Anime charts and Japanese hotlist

Japan’s anime-song chart flipped again on April 15, with Kenshi Yonezu’s “IRIS OUT” back at No. 1 after King Gnu led a week earlier. (tvfan.kyodo.co.jp) Billboard Japan said “IRIS OUT,” the theme for the “Chainsaw Man Reze Arc” film, topped the Hot Animation chart dated April 15 for the tracking week of April 6 through April 12. The song led streaming, video views and karaoke, ranked No. 2 in CD sales, and logged its 25th total week at No. 1. (tvfan.kyodo.co.jp) King Gnu’s “AIZO,” the opening theme for “Jujutsu Kaisen” season three’s “Culling Game Part 1,” placed No. 2, and Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “lulu.,” tied to season two of “Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End,” held No. 3. Billboard Japan said both songs had passed 100 million cumulative streams by April. (tvfan.kyodo.co.jp) The anime chart is a narrower race than Japan’s all-genre singles ranking. On the same April 15 update, Billboard Japan’s Hot 100 was led by Nogizaka46’s “Saigo ni Kaidan o Kakeagatta no wa Itsu da?” on first-week CD sales of 666,662 copies, while “IRIS OUT,” “AIZO” and “lulu.” ranked No. 5, No. 6 and No. 8 overall. (billboard-japan.com) That split shows how anime themes can dominate listening even when idol releases win the broader chart on physical sales. “IRIS OUT” posted 7,276,459 streams in the Hot 100 tracking week, “AIZO” had 6,800,592, and “lulu.” had 6,381,554. (billboard-japan.com) The top of Hot Animation has been moving between the same three acts for weeks. Billboard Japan reported King Gnu’s “AIZO” was No. 1 on the April 8 chart for the March 30 through April 5 tracking week, with “IRIS OUT” at No. 2 and “lulu.” at No. 3. (billboard-japan.com) Yonezu’s song has had the longest grip. Billboard Japan reported on April 1 that “IRIS OUT” had already reached a 24th career No. 1 on Hot Animation and had passed 400 million cumulative streams on Billboard Japan charts. (billboard-japan.com) New entries are still breaking through around that trio. Southern All Stars singer Keisuke Kuwata’s first fully written anime theme, “Hitotarashi,” jumped from outside the top 10 to No. 4 on strong radio play and downloads, while MISIA’s “Last Dance Anata to,” from the new “Detective Conan” film, debuted at No. 7. (tvfan.kyodo.co.jp) Billboard Japan said the “Detective Conan” movie opened on April 10 and grossed more than 3.5 billion yen in its first three days, giving the chart another fresh anime tie-in just as Yonezu, King Gnu and Mrs. GREEN APPLE keep trading the top spots. (tvfan.kyodo.co.jp)