State Champ Radio Global
Creepy Nuts’ “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” holds at No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, now at 13 consecutive weeks on the chart dated April 24.
The MASHLE Season 2 opener continues to rule streaming for the 13th straight week, video views and karaoke for the 6th straight week. Downloads also climbed 5-3 and continues to coast along at over 10,000 total points (13,626).
[embedded content]
Jumping 26-2 this week is “Click” by ME:I, the debut single by the 11-member girl group born from the audition program PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS. After being released on April 17, the single launched with 263,399 copies to rule sales, while also coming in at No. 2 for radio airplay, No. 10 for downloads, No. 17 for streaming, and No. 28 for video, collecting points in a balanced way. The track is off to a great start, debuting with a total 12,366 points, only 1,260 points behind “BBBB.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
[embedded content]
Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” rises 11-3 after bowing on the Japan Hot 100 last week. The opener for Oblivion Battery went on sale on April 12 after the anime series premiered on April 9. The track rises overall metric-wise, jumping from outside the top 100 to No. 8 for radio, while climbing 15-4 for streaming (11,059,001 streams) and 8-3 for video (2,157,523 views) this week.
[embedded content]
ILLIT’s “Magnetic,” which topped the TikTok chart this week, holds at No. 6 on the Japan Hot 100. The new HYBE group’s first single reportedly surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify recently (April 22), and overall streams increased by about 16.4% to 12,305,862 streams (3-2). Downloads also rose by about 48% to 2,936 units (25-13), and video by about 24% to 942,054 views (20-15). ILLIT is set to travel to Japan in May to perform at Rakuten Girls Award 2024 SPRING/SUMMER and KCON JAPAN 2024, likely fueling the group’s popularity in the country where two of its five members hail from.
Trending on Billboard
[embedded content]
aiko’s new single “mutual love” breaks into the top 10 this week at No. 9, soaring from No. 46. The theme song for the latest Case Closed movie (Detective Conan: The Million-dollar Pentagram) dropped digitally on April 12 — the same day the anime movie hit domestic theaters — prior to the CD version’s release set for May 8. The track comes in at No. 5 for downloads with 5,736 units, while rising significantly from No. 95 to No. 12 for streaming and from No. 21 to No. 3 for radio, probably due to the movie’s release.
[embedded content]
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 April 15 to 21, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.
The four finalists of PRODUCE 101 JAPAN THE GIRLS, one of the largest audition programs ever held in Japan, are set to make their Japan debut from Universal Music on June 19 as the brand-new group IS:SUE. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The members are RIN […]
YOASOBI hit the Mojave Stage on Day 1 (April 12) of opening weekend of the 2024 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, taking part in the annual desert music festival featuring headliners Lana Del Rey, Tyler, the Creator and Doja Cat. A correspondent for Billboard Japan was on site at the Indio, Calif., stage to witness the J-pop duo’s first-ever Coachella set.
Ayase and ikura have been expanding their reach outside Japan, performing in the U.S. for the first time last August at 88rising’s Head in the Clouds Los Angeles event. At the Mojave Stage on Friday, some fans eagerly waited at the very front from the preceding act’s set to see YOASOBI up close, suggesting that the J-pop stars have been gaining recognition Stateside as well. The front row was packed with fans of various ethnic backgrounds — from local fans, to Asian fans, including those who traveled from Japan and Japanese residents in the U.S., and Latino fans, with conversations in languages other than English being heard all around during the change-over between acts. The common denominator was that they were all young and excited about the upcoming performance.
The “Idol” duo’s set was downsized and simplified compared to their usual concert production, due to the nature of music festivals and the limited space onstage. But it also proved to be a fan-friendly environment where the distance between the audience and artists was close.
Trending on Billboard
The lights went dark at 8:20 p.m., the scheduled time of YOASOBI’s set, and the bandmembers got into their respective positions as lasers flashed from the stage and visuals shot across the screens. Ayase and ikura then appeared together on the approximately 6-foot-high platform with a screen in the center of the stage, and after the vocalist introduced themselves by simply saying, “We are YOASOBI,” the band kicked off the set with the duo’s breakout hit “Yoru ni Kakeru” (“Into the Night”). The voltage of the audience was high from the beginning, and Ayase couldn’t seem to hold back his joy as he smiled and waved to the crowd through dark shades.
