Japanese Soap Opera V.S. JP Music

In japan, some singers can become very famous just because his/ her song is used as the theme song for a soap opera. The phenomenon is common in Taiwan, too. However, in Japan, it is more evident than other asian countries.

For example,

流星花園: 黃冠的秘密 - Arashi ~One Love~
(This single, One Love, has been sold out more than 500,000 pieces)

Code Blue - Mr. Children ~HANABI~
(The single, HANABI, has been sold out more than 440,000 pieces)

Last Friends - 宇多田ヒカル ~Prisoner Of Love~

(The album, HEART STATION, has been sold out more than 1,000,000 pieces)

求婚大作戰 - 桑田佳祐 <明日晴れるかな>
(The song, 明日晴れるかな, rewarded
1.第53 回カデミー賞 最佳作品
2.第53 回カデミー賞 最佳歌曲
3.第53 回カデミー賞 特別賞)

Actually, JSO(Japanese Soap Opera) is popular in other asian countries as well, so the theme song can be heard by more people. Of course, the single or album which contains the theme song always can be sold out many pieces.

Because of the effect, many singers try hard to sing for the JSO. However,  not every JSO can become a popular one. If the JSO is not popular, and even bad, the theme song will be affected, either.

Take the most popular one, 求婚大作戰, for example. Its TV rating was always above 16, and it was really a big number!! Here are some data about the top 10 TV rating in Japan, and the data is from http://www.videor.co.jp/data/ratedata/junre/01drama.htm

美麗人生 B'z ~今夜在看見月亮的山丘上~





You can find that the top 10 are almost before 2000. It is because that the internet TV was not so popular at that time, and there were not so many illegal copies at that time. People's liked to watch soap opera to kill time. However, now, the internet is convenient and people would prefer downloading the episodes. Because of it, the rating above 15 is really a big number and you can imagine how great affects of the theme song brings.

Here are some theme songs which I mentioned:

Arashi ~One Love~


宇多田光 ~Prisoner Of Love~


桑田佳祐 ~明日晴れるかな~