King & Prince’s ‘Life goes on’ Sells a Million CDs

The million threshold for first-week CD sales hadn't been surpassed since March 2020.

King & Prince’s “Life goes on” comes in at No. 1 on this week’s Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated March 1, marking the highest sales week of this year with over a million CDs sold in its first week.

“Life goes on” sold 1,051,909 copies this week to rule physical sales and also comes in at No. 4 for video views and No. 12 for radio airplay. The million threshold for first-week CD sales hadn’t been surpassed since AKB48’s “Shitsuren, Arigato” (1,414,077 copies) and Nogizaka46’s “Shiawase no Hogoshoku” (1,049,667 copies) from March 2020, so the five-man boy band has achieved a major feat this week.

“Life goes on” was released as a double A-sided single with “We are young,” written by two of J-pop’s leading hitmakers with music by Koji Tamaki and lyrics by Junji Ishiwatari, which also garnered attention and came in at No. 11 for video. The Johnny’s group’s previously released songs are also performing well in the sales and video metrics, indicating that the ardent support of the group’s core fanbase is influencing the so-called gray-layer listeners and resulting in King & Prince’s dominance on this week’s charts.

Two other songs debuted on the Japan Hot 100 this week powered by sales. =LOVE’s “Kono Sora ga Trigger” came in at No. 2 for the metric with 216,215 copies, and Tsubaki Factory’s “Machigai janai, Naitari shinai” at No. 3 with 99,816 copies. But the latter hit No. 16 for downloads and No. 44 for radio, which added additional points to give the track a slim lead over “Kono Sora ga Trigger” — “Machigai janai, Naitari shinai”” debuts at No. 3 on the Japan Hot 100, while “Trigger” bows at No. 4.

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