For the next song, “The Blessing,” ikura got off the platform and stood in the center of the stage, which underscored the closeness between the audience and the stage. Shouts of “I love you!” and “YOASOBI!” flew from the crowd, as well as heartfelt calls of “Aishiteru!” (“I love you” in Japanese) from fans who probably memorized the phrase for the occasion.
The vocalist used English to address fans throughout the show, starting off by saying, “Good evening everyone, we are YOASOBI from Japan” and introducing herself and music producer Ayase. “Honestly, we’ve been waiting to meet you all. Being here at Coachella is so unreal. Oh my gosh,” she continued. “It’s honestly a big dream come true for us, wow! Thank you for being here as part of a magical moment. What an honor.”
“We came ready to rock the stage. Coachella! Get ready to groove!” she then hyped up the audience. “Are you ready to dance? Are you ready to sing with us? OK, come on Coachella, make some noise!” The band launched into “Seventeen” and the audience shouted “Oi! Oi!” along to the hard-hitting rock track. The keyboardist Misohagi Zakuro danced to the song, highlighting her versatility as well as the band’s ability to deliver.
Midway through the set, ikura said, “For the next song, I want to feel a sense of unity” and requested fans to turn on the light on their phones. The crowd was quick to react as the slow-tempo intro to “Probably” began, indicating their dedication to the hitmakers. During the next number, “The Brave,” some fans were jumping and headbanging along to the beat, each enjoying themselves to their heart’s content.
“So, Coachella, we’re getting close to the end. Let me see your energy! More!” ikura said before performing their hit “Monster,” then on to “Gunjo,” where she switched the lyrics that mean “I’m irreplaceable” to “you’re all irreplaceable.” The band closed its hit-filled set with “Idol,” Billboard Japan’s song of the year for 2023 that topped the Japan Hot 100 for a record 22 weeks.
While ikura used English to speak to the crowd during the 9-song, 45-minute performance, the set list featured songs performed in their original Japanese. As the singer explained during the set that the duo is “trying to bring our music from Japan to the world,” this was a memorable live performance that effectively delivered “our music” with Japanese lyrics to the audience gathered at the world-famous Coachella music festival and to listeners all over the world through livestream.
YOASOBI also took the stage at the 88RISING FUTURES showcase on day three. The duo appeared after Tiger JK and Yoonmirae opened the set, and ikura again addressed the crowd in English before the duo first performed “Probably” for the Mojave Stage crowd. “I love you all so much. Thank you. Let’s sing together,” she said, and the intro to “Idol” followed. After ikura sang, “What type of guy do you like? / Who’s your partner? / Come on, answer me,” she called out, “Welcome, ATARASHII GAKKO!” and invited the four members of the group onstage. The alternative J-pop girl group joined in to add some flair to the show, performing what’s known in Japan as “otagei” (geek dance moves) during the chorus. The audience enthusiastically responded, “Hey! Hey!” in time to the music, bringing the euphoric moment to a climax.
The members of the band Regallily chatted with writer Rio Hirai for the latest installment of Billboard Japan’s Women in Music interview series featuring female players in the Japanese entertainment industry. The WIM initiative in Japan launched in 2022 to celebrate artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to music and inspired other women through their work.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Regallily recently released “Kirakira no Hai” (“Twinkling Ash”), the ending theme of Delicious in Dungeon Season 2. Currently a two-woman unit, the band was originally formed by frontwoman and guitarist Honoka Takahashi while in high school. Bassist Umi later joined and the band is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. Regallily has just wrapped its tour of small clubs in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka as a means of returning to their roots. In this interview, the two members looked back on their career as a “girl band,” and spoke about what they’re looking forward to now after going through a period of identity moratorium as described in the lyrics of their song “17.”
Congratulations on your 10th anniversary. Honoka, you formed the band when you were in high school. Did you plan on continuing the band for a long time from the outset?
Trending on Billboard
Honoka Takahashi: When I formed the band, I wasn’t thinking that far to be honest. I didn’t even have a goal in mind. Before Regallily, I was in a band with male members, but didn’t fit in well with them. I ended up leaving because they told me they were going to play with only guys. We were only in tenth grade or thereabouts and I suppose it was normal to treat people of opposite sex like outsiders… But it pissed me off and I thought, “I’ll form a band with just girls then!” [Laughs]
Umi: I’ve also played in bands since high school, in a pop music club at the time. There weren’t too many guys so I’ve always been in bands with girls. I never gave much thought about being in bands with only women before joining Regallily, but it was probably easier for me to imagine myself as a member of this band than joining one with male members.
