Johnny’s WEST Bows at No. 1 on Japan Hot 100 as Karaoke Returns After 3-Month Hiatus
J-pop boy band empire Johnny’s continues to dominate the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for the third week, with the latest No. 1 going to Johnny’s WEST’s “Shouko” (“Evidence”), the title track on the septet’s 14th single. The single sold 225,849 copies in its first week to lead physical sales and look-ups, blasting in at the top spot on the chart dated June 22 to 28, fueled by these physical metrics of the chart’s methodology.
Another Johnny’s project called Twenty★Twenty, consisting of 75 artists belonging to the talent agency, released a COVID-19 charity single written by veteran pop band Mr. Children’s Kazutoshi Sakurai: “smile” shoots to No. 5 after leading downloads this week (68,971 units).
YOASOBI’s “Yoru ni kakeru” and Eito’s “Kousui” hold at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, while continuing to add to their overall point totals. The karaoke metric has returned to the Japan Hot 100 beginning this week, and “Yoru ni kakeru” is at No. 4, a major leap from where it was — or wasn’t, as it wasn’t even in the top 300 — on the ranking dated April 8, the week before the metric was put on hold due to coronavirus shutdowns. The track is currently also at No. 2 for video views, gaining over a million views from last week’s 15,036,840 to 16,852,042 views this week.
Meanwhile, “Kousui” is enjoying the effects of media exposure, ruling video this week by adding a whopping 10 million views to its weekly total, jumping to 17,489,687 views from last week’s 7,224,834.
The ballad was also nonexistent on karaoke platforms before the shutdown but has been added starting this week, and considering that it took off on TikTok powered by users’ covers, it’s expected to soar in the karaoke metric in the coming weeks as well.
The first No. 1 song for karaoke after the metric’s three-month hiatus is LiSA’s “Gurenge,” which had been holding at No. 2 for eight consecutive weeks before the shutdowns began. The popular anime theme song has finally overtaken Official HIGE DANdism’s “Pretender,” the mega-hit that lived at No. 1 for the metric for 22 weeks in a row.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, radio airplay, Twitter mentions, YouTube and GYAO! video views, Gracenote look-ups, audio streams from Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, AWA, Google Play Music, KKBOX, LINE MUSIC, Rakuten Music, RecMusic provided by Gfk Japan, dHits, Uta Pass and Spotify, plus karaoke data from Daiichikosho and XING.
Billboard Japan Hot 100 Top 10 (dated June 22 to 28)
1. [-] Shouko / Johnny’s WEST (225,849 copies / none / none)
2. [2] Yoru ni kakeru / YOASOBI (none / 15,139 downloads / 9,681,144 streams)
3. [3] Kousui / Eito (none / 23,465 downloads / 8,431,708 streams)
4. [-] Yakusoku no sora / Touken Danshi formation of Kishou (88,299 copies / none / none)
5. [45] smile / Twenty★Twenty (none / 68,971 downloads / 1,817,773 streams)
6. [6] Gurenge / LiSA (2,580 copies / 14,271 downloads / 4,062,691 streams)
7. [4] Hadaka no kokoro / Aimyon (2,374 copies / 17,003 downloads / 4,553,446 streams)
8. [7] Pretender / Official HIGE DANdism (none / 6,288 downloads / 4,629,172 streams)
9. [8] I LOVE… / Official HIGE DANdism (910 copies / 6,282 downloads / 4,574,005 streams)
10. [91] umbrella / End of the World (SEKAI NO OWARI) (34,229 copies / 6,575 downloads / none)
[ ]: Position last week
( ): Physical sales / downloads / streams (Top 50 only)