she’s as big a fan of the artform as we are? Who knows.

43. “We are Bulletproof: The Eternal” by BTS

 

This last decade has seen the rise and dominance of K-Pop, or Korean pop music, straight into the mainstream and here to stay– language barriers be damned.

And few acts are as synonymous with the whole genre as BTS.

In 2020, the septet created a loving tribute in their “We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal” music video.

The band is depicted as cute chibi-style characters on their journey so far, with plenty of callbacks and references to many of their previous hit songs.

It’s a reflection of how far they’ve come, and a grateful recognition of their fiercely loyal fanbase for supporting them through it all.

The beautiful animation only serves to enhance the experience and amplify the emotions of this heartfelt homage. 

44. “Cold Cold Heart” by Dua Lipa and Elton John

 

Call us biased, but we firmly believe that animation has the ability to express emotions, ideas and concepts that simply cannot be communicated as clearly in any other format or medium, period. 

And what better proof is there than this deliciously strange animated music video for “Cold Cold Heart?”

Quite fittingly, it’s a song that resulted from the unlikely team-up of Dua Lipa and Elton John, mashing up two fairly old pop hits from yesteryear into a slick, modern track.

It’s such an odd blend that it simply shouldn’t have worked– and yet, half a billion views would prove that wrong. 

The music video is suitably as charmingly quirky and hard-to-define as the song itself. But what’s not hard to miss, is that warm fuzzy feeling it plants squarely in your heart. 

45. “Anvil” by Lorn

 

This amazing music video consists of stark, stunning, black and white animation– and we do mean black and white, there’s not even any gray.

It’s harsh, sharp, and breathtaking.

The story draws you into a lush, slick sci-fi world that’s battling overpopulation, and offers people the chance to upload their consciousness into a virtual reality as a shocking but increasingly acceptable solution.

46. “The Music Scene” by Blockhead

 

Hand-drawn animation that’s delightfully surreal, colorful and a tad disturbing. Like many animated music videos, watching this is a visual drug trip.

It’s interesting that they chose to go the hand-drawn 2D route when so many of the elements are complex and shape-oriented.

Most animation teams would have opted to simply do this in 3D, but these guys chose the hard way, just to give it that raw sketchy feel that only comes with that style.

And it works so much better, too. 

47. “The Wolf” by Siames

 

Another mostly two-tone, black-and-white animated music video for Danish Indie band Siames.

The art style is deceptively simple looking at first, but to create something so cinematic is no easy task.

With most music videos, the storyline is often open to the audience’s interpretation.

But it’s safe to say the theme here is about three characters fleeing monsters and failing to shake them off, with clues hinting at the nature of addiction and trauma, and facing one’s personal demons rather than running from them.

48. “Brother” by Stuck in the Sound

 

A trippy animated video reminiscent of classic Japanese anime blending sci-fi and horror, with vivid and detailed monsters and spaceships.

Every frame seems drenched with creativity and intense colors, showing how much work went into this video. 

49. “Oh Mama” by Run the Jewels

 

Rick and Morty is a hit sci-fi animated TV show with a cult following. And Run the Jewels are a critically acclaimed rap / hip-hop duo who have been compared to Rage Against the Machine for their powerful, politically-charged lyrics. 

So this collaboration is truly a dream team-up.

The music video is visually stunning and colorful and serves as an animated mini-episode of the cartoon duo having yet another ultraviolent inter-dimensional space adventure. 

50. “Let’s Go” by Stuck in the Sound

 

Another space-themed animated video from Danish Indie band Siames.

We love the animation style, which is simultaneously highly stylized and cartoony with the characters, as well as detailed and realistic.

The characters are drawn in simple 2D, but the animation features objects in 3D, as well as mixed-media-style photographs and photorealistic backgrounds. It shouldn’t work together but it does. 

The story in the video is gripping, hilarious and unpredictable, unfolding through the course of the song, the chapters syncing up with the verses and chorus changes. It’s just all-in-all amazing and fun.

51. “Delta” by C2C

 

We love this animated music video, for a catchy electronic track. It’s animated beautifully, with lots of style and flair.

The art is used to narrate a simple but interesting story, told with layers of meaning and symbolism.

The art style looks somewhat simple but the body language of the various characters belies how well-done this video really is.

52. “Into The Night” by Nero

 

The cyberpunk genre has been around for a lot longer than people may realize.

And this is another anime-style 2D animated music video with clear homages to cyberpunk masterpieces like Akira.

Rainy, neon-splashed dystopian cities, cyborgs, futuristic motorcycles, and an action-packed sci-fi plot– it’s got it all.

53. “Revenge” by CaptainSparklez

 

Minecraft was a game so successful that it basically created its own genre and look of very low-poly blocks and characters.

For those unfamiliar, it’s kind of like Lego, or like very early, very simple 3D CGI. The game has such a fiercely loyal fanbase that several gamers / streamers / YouTubers got together and created this loving homage, a playful parody of Usher’s “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love.”

The look and feel of this 3D animated music video is just spot-on (or should we say, block on?) and the lyrics and song would make Weird Al Yankovic proud.

All in all, guaranteed to put a smile on your face– and with a quarter of a billion views, you won’t be alone there.

54. “Fell in Love With a Girl” by White Stripes 

 

Stop-motion Lego animation isn’t that uncommon a concept in animation.

But phenomenal music video director Michel Gondry isn’t one to follow in others’ footsteps, choosing instead to use Lego animation to create a jagged, rough-around-the-edges low-poly effect for his video for White Stripes’ “Fell in Love With a Girl.”

And the resulting visuals match the typically unpolished, minimal signature sound of White Stripes really well, giving us an audio-visual treat.

55. “Her Morning Elegance” by Oren Lavie

 

Stop-motion animation is when animation is created by basically taking a series of photographs of real physical objects, and moving them slightly between the shots to create an illusion of movement when all the shots are played together rapidly like the frames of a film reel.

But for “Her Morning Elegance” by Oren Lavie, this was created not using puppets, clay, Lego, paper cut-outs, mixed media or anything like that– but with real actors on a real set.

It’s kind of strange when you think about it, because why not just shoot the actors in film format instead?

But the effect of turning real actors into stop-motion animation, is that the bug becomes the feature, so to speak.

The jagged motion is otherworldly and dreamlike, achieving an effect you cannot get from film, while juxtaposing it with real people in a real-life setting.

Everyday objects like pillows, clothing and socks become imagery for completely different things as the story unfolds.

All in all, the video complements the song just perfectly, without distracting from it.

How Much Does it Cost to Make an Animated Music Video?

And the truth is, the overall costs of videos vary based on a number of factors-- mainly, the running length and complexity.

It would, however, cost you between $4500-8100 for 60 seconds should you come to us for your animated music video.

For an additional 30 seconds, it would cost you $1200-2400.

Thus, a 3-4 minutes-long song's animated music video by our team of experts would cost you just $18,000!

Animated music videos have changed a lot over the ages.

We can’t appreciate where we are today without knowing where we came from. So, first, a little history. Let’s go back to where it all started.

In Conclusion

So are you ready to turn your vision into reality?

Ready to promote your music with a video that will demand attention, stick in viewers’ minds, and set you apart?

Life is too short to put out a boring music video!

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