Some of the artists we’ve spoken to in this series say they feel uncomfortable being categorized by titles such as “girls” or “female” (as English loanwords, e.g. “girl band,” “female rapper”). How do you feel about being called a “girl band”?
Takahashi: I didn’t think anything of it at first. But later, a band came along that publicly stated it didn’t want to be referred to as a girl band, which helped me see that there are people who don’t like being called that.
Umi: I mean, it’s a fact that these are bands run by women, but compared to rock or punk, the (genre) classification is a bit sloppy, don’t you think? [Laughs] There are genres within all-female bands, so when a playlist is made by categorizing them as “girl bands,” for example, I wonder if it’s possible to reach the core of those acts. I don’t have a negative impression of the term itself, and I’m sure there were events we were able to play in because of that categorization.
Takahashi: I’m accustomed to the term “girl band,” but when you think about it, “girls” means children. Since men and women have different voices, I get wanting to divide them into different groups, but I’m not sure “girls” is appropriate when all of our life stages change in the future.
SCANDAL was certified last year as the “longest running rock band with the same musicians (female)” by the Guinness World Records after 17 years together, which links to the topic of the difficulty of female bands staying in the business for a long time. Is there anything you take care to do to keep doing what you do for a long time and in a healthy way?
Takahashi: I’ve basically never really understood what common sense is ever since I was a kid. My life has been detached from what’s considered the norm, things like, “husbands go to work and wives stay at home to do housework.” If I ever get pregnant, I’d like to sing (on stage) until the very last minute. I’ve seen (singer-songwriter) Seiko Omori standing on stage during late-stage pregnancy and wondered if I could do it too.
Umi: Pregnancy is something you can’t understand until it happens. I’m looking forward to it. I wonder how much I can take on while pregnant. I’m 25 years old now, and I’ve been thinking about how my life stage will change and that I’ll have to face various things in the future. When I discover new sides of myself, for example as a wife after I get married, or as a mother after I have a baby… I think about how I’ll be able to balance those things when my identity isn’t just as an artist anymore.
I guess our late twenties is when we begin to feel the reality of changing life stages. You released a single called “17″ in January, and that age is also a period when we sense various changes in our lives. Why did you focus on 17?
Takahashi: I turn 27 this year, so 17 was about 10 years ago. I used to listen to a lot of songs that had seventeen as a keyword in them when I was that age, and have a number of favorites. I was thinking of writing a song called “17” when I was 17, but just couldn’t do it when I was in the midst of it all. At around 26 years old, it felt like I gradually came to understand what I was like at that time and what kind of person I am. So now, ten years on, I looked back on those days and put it into words and the music was born.
Umi: I used to go to music clubs quite a bit back then. It was also a period when I was so full of myself and so self-conscious that I was embarrassed about a lot of things and couldn’t enjoy myself. The time I spent going to music clubs alone and being the person only I knew about was my anchor.
This question is one of the themes of this interview series, but how do you think being a woman affects your music career and life in general?
Takahashi: I recently realized that I’m really at the whim of hormone imbalances in life. There are times I need to take care of myself, and the more I take care of myself, the more I can take care of my work. But on the other hand, there are times when my nature makes me want to do something dangerous. Like going somewhere that’s super cold. [Laughs] Taking such risks puts a strain on my body and my hormones go out of whack as a result, so sometimes I wish I had a body that could be more reckless.
Umi: Even just to live normally and safely, you have to be tough when you’re a woman. Like choosing an apartment to live in, if you want safety and require a place on the second floor or higher that has a self-locking system, it costs more money.
Takahashi: In terms of bands, I look at the careers of the generation above us, like (Japanese rock band) Chatmonchy, and think about what we can and can’t do.
But there aren’t many precedents for all-female bands compared to male bands, so if we can set more examples, it might become easier (for the next generation). Even now, I’m sure many female bands are being born.
Umi: To be honest, there are parts (about male bands and artists) that I kind of envy, but we’ve been doing this for a long time too, and if there are people out there who think we’re cool the way we are, that’s how (our music) resonates and spreads.
