Five months after release, "IRIS OUT" is still #1. Kenshi Yonezu's track has held the top spot on Japan's YouTube chart for 21 cumulative weeks, an unprecedented feat for any solo artist. It peaked at #5 on the Billboard Global 200, the highest ever for a Japanese-language song, and his world tour sold out every show, drawing 440,000 fans. Here's how anime and music are turning J-pop into a global force.

The Record-Breaking Run of "IRIS OUT"

Released on September 15, 2025 as the theme song for Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, Kenshi Yonezu's "IRIS OUT" has been rewriting music chart history in Japan for five straight months.

On the Oricon weekly streaming chart, the song achieved 22 consecutive weeks at #1, tying with YOASOBI's "Idol" for third all-time and standing alone as the longest streak ever by a solo artist. Remarkably, it has maintained over 10 million weekly streams for all 22 weeks, pushing its total past 387 million streams.

On the YouTube chart, "IRIS OUT" logged its 21st cumulative week at #1 (eight consecutive weeks in the latest count), with 7.3 million views for the week of February 6–12, 2026.

The Billboard Japan charts tell a similar story: the song spent 13 weeks at #1 on the JAPAN Hot 100, earning 29,533 points, the highest score ever recorded since the chart changed its methodology in 2023. It also holds the all-time highest weekly streaming count for any Japanese song on the Billboard Japan Streaming Songs chart.

A Historic Breakthrough on Global Charts

The impact went far beyond Japan. On the Billboard Global 200 chart dated October 4, 2025, "IRIS OUT" debuted at #5, surpassing YOASOBI's "Idol" and Creepy Nuts' "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" to become the highest-charting Japanese-language song in history. Billboard reported that the track accumulated 45.1 million global streams in its peak week, with 97% of those plays coming from outside the United States.

On Billboard Japan's "Global Japan Songs Excl. Japan" chart, which tracks Japanese music consumption outside Japan, "IRIS OUT" topped the rankings for 16 consecutive weeks. It hit #1 in country-specific charts including South Korea, Singapore, France, the U.K., the U.S., Taiwan, Germany, and Malaysia. On Spotify, it charted on daily viral charts in over 50 countries and regions.

Perhaps most telling was its performance on South Korea's MelOn, where it became the first song by a Japanese artist to enter the platform's Top 10. This signaled that Japanese music was reaching well beyond anime fans into mainstream listening habits.

The Chainsaw Man Effect: When Anime Drives Music

Understanding "IRIS OUT"'s longevity requires looking at its partner: Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc. Released in Japanese theaters on September 19, 2025, the film crossed ¥10.6 billion (approximately $70 million) in domestic box office revenue, ranking 47th on Japan's all-time chart.

Globally, the film opened in over 100 countries, earning $118.24 million (approximately ¥18.4 billion) at the worldwide box office. Its staggered international release, France in October, the U.S. and U.K. in late October, continually refreshed the song's exposure, creating a virtuous cycle where the movie and the music amplified each other.

Yonezu also created the film's ending theme, "JANE DOE," a duet with legendary J-pop artist Hikaru Utada, a name familiar to Western audiences from the Kingdom Hearts soundtracks. The two songs together dominated the #1 and #2 spots on YouTube and streaming charts for weeks. The film went on to win the Outstanding Animation Award at the 49th Japan Academy Film Prize, and a sequel, Chainsaw Man: Assassin Arc, has already been announced.

Who Is Kenshi Yonezu? From Internet Origins to Global Stardom

Kenshi Yonezu's journey mirrors a uniquely Japanese path to musical success.

Born in 1991, he first gained fame as "Hachi," uploading Vocaloid music, songs created using voice synthesis software, to Niconico, Japan's equivalent of early YouTube. Vocaloid culture, where creators compose songs "sung" by digital characters like Hatsune Miku, was a thriving underground music scene that launched numerous Japanese artists. In 2012, Yonezu transitioned to recording under his real name, revealing himself as not just a composer but also an illustrator and video creator.

