NiziU’s ‘Paradise’ Hits No. 1, Naniwa Danshi’s ’Special Kiss’ Debuts at No. 2 on Japan Hot 100

NiziU’s “Paradise” shoots to No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, tracking the week from Mar. 6 to 12 and released Mar. 15.

The latest track from the nine-member girl group hit No. 1 after debuting at No. 23 on last week’s chart, powered by downloads (No. 1 for the metric). The CD version went on sale this tracking week and the song came in at No. 2 for sales with 168,938 copies sold, while also faring well in the other metrics of the chart’s methodology: No. 3 for downloads, No. 13 for streaming, and No. 4 for video views and radio.

Naniwa Danshi’s “Special Kiss” debuts at No. 2 on the Japan Hot 100 this week, ruling sales with 512,690 copies but unable to support that advantage in the other metrics — for example, No. 13 for video and No. 24 for radio. 

Looking at first-week sales figures of both groups’ previous singles, NiziU’s “Blue Moon” sold 207,252 copies, meaning the new single is down by about 18.5 percent. Naniwa Danshi’s “Happy Surprise” sold 517,381 copies, so the new release is also down but only slightly by about 0.9 percent. However, “Blue Moon” came in at No. 46 for downloads, No. 92 in streaming, No. 42 in video, and No. 61 in radio, so the J-pop girl group managed to significantly improve in various other metrics besides sales for their new single to take the top position on the latest song chart.

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

For the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from Mar. 6 to 12, see here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.