—This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan
Dystinct arrives at the shoot location, enveloped in the soft glow of the early morning light. Seated quietly and somewhat aloof, he patiently awaits the completion of preparations. Attempting to engage in light conversation to ease the anticipation, we found his responses curt and elusive, often deflecting queries by answering questions with more questions. It was as though his intrigue lay more in unraveling the stories of those around him rather than unveiling his own.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Transitioning seamlessly to our next location for the filmed interview, Dystinct’s demeanor shifts as soon as the camera rolls, unveiling layers of his persona we had yet to glimpse. Beneath his initial reticence lay a wealth of stories yearning to be shared. With each question, Dystinct confidently embarks on a storytelling journey, tracing his roots, starting with his upbringing in Belgium, where his parents steeped him in the rich tapestry of Arabic music. From the haunting melodies of Umm Kulthum to the resonant voices of artists from Egypt and the Gulf, his childhood was a symphony of cultural immersion. He recounts his collaborations spanning the breadth of his career, from music producers to fellow artists, each partnership shaping his artistic trajectory.
Yet it was his profound connection to his Moroccan heritage that underscored his musical ethos. As he delved into his vision for his craft, Dystinct articulated a deep-seated commitment to speak to Arab audiences. His insights into the intricacies of the regional music industry, particularly the nuanced landscape of North African artists, revealed a keen understanding of the diverse influences and audience dynamics spanning Morocco, Europe and the Arab world.
Trending on Billboard
Dystinct has carved his name among the foremost Afropop artists in North Africa over the past few years, with a series of consecutive hits and collaborations, each turning into a social media trend and amassing tens of millions of streams. With the launch of the Billboard Arabia charts, the depth of Dystinct’s influence on the North African music scene becomes even more apparent. Over successive weeks, more than five of Dystinct’s hits, released at different intervals, secured prominent positions on the Hot 100 list; at the time of writing this, he held rank in the No. 5, 7, and 10 slots.
His song “La” (No) featured on his album Layali (Nights), reclaimed the top spot after the release of its music video, making it one of the few songs capable of clinching the No. 1 position on the Hot 100 list. Other releases from previous periods continue to enjoy significant popularity, such as “Tek Tek” (Tik Tok) ft. MHD, “Y Dor” with Soolking, “Ghazali” (Gazelle) ft. Bryan Mg, whose spread is linked to a unique event.
[embedded content]
Dystinct was taken aback after attending the match between his country’s national team and Belgium in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where players played his song backstage to celebrate, contributing to its exponential spread and forever associating it with the unprecedented historical achievements of the Moroccan national team in the world’s largest tournament.
Dystinct acknowledges that a significant portion of his audience became acquainted with him through “Ghazali,” but it was never his starting point. “Many new people who listen to my songs know me from the song ‘Ghazali,’” says Dystinct. “But before that, I was making Dutch music. In my mind, I always wanted to make Arabic music, but I waited for the right time. I had a song titled ‘Ya La Laa’ (Hey Ma’am) a long time ago, and it was a hit for me, but the thing is, the song was successful, but no one realized it. So, I was working on improving myself. How can I introduce myself to the world? I want to show people who Dystinct is. I said to myself that I want people to see my culture. Even if I make Arabic music, it’s not exclusive to Moroccans or Arabic speakers.”
Dystinct
@designlesss/Billboard Arabia
Born and raised in Belgium to Moroccan immigrant parents, Dystinct’s connection to his Moroccan roots remains steadfast, with his identity as a Moroccan artist paramount above all else. His mastery of Darija, the dialect of Arabic spoken in Morocco, has allowed him to channel his heritage into his music, beginning with the release of “Ya La Laa” (Hey Ma’am) in 2019, marking the inception of his artistic journey. He has collaborated with proven producers who have enveloped his musical style with refined and consistent themes, notably Unleaded, YAM, Ryder and Seno, fondly referred to by Dystinct as his brothers. While maintaining a musical style predominantly centered around Afropop, Dystinct has recently begun experimenting with blending dialects, incorporating elements of Moroccan Darija with Egyptian or Gulf dialects.
“I believe we are in a new era in the Arab world, and Arabic music will no longer be exclusively for Arabs. I have said this in another interview as well, that African music is very popular now, but it has also been witnessing a growth stage. Now we see everyone listening to African music or everyone listening to Latin music even if not everyone speaks Spanish or the like. This is what I am trying to do for Arabic music.”
Dystinct realizes this fact confidently, speaking from experience gained through his personal journey. In his early days, as he attempted to present his music to event organizers and platforms during his time in Europe, he encountered the same response: that Arabic music there was confined to Arab weddings and communities with no place in public events and among Western audiences. Today, after years of hard work, Dystinct stands with a substantial roster of hits and a sold-out music tour announced in America and Europe, confirming that the era of music being confined to a specific audience has come to an end, and that in the present age, Arabic music has emerged as a dominant force, playing a pivotal role in captivating a worldwide audience.