His breakthrough came with "Lemon" in 2018, the theme for the hit TV drama Unnatural. The music video has surpassed 900 million views, making it the most-watched Japanese MV on YouTube. He went on to create theme songs for an extraordinary range of cultural touchstones: Shin Ultraman, Studio Ghibli's The Boy and the Heron (which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature), the NHK morning drama Tora ni Tsubasa, and Final Fantasy XVI.

His international breakthrough came with "KICK BACK," the 2022 opening theme for the Chainsaw Man anime series. The song became the first Japanese-language track to receive RIAA Gold certification in the U.S. and was selected for "RIAA Class of 2023." Early in 2025, the Recording Academy (which organizes the Grammy Awards) predicted "the global boom of J-pop" as a key music trend, specifically citing Yonezu's world tour as an "epoch-making event."

A World Tour That Proved the Demand Is Real

In early 2025, Yonezu embarked on his largest tour ever. The domestic leg, "Kenshi Yonezu 2025 TOUR / JUNK", covered 8 cities across Japan including his first-ever dome shows, drawing 350,000 fans across 16 performances.

The international leg took him to Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul, London, Paris, New York, and Los Angeles, 10 shows across 7 cities, every single one sold out. The overseas shows alone drew 90,000 fans. Combined with the domestic tour, the total audience reached 440,000.

Europe was a first for Yonezu. Paris, where manga and anime culture runs deep, drew fans from neighboring countries. In the U.S., he performed at New York's iconic Radio City Music Hall and Los Angeles's YouTube Theater. During the LA finale, Yonezu told the audience: "I sing in Japanese, and maybe you don't understand the words. But the fact that you still welcome me so warmly, I'm truly moved."

A new domestic arena tour, "KENSHI YONEZU 2026 TOUR / GHOST" (6 cities, 14 shows), has already been announced.

How Japanese Artists Are Reshaping Global Streaming Strategy

Yonezu's success reflects a broader shift in how Japanese music reaches the world. The old playbook, sing in English, sign with a Western label, is no longer the only path. Today, platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Crunchyroll allow Japanese content to be consumed simultaneously worldwide, creating organic discovery paths for music attached to popular anime and games.

YouTube's 2025 Japan year-end rankings highlighted this trend: Yonezu placed three songs in the top domestic tracks ("IRIS OUT" at #2, "Plazma" at #7, "BOW AND ARROW" at #8), and "IRIS OUT" also ranked #2 for domestic short-form music usage. The multi-format approach, full-length MVs, Shorts, and viral content, has become essential for maximizing reach.

And Yonezu isn't alone. YOASOBI's "Idol" peaked at #7 on the Global 200. Creepy Nuts' "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" became a worldwide meme via TikTok. HANA was YouTube Japan's most notable artist of 2025. A new generation of J-pop acts is building international audiences at a pace unimaginable even five years ago.

Japan's government is also investing in this momentum. In June 2025, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry published a five-year action plan targeting ¥20 trillion (approximately $130 billion) in overseas content revenue, with specific measures including support for international music events, streamlined visa processes for touring artists, and systems to promote Japanese songs and artists globally.

YouTube itself is evolving to support this. The platform's auto-dubbing features and AI translation tools are lowering language barriers, YouTube reported in December 2025 that 6 million people per day were watching videos in languages other than their own. For Japanese artists singing in Japanese, the walls are coming down.

Anime provides a powerful discovery mechanism, but that alone doesn't explain a five-month chart run. It's the quality of the music itself, the kinetic energy, the emotional depth, the visual artistry of the MVs, and the raw power of live performance, that keeps listeners coming back.

In Japan, the globalization of J-pop is one of the biggest cultural stories of the moment. But we'd love to hear from you: are there artists from your country who've broken through internationally while singing in their native language? What's your take on music that crosses borders without changing its language? Share your thoughts!

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