Short answers, pulled from the story.
In 1963, a song titled Sukiyaki became the first Japanese recording to reach the number one position on the United States Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song spent four weeks at the top spot and sold one million copies to earn a gold record. This global breakthrough by Kyu Sakamoto and his band The Drifters marked a turning point where Japanese music began to be taken seriously on the world stage.
Jazz musician Ryoichi Hattori, later known as the Father of Japanese poppusu, composed Noriko Awaya's hit song Farewell Blues. This composition established her as the Queen of Blues in Japan. The genre survived and thrived through collaborations with American soldiers and Chinese immigrant musicians who had fled Shanghai during the communist takeover.
Their 1979 album Solid State Survivor reached number one on the Oricon charts in July 1980 and went on to sell two million records worldwide. At around the same time, the YMO albums Solid State Survivor and X Multiplies held both the top two spots on the Oricon charts for seven consecutive weeks. The band members were Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi, and Ryuichi Sakamoto.
In March 1999, Hikaru Utada released her first Japanese album First Love which sold 7.65 million copies, making it the best-selling album in Oricon history. The 1990s brought a commercial peak to the Japanese music market, with physical music sales peaking in 1998. The term J-pop came to refer to all Japanese popular songs except enka during this period.
In December 2002, the digital download market for chaku-uta was created by mobile-phone company au. Hikaru Utada's 2007 song Flavor of Life sold over 7 million downloaded copies, and in October 2007, EMI Music Japan announced that Utada was the world's first artist to have 10 million digital sales in one year. This shift to digital consumption changed the landscape of the music industry.
Yoasobi's song Idol became the first Japanese song to reach number one on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart, as well as on the Apple Music and YouTube Music charts. The genre has begun to appear in global charts, with J-pop artists selling out concerts in Korea and occupying large venues. By 2024, Showa retro and other Japanese pop music has become particularly popular in South Korea.