Dystinct
@designlesss/Billboard Arabia
With their latest song “Orange,” SPYAIR has entered a new phase of their musical career.
They managed to overcome what could be a fatal blow to most bands — the loss of their vocalist — by launching their YouTube channel “SPYAIR, Looking for a Vocalist” and their vocal audition titled “You’re SPYAIR! Hey Hey Speak Up, Anyone Want to Be Our Vocalist?” They turned this crisis into a new page in the band’s history, written together with their fans, and in April 2023 they relaunched themselves as a new four-member incarnation of SPYAIR with YOSUKE on vocals.
“Orange” is the theme song of Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle, which opened in Japanese theaters on Feb. 16. Not only is it the theme song of a popular anime film, but the band’s previous songs “Imagination,” “I’m a Believer” and “One Day” have also been used as Haikyuu!! theme songs, so “Orange” is a reunion between the band and the anime.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Orange” has an emotional backstory, but it’s also making its mark on the music charts. On the Billboard Japan Hot 100 songs chart, it debuted at No. 19 on the Feb. 21-dated chart, the first tracking week after the song’s release. A week later, on the Feb. 28-dated chart, it climbed to its highest position of No. 8, becoming the new SPYAIR’s biggest hit. It’s a truly iconic song for the band.
Trending on Billboard
That’s not the only reason “Orange” is going to be leading SPYAIR into a new phase of its history. Looking carefully at a breakdown of the points used to calculate the song’s Billboard Japan Hot 100 ranking, it’s apparent that the source of almost all of its points — that is, the way people are listening to it the most — is streaming. The Billboard Japan Hot 100 is currently based on six metrics: CD sales, downloads, streaming, radio, video views, and karaoke. Since the song’s debut on the chart, streaming already accounts for more than 70%. Looking at the streaming metric scores for “Orange,” it’s kept up a steady level of streaming even after it peaked on the Feb. 28 chart, earning roughly the same amount of points each week. This steady streaming performance is key.
All the long-running hits on the charts are songs with consistently high streaming numbers. One example of a song that has kept a top position on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for weeks is Creepy Nuts’ “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born.” It has held the No. 1 spot on the chart for 12 consecutive weeks so far (from the Jan. 31 to the April 17 chart), and it’s still going. Another is Ado’s “Show,” which kept dropping from No. 1 and bouncing right back, for a total of 13 weeks at the top. Yet another is YOASOBI’s “Idol,” which holds the chart record of 21 consecutive weeks at No. 1 (from April 19 to Sept. 6, 2023). The list goes on. One thing all of these songs has in common is that they all accumulated points on the karaoke and the UGC metrics. (UGC = User Generated Content. For the Billboard Japan charts, this consists of plays of derivative videos on YouTube.) Karaoke and derivative works are active ways for fans to enjoy songs, and they spread awareness of songs to people who had otherwise not heard them before. When people are exposed to these songs and take a liking to them, they listen to them on streaming services, growing the song’s fan base.
Looking at the metrics for “Orange” from that perspective, we see that the karaoke metric score has been rising week-on-week, finally hitting the top 100 in the April 3 chart. Although it seems the UGC metric has peaked, the song is managing to keep its UGC numbers high, just like it’s keeping up strong streaming numbers. From these two facts, we can see that “Orange” isn’t just a hit among past SPYAIR fans, but that it’s also being welcomed by people unfamiliar with SPYAIR’s previous work. On the comprehensive Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart (Billboard Japan counts the eponymously titled Orange EP as an album), Orange rose up in the CD sales metric in the fourth week after its release (on the March 13, 2024 dated chart). The fact that the drop-off in sales has been so gradual is yet further evidence that the band is reaching new fans.
For artists like SPYAIR who have been active before music streaming services became widespread in Japan, CD sales and downloads remain key metrics that play important roles in determining their ranking positions. SPYAIR’s best-charting song on the Billboard JAPAN Hot 100 has been “Imagination,” which came in at No. 3 on the May 7, 2014 dated chart, followed by “I’m a Believer,” which placed at No. 5 on the chart dated October 28, 2015. Streaming numbers were sluggish not only for these two songs, which came out before streaming was mainstream, but also for more recent songs like “One Day,” the ending theme to Haikyuu!! ~TO THE TOP, season four of the TV anime (the single began streaming on October 3, 2020, and was included in a limited-run CD released on November 11) and their previous song, “RE-BIRTH” (released on July 7, 2023). For all of these songs, ranking positions were correlated with shifts in CD sales and downloads. The situation with “Orange” is totally different. In other words, SPYAIR has finally begun enjoying streaming support and attracting new listeners, which has created the possibility that “Orange” will become a song with long chart staying power.
