JASRAC (Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers) announced on May 22 that two-member unit YOASOBI’s third single song, “Idol,” featured as the Oshi no Ko anime’s opening song won the JASRAC Awards’ Gold Award. The award means the song had the highest distribution of copyright royalties from JASRAC in 2023.The JASRAC Awards are given in recognition of the achievements and honor of lyricists, composers and music publishers of works where the JASRAC distributed royalties in the previous fiscal year, including streaming, karaoke, commercials and more. This year marks the 42nd year since its establishment in 1982. “Idol,” written and composed by the unit’s composer Ayase, was digitally released on April 12, 2023, with the CD single following on June 21. The song saw wide success, both domestically and internationally, including becoming Spotify’s most played song of 2023 in Japan and the first song sung in Japanese to reach the top spot on the U.S. Billboard’s global chart “Global Excl. U.S.” “We are very honored to hear that ‘Idol’ has received the JASRAC Awards’ Gold Award,” said Ayase. “As YOASOBI, we realize that we have been blessed with many new encounters and changes in our activities in recent years, but the reason we have managed to push forward so far is definitely because of this song. I am very happy that this song has become a piece of music that many people love. It is a great honor for me to be a composer. We will continue to devote ourselves to it day by day. Please continue to support us for a long time to come.”Meanwhile, the International Award, which is given to the domestic song that received the highest amount of royalties from overseas use, went again to “Naruto Shippuden Background Music” composed by Yasuharu Takanashi, for five consecutive years now since the 2020 awards, and also previously winning in 2013 and 2014.
JASRAC Awards 2024 winners:
Gold Award: “Idol” YOASOBI (TV anime Oshi no Ko opening theme song)
Silver Award: “Kawaikute Gomen” HoneyWorks (TV anime Heroines Run the Show character song)
Bronze Award: “Senkou” ［Alexandros］(Anime film Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway theme song)
International Award: Naruto Shippuden Background Music (Yasuharu Takanashi)
Foreign Music Award: BITTERSWEET SAMBA
YOASOBI “Idol” music video
Source: JASRAC press release/website©Aka Akasaka x Mengo Yokoyari/SHUEIHSA, “Oshi no Ko” Production Committee
