back number’s ‘to new lovers’ Debuts at No. 1 on Japan Hot 100

back number’s “to new lovers” (Japanese title: “Atarashii Koibitotachi ni”) debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated July 24, giving the veteran three-man band its fifth No. 1 on the tally and the first in almost five years and eight months.

The “Suiheisen” (meaning “horizon”) trio’s latest hit is being featured as the theme song of the ongoing drama series called Umi no Hajimari (“beginning of the sea”) being aired on Fuji TV’s popular Monday nights at 9 p.m. time slot. The track tops downloads (24,432 units) and radio airplay, while coming in at No. 4 for streaming (7,532,578 weekly streams) and No. 32 for video views. The song collected 1.9 times more first-week downloads and 1.7 times more streams compared to the previous single by the J-pop band, “Fuyu to Haru” (“winter and spring”), released in January.

This is the fifth time back number has topped the Japan Hot 100, having previously scored No. 1s with “Omoidasenakunaru sonohimade” (“until the day I can’t remember”) in 2011, the band’s seasonal staple “Christmas Song” in 2015, “Boku no Namaeo” (“(you called) my name”) in 2016, and “Old Fashion” in 2018. Other songs in the band’s catalog are also on the rise, with “Suiheisen” rising a notch to No. 38, “Takaneno Hanakosan” moving 42-39, and “Hanataba” (“bouquet”) 84-82.

Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” slips a notch to No. 2 after reaching No. 1 last week, but streams for the track are down only by about 5% from the previous week (No. 1 for the fifth week in a row for the metric), and the single is at No. 7 for downloads, No. 3 for video, and No. 12 for karaoke.

AKB48’s “Koi Tsunjatta” bows at No. 3. The J-pop girl group’s 64th single, released four months after the previous single “Karakon Wink,” launched with 411,100 CDs in its first week, about 50,000 fewer than the predecessor’s 463,564 first-week copies. 

ONE OK ROCK’s “Delusion:All” jumps 21-7, breaking into the top 10. Streams for the Kingdom: Return of the Great General theme song are up by about 1.9 times the week before, radio up 7 times, and video up 1.5 times. Kocchinokento’s “Hai Yorokonde” also enters the top 10 for the first time, topping the video metric. Streams are up by about 1.2 times the week before (No. 16), while downloads and karaoke for the track also increased, with the former coming in at No. 12.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.

See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from July 15 to 21, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.

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