This streaming support also has the potential to make “Orange” not just a long-running hit in Japan, but also a global hit. Songs with strong streaming (and karaoke) support, like “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born,” “Show,” and “Idol,” became global hits almost simultaneously with blowing up in Japan. Of course, there were other factors involved, like dances or short videos, but one key factor was getting included in playlists on streaming platforms. It’s clear that this drew even greater attention to them and exposed even more people to these songs. On Billboard Japan’s Global Japan Songs Excl. Japan, a global chart that ranks hit Japanese songs in over 200 countries and regions excluding Japan, “Orange” peaked at No. 57 (on the March 7, 2024 dated chart). In the Japan Songs (by Country) chart, which adjusts the data from the Global Japan Songs Excl. Japan chart by weighting it on a per-country basis, “Orange” has entered the top 20 in Korea (reaching No. 18 on the chart dated March 7, 2024). SPYAIR is gradually developing more widespread recognition, especially in Korea.
There’s no way to talk about SPYAIR without talking about the staunch support they enjoy in Korea. In 2011, when it was comparatively rare for Japanese artists to gain recognition overseas, SPYAIR performed at Korea’s Jisan Valley Rock Festival 2011. In the same year, they released their first album in both Japan and Korea, and they performed on the music TV show M Countdown roughly 12 years before YOASOBI. Since then, they’ve played at several local festivals and sold out their 2DAYS solo show. Through the years, they’ve steadily built up a Korean fan base. Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle will be released in theaters overseas in May, and global interest in “Orange” is certain to rise. Given that, the existence of a fandom outside Japan will serve as a tremendous advantage in the band’s overseas expansion.
SPYAIR performed at the Sakura-Con anime convention held in Seattle from March 29 to 31, and in May it’s planning an Asian tour that will take it to Seoul, Taipei, and Shanghai. Keep a close eye on the new SPYAIR and watch as it takes wing not only in Japan but also throughout Asia and the rest of the world.
—This article by Maiko Murata first appeared on Billboard Japan
Billboard and Billboard Korea have joined forces with CJ ENM to expand the global influence of the K-pop industry. The entertainment company behind KCON and MAMA AWARDS has inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Billboard and Billboard Korea, ahead of the first Billboard Korea print issue mid-year. Harry H.K. Shin, Head of Music Entertainment […]
Kakao Entertainment is aiming to accelerate the global expansion of K-pop thanks to a new partnership with Billboard and Billboard Korea. The company announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with the American music and entertainment magazine to enhance the influence of K-pop worldwide. Joseph Chang, co-CEO of Kakao Entertainment, met with Billboard President […]
Creepy Nuts’ “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born” extends its stay atop the Billboard Japan Hot 100 to 12 weeks on the chart dated April 17.
While downloads for the MASHLE Season 2 opener dropped to No. 5, the hip-hip track continues to hold the top spot for streaming, video views, and karaoke.
[embedded content]
Kenshi Yonezu‘s “Sayonara, Mata Itsuka!” (“goodbye, see you again sometime”) debuts at No. 2 this week. The latest track by the J-pop hitmaker is currently being featured as the theme song for the latest installment of the historic NHK morning drama series entitled The Tiger and Her Wings. After being digitally released April 8, the song racked up 39,275 downloads in its first week, surpassing the 34,423 downloads of its predecessor “Spinning Globe.” “Sayonara” also debuts at No. 8 for streaming and No. 5 for video, also a better start than the previous single. The 33-year-old singer-songwriter’s previous No. 1 hits “KICK BACK” and “Lemon” rise 75-72 and 98-82 respectively, possibly influenced by the release of this new track.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
[embedded content]
Bowing at No. 3 is “Chance wa byodo” (“chances are equal”) by Nogizaka46. The J-pop girl group’s 35th single went on sale April 10 and hit No. 1 for sales with 713,872 copies sold in its first week, while also coming in at No. 15 for downloads and No. 14 for radio. The song’s first-week sales was about 20,000 copies more than the group’s previous single, “Monopoly.”
