Snow Man’s ‘BREAKOUT’ Debuts at No. 1 on Japan Hot 100

Snow Man’s “BREAKOUT” blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated Aug. 7.

The new single is being featured as the theme song for Honeko Akabane’s Bodyguards, a new movie starring Snow Man member Raul. The track launched with 1,088,373 CDs to rule sales and also hit No. 1 for radio. This is the nine-member boy band’s ninth single to top the Japan Hot 100 and the first since “Dangerholic” released last September.

Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” continues to hold at No. 2. This track is still going strong after 17 weeks on the chart, with video views up 135% from the previous week and the consistently climbing karaoke metric up 10% this week. The popular three-man band has 14 songs charting this week including “Lilac.” In particular, “Blue Ambiance (feat. asmi),” released in July 2022, has returned to the top 100 for the first time in three weeks, powered by karaoke.

At No. 3 is =LOVE’s “Zettai aidoru yamenaide” (meaning “don’t ever quit being an idol”). The single was fueled by physical sales alone; it sold 260,304 copies in its first week — a career-high for the ten-member girl group — to hit No. 2 for the metric, while not ranking in any of the others that count towards the chart’s measurement.

LIL LEAGUE from EXILE TRIBE’s “Youth Spark” bows at No. 5, selling 62,680 copies to hit No. 3 for sales, while also coming in at No. 7 for radio.

Notable chart moves outside the top 10 include YOASOBI’s “Butai ni tatte” (“standing on stage”), which jumps 43-16 on the Japan Hot 100 this week. After dropping July 26, streams for the track have increased by about 3 times and radio by about 2.5 times compared to the song’s debut week (though the track only had three days to count towards the chart week then).

Meanwhile, J-pop summer favorites have returned to the chart this week. aiko’s “Hanabi” charted for the first time in 11 months since Sept. 6 of last year after streams went up 111% and karaoke 115% from the week before, and DAOKO x Kenshi Yonezu’s “Uchiage Hanabi” also charted for the first time in a year since Aug. 16, 2023.

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 July 29 to Aug. 4, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English Twitter account.

Katie Atkinson

Billboard