J-pop, Anime Songs and the Oricon Charts — 2026-09-25
The week's biggest chart stories: M!LK's "LOVE ENG!NE" tops the Oricon album chart with 916,000 first-week copies — the year's highest album sales — while EBiDAN's collective "Yes! Tokyo" takes a seventh streaming No. 1. YOASOBI's "Racing Into the Night" sets an all-time Oricon streaming record, and anime-adjacent crossovers heat up as Kroi lands the JoJo's "Steel Ball Run" opening theme and The Weeknd's Japan tour intersects with Evangelion icons.
J-pop, Anime Songs and the Oricon Charts — 2026-09-25
Top developments
M!LK posts the year's biggest album opening with 916,000 copies
M!LK's new album "LOVE ENG!NE" debuted at No. 1 on the Oricon weekly album ranking announced September 22, moving 916,000 first-week copies. It is the group's second consecutive and second overall chart-topper, following "M!X" (March 2025), and marks their first time topping 800,000 copies — described as the highest-selling album released this fiscal year. A major signal for physical CD sales in an idol-group market still heavy on edition-driven purchasing.
YOASOBI's "Yoru ni Kakeru" becomes the first song in Oricon history to pass 1.1 billion streams
Announced September 25 (for the September 28-dated Oricon weekly streaming chart), YOASOBI's 2019 breakout "Yoru ni Kakeru (Racing Into the Night)" became the first song in Oricon history to exceed 1.1 billion cumulative streams. It extends the duo's chart legacy — "Idol" was already Oricon's fastest song to 1 billion streams — and underscores their streaming-era dominance.
EBiDAN super-unit takes seventh streaming chart crown; YAO races up
EBiDAN's all-hands single "Yes! Tokyo (feat. Chotokkyu / M!LK / SUPER★DRAGON / Sakurashimeji / ONE N' ONLY / Genin wa Jibun ni Aru / BUDDiiS / ICEx / Lienel)" topped Oricon's weekly streaming chart for the seventh time, per Oricon News on September 22. YAO — the project of Awich, CHICO CARLITO, ONE OK ROCK and Paledusk — hit No. 1 on the Trash-up/Rising chart with "Arifureta Sekai no Hate ni," while M!LK's unit track and Sakuraba 46's new song also entered the top tier.
Kroi to handle JoJo's "Steel Ball Run" opening theme
On September 24, the non-credit opening video for the anime "Steel Ball Run" (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 7) was released, revealing Kroi as the opener with "SPIN." The theme arrives on CD October 28 (CD+DVD/Blu-ray at ¥3,600 pre-tax; CD-only ¥1,200), a high-profile fall anime tie-up expected to be a major factor on both Oricon and Billboard Japan charts.
The Weeknd's Japan dates entwine with Evangelion and NieR legends
The Weeknd opened the final leg of his world tour in Japan this week with a brand-new song debut, and Anime News Network reported on September 20 that the production features collaboration involving NieR's Yoko Taro and Evangelion vocalist Yoko Takahashi, with visuals from Neon Genesis Evangelion. A striking example of international pop adopting anime IP on Japanese soil.
Local view
Oricon News framed the week around male-collective dominance, Utahime EBiDAN's "Yes! Tokyo" logging its seventh streaming No. 1 and new entries from M!LK and Sakuraba 46 showing sales growth of over 40% into the TOP3. Sankei Shimbun's Oricon-themed coverage emphasized that M!LK's 916,000-copy debut is the fiscal year's best album launch, noting the group's back-to-back chart victories. CDJournal highlighted the historic nature of YOASOBI's 1.1 billion stream milestone, calling it an Oricon first.
Context & numbers
- M!LK "LOVE ENG!NE": 916,000 first-week copies, No. 1 on Oricon weekly album ranking (Sept 22); 2nd consecutive weekly No. 1 album.
- YOASOBI "Yoru ni Kakeru": 1.1 billion cumulative streams — first song ever to cross that mark on Oricon charts.
- Kroi "SPIN" CD: October 28 release at ¥3,600 (CD+DVD/Blu-ray) / ¥1,200 (CD only), pre-tax.
- Billboard Japan's cumulative 100-million-stream list shows anime-song heavyweights: Ado's "Shinjitsu" (Uta from One Piece Film Red) at 600 million, "Shin" 500 million, "Usseewa" 500 million, plus YOASOBI's totals.
On the radar
- Fall 2026 anime OP/ED season begins in October — dedicated trackers are already compiling theme-song line-ups and YouTube popularity rankings for the season, which will feed chart performance over the coming weeks.
- Tower Records' weekly J-POP singles TOP30 (Sept 24 edition) is worth watching for physical-store trends diverging from Oricon.
- BREIMEN's fifth album "MEN in the mirror" (due November 25) features lead track "Sayonara River" as the ending theme for the drama "Okaeri, Hatsukoi," with streaming pre-release set for October 14.
- Vaundy's first Asian arena tour "HORO," launched September 5 at Makuhari Messe, continues to roll — expect an international-chart footprint as it proceeds.
This content was collected, curated, and summarized entirely by AI — including how and what to gather. It may contain inaccuracies. Crew does not guarantee the accuracy of any information presented here. Always verify facts on your own before acting on them. Crew assumes no legal liability for any consequences arising from reliance on this content.
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