[embedded content]
Number_i’s “Blow Your Cover” debuts at No. 5 on the Japan Hot 100, after hitting No. 1 for radio, No. 2 for downloads, and No. 7 for video. Number_i took the stage at Coachella for the first time on Sunday (April 14), performing “FUJI” and “GOAT,” the latter including a surprise collaboration with Jackson Wang.
Trending on Billboard
[embedded content]
Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” debuts at No. 11. The opener for the anime Oblivion Battery comes in at No. 4 for downloads, No. 15 for streaming, and No. 8 for video.
In other Japan chart news, Hikaru Utada’s songs off her latest best-of album Science Fiction, which topped all the album charts this week, also moved up the song chart. “Traveling” is at No. 27, “First Love” at No. 43, and “automatic” at No. 80.
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 April 8 to 14, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.
In January 2023, when Los Angeles-based songwriter David Arkwright accepted his Roc Nation-signed colleague Natania Lalwani‘s invitation to visit her home city of Mumbai, he thought, “Let’s go see India! This could be fun.” The next thing he knew, he was commuting two hours a day through heavy traffic to work 18-hour studio sessions all month with the singer-rapper King, whose 2022 hit “Maan Meri Jaan” has 446 million Spotify streams.
“King walked in, and he started to sing,” recalls Arkwright, who wound up taking two additional trips to India last year to work on King’s October album New Life. “We just went, ‘Aaaaaand we’re writing.’ After that, it was like, ‘Hi, nice to meet you.’”
With its population of 1.4 billion, India is one of the biggest potential international markets for streaming hits — and it’s just emerging as a music business powerhouse after years of dealing with online piracy and stream-ripping. So top publishers are funding trips for veteran Western songwriters like Arkwright to combine their pop skills with regional stars. And it’s not just India. In October, publisher Warner Chappell sent U.S. country songwriters to Sao Paulo, Brazil, for a camp that generated potential hits for top regional sertanejo stars. And U.S. songwriters have spent the last decade traveling to South Korea and Japan, working with regional labels to write K-pop and J-pop hits.
Trending on Billboard
“With the way socials are going, the world is such a smaller place, whether we’re talking Korea or India or Brazil,” says J.Que Smith, a Grammy-nominated L.A. songwriter who has co-written for Beyoncé and Justin Bieber and recently penned Japanese girl group XG‘s hit “Shooting Star.” “Thirty years ago, we weren’t really caught up on what India was doing, and India didn’t know what we were doing. But now that’s very different.”
For decades in the record industry, the only Western stars who could break internationally were those who could ship physical records to far-away countries — from Cheap Trick in Japan to Michael Jackson in Europe. In the streaming era, that has changed. K-pop stars, as well as Latin-music breakouts like “Despacito,” have demonstrated that international successes can emerge from anywhere, not just North America or Europe. Coachella showed this international breadth in April with headliners such as Mexico’s Peso Pluma and Carin León, South Korea’s ATEEZ and LE SSERAFIM, Colombia’s J Balvin, Argentina’s Bizarrap and South Africa’s Tyla, says Marc Geiger, the former William Morris head of music who is now head of SaveLive, which invests in independent live music clubs. “Music has turned into the Olympics,” Geiger says.
Roughly 14 years ago, Harvey Mason, Jr., a producer and songwriter who has worked with Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin and Justin Timberlake, accepted an invitation from South Korea’s SM Entertainment to work with a half-dozen other Los Angeles songwriters to crank out what became hits for K-Pop groups like Girls’ Generation and EXO. “We kind of just did what we did and took their sounds and took our sounds and put them together,” recalls Mason, now CEO of The Recording Academy, who continues to collaborate with K-pop artists. “New music markets are being developed and becoming more healthy and vibrant. Look at Africa — you’ve got 1.4 billion people on the continent, and they consume so much music. As the infrastructure of the industry starts to build, you’re going to see regional hits becoming just as important as hits in the U.S.”
India is perhaps the most fertile region for music-streaming opportunity: Total streams in 2023 were more than 1 trillion, second only to the U.S., according to Luminate, and the country ranked first in volume growth, well outpacing the U.S., Indonesia and Brazil. Then again, a monthly Spotify account in India costs roughly $1.42, so the revenues for artists, labels and other rightsholders aren’t yet as robust as they are in the U.S. and elsewhere. “The revenue generated for a track always depends on where it is streamed and what the end-user is paying for the subscription in that specific geography,” says Ludovic Pouilly, senior vp of music industry relations for Deezer, a streaming service available in more than 185 countries (though not in India).
