In celebration of Apple Music’s 10th anniversary, having launched on June 30, 2015, the platform revealed its top 500 most-streamed songs, featuring just 1 anime song: “Idol” by YOASOBI (unsurprisingly). Seven Japanese artists are featured overall. You can check them and their songs out below.
Apple Music’s Most Streamed Songs by Japanese Artists (#Rank out of 500):
- “Yoru ni Kakeru” by YOASOBI (#91)
- “Dried Flower” by Yuuri (#147)
- “Pretender” by OFFICIAL HIGE DANDISM (#199)
- “Kaiju no Hanauta” by VAUNDY (#275)
- “Idol” by YOASOBI (#291)
- “Marigold” by Aimyon (#363)
- “Gunjou” by YOASOBI (#415)
- “Subtitle” by OFFICIAL HIGE DANDISM (#428)
- “Ao To Natsu” by Mrs. GREEN APPLE (#440)
- “Hakujitsu” by King Gnu (#471)
Apple Music’s Top 10 Most Streamed Songs Overall:
- “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran
- “Blinding Light” by The Weeknd
- “God’s Plan” by Drake
- “Sunflower” by Post Malone, Swae Lee
- “rockstar (feat. 21 Savage)” by Post Malone
- “One Dance (feat. Wizkid & Kyla)” by Drake
- “SICKO MODE” by Travis Scott
- “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran
- “No Guidance (feat. Drake)” by Chris Brown
- “bad guy” by Billie Eilish
Other recent Japanese streaming success stories include Mrs. GREEN APPLE, listed above, becoming the first J-pop act to hit 10 billion streams in Japan across its catalog, reported Billboard earlier this month. In March, YOASOBI became the first Japanese act in history to receive a Double Diamond certification from the RIAJ (Recording Industry Association of Japan) for “Yoru ni Kakeru.”
While anime serves as a gateway for many into Japanese music and broader culture, the lack of its direct influence on Apple Music’s top songs may be good news to some industry figures who worry that pinning Japanese music expansion on anime is the wrong move. The manager of the popular artist Ado, Takuya Chigira, said earlier this year that he felt a “sense of crisis“ about the matter:
“I also felt that we can’t rely solely on anime. For example, compared to the scale of mainstream entertainment such as music and sports on a global scale, anime is still a niche form of entertainment. However, when compared to Japanese music’s global market share, Japanese anime is very large, so by riding on that, you can achieve results beyond the normal level. However, considering the size of the market that music originally has, the ceiling for anime is very low at the moment. In this situation, I felt a sense of crisis about approaching things through anime first and Japanese music becoming synonymous with anime, and I became more convinced that we need to be conscious of which ring we’re fighting in.“
Chigira added that he didn’t even feel like Japanese artists had “even stepped into the ring yet” regarding touring the world. He touted Ado as an artist to introduce J-pop to the global stage and believes that she’s the only Japanese artist who can win one of the main Grammy awards. She’s currently on her world tour, “Hibana,” which is in its North American leg this month before heading to Latin America in August. The producer of YOASOBI, whose global touring efforts have also been notable, shared in April why the duo continues to tour overseas, even though they’re actually in the red from doing so.
Source: Apple Music
©Aka Akasaka x Mengo Yokoyari/Shueisha, “OSHI NO KO” Partners
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