Nogizaka46 Sells Over 1 Million CDs to Lead Japan Hot 100 as Fitz and the Tantrums Top Video Views

Nogizaka46's "Yoake made tsuyogara nakutemo ii" rules this week's Billboard Japan Hot 100, selling over a million copies during its first week.

With 1,019,039 copies sold, the J-pop girl group's 24th single ruled physical sales, look-ups, and Twitter mentions, while also performing well in radio airplay (No. 4), downloads (No. 9), and streaming (No. 17) to jump 15-1 on the chart dated Sept. 2 to 8. The single climbed in all the metrics mentioned except downloads after the CD went on sale.

First-week sales of "Yoake" were about 40,000 copies less than Nogizaka46's previous single, "Sing Out!," but the new song performed better in radio and Twitter, suggesting that the popular group has been further expanding its fan base.

Kenshi Yonezu's new single, "Uma to Shika," rules downloads for the fourth week in a row, with numbers increasing to 70,605 units from last week's 51,427. The singer-songwriter released the accompanying music video this week, which quickly racked up 7,665,125 views (No. 2), and the song is currently also at No. 2 for radio and Twitter. How this week's CD release boosts the song's performance in the other metrics of the chart's methodology is something to keep an eye on next week.

Yonezu's highly anticipated "Uma to Shika" video was expected to take the top spot for video views this week, but was unexpectedly blocked by a song from three years ago: "HandClap" by Fitz and the Tantrums. The song charted in the Japan Hot 100 after views exploded through its use in TikTok videos -- much like how Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" got its start -- leading to a surge of views on YouTube.

With views still increasing, the song's popularity is now spreading to the streaming and download metrics, indicating that this new channel of viral success is catching on in Japan as well.

The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, radio airplay, Twitter mentions, YouTube and GYAO! video views, Gracenote look-ups and audio streams from Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, AWA, Google Play Music, KKBOX, LINE MUSIC, Rakuten Music, RecMusic provided by Gfk Japan, as well as dHits and Uta Pass, and karaoke data from Daiichikosho and XING.

Billboard Japan Hot 100 Top 10 (dated Sept. 2 to 8)
1. [15] Yoake made tsuyogara nakutemo ii / Nogizaka46 (1,019,039 copies / 12,334 downloads / 1,360,905 streams)
2. [5] Uma to Shika / Kenshi Yonezu (none / 70,605 downloads / 7,964,750 streams)
3. [2] Pretender / Official HIGE DANdism (none / 15,696 downloads / 5,670,277 streams)
4. [-] Kodo / Touken Danshi formation of Mihotose (85,934 copies / none / none)
5. [3] Shukumei / Official HIGE DANdism (none / 14,113 downloads / 3,978,093 streams)
6. [6] Marigold / Aimyon (none / 10,853 downloads / 2,853,311 streams)
7. [-] Escape / Airi Suzuki (39,357 copies / none / none)
8. [-] Hypnosismic -Alternative Rap Battle- / Division All Stars (none / 23,259 downloads / 710,371 streams)
9. [10] Lemon / Kenshi Yonezu (2,697 copies / 13,411 downloads / none)
10. [47] Aitaiyo / Shota Tezuka (20,921 copies / 6,618 downloads / 1,029,884 streams)

[ ]: Position last week
( ): Physical sales / downloads / streams (Top 50 only)