In 2023, Asian recorded-music revenue increased 14.9%, according to IFPI, its fourth straight year of double-digit growth, while revenues in the Middle East and North Africa rose 14.4% and Latin America’s 10-year boom continued with a 19.4% jump. Major music companies are making heavy investment bets in these regions — Sony Music bought top Brazilian indie label Som Livre for $255 million in 2021, for example, to try to dominate the world’s ninth-largest music market, whose revenues increased 13.4% in 2023, according to the IFPI.
For publishers, the world market has become so robust that many are making like Arkwright and Smith and supplementing their song-royalty income from once-reliable U.S. markets with suddenly-reliable work in Asia and Brazil. “Five years ago, pop songs were huge in America, and it was easy to export our writers. It’s a bit harder now, because there’s a local hip-hop culture where Nordic writers are not as good to be in,” says Lars Karlsson, managing director of Warner Chappell Music Scandinavia, a region famous for pop mega-songwriters such as Sweden’s Max Martin. “It’s beautiful to have emerging markets open up for us.” Adds Ryan Press, Warner Chappell’s North American president: “For a while, it felt like you had to have success in the U.S., and that dictated everything. Now that’s not the case.”
In 2022, Universal Music Publishing Group launched an A&R team, the Global Creative Group, to plan cross-cultural collaborations such as a recent K-pop songwriting camp in Los Angeles and a country-and-Latin-music camp in Mexico City. It sent Elena Rose, a Venezuelan-American songwriter from Miami who co-wrote last year’s Becky G–Karol G hit “Mamiii,” to Morocco to collaborate with singer-songwriter Manal — and wound up with a duet and a reworked album. “It wasn’t like, ‘We’re going to send our Western producers to colonize some unsuspecting territory,’” says David Gray, the UMPG exec who leads the group. “It was, ‘We’ve got a great Latin artist and a great artist in Morocco, let’s put them together.’ This is not about imposing Western creative styles onto another country.”
Dominated by the Bollywood film industry and plagued for years with online piracy, India has struggled to develop its own recorded-music business, despite a period of Indipop and Punjabi pop hits in the ’80s and ’90s. But Universal and Sony have had offices in India for years, and Warner Music expanded its presence there in 2020, installing Jay Mehta as managing director; earlier this year, Reservoir Media signed publishing deals, including catalogs and future works, for Indian rappers MC Altaf and D’Evil. India is the 14th-biggest music market, increasing revenues by 15.3% in 2023.
Over the last few years, according to New Delhi-born singer-songwriter Subhi, the music business in India has broadened from strict Bollywood-industry guidelines to artists and music companies with a broader palette to create songs. That shift has led to more regional hits — and interest from major record labels and publishers, and more collaborations, like a songwriting camp Subhi attended through Anara Publishing and a co-writing session with a U.K. producer she’d met at a separate camp. “It’s a huge market to cater to, but also, slowly, we’re building an audience for independent music,” says Subhi, who is based in L.A. and Chicago. “It’s only the beginning.”
A regional star in India, King is a “sign that Indian music will have an increasing impact and influence on the global charts,” as the general manager of his label, Warner Music Middle East, said in 2023’s IFPI report. Now that King’s 2020 hit, “Tu Aake Dekhle,” has scored 395 million Spotify plays, Bhavy Anand, one of his managers, says, “We’ve been getting a lot of attention from international songwriters and publishers and media houses. This was unheard-of three years, four years [ago].”
Working with Warner’s Mehta, King’s team saw an opportunity to cross over from regional hits to international stardom, and recorded a new version of “Maan Meri Jaan,” with vocals in both Hindi and English. The label contacted Lalwani, the Mumbai-born songwriter who lives in Los Angeles. “I wanted to make it very effortless — Hindi and English isn’t something that’s always put together,” Lalwani says. Later, the label enlisted a U.S. pop star, Nick Jonas, to add duet vocals for the new version released in April.
For Arkwright, collaborating with artists outside North America and Europe is a crucial way to diversify his songwriting business. “People there are doing things that no one is doing here. I want to partner with those people,” he says. “I wish it could be like in the ’80s, where you could have a Michael Jackson B-side and buy a house in Malibu. But you have to look at things differently. You have to look at new and emerging markets.”
