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The story
A karaoke survey conducted by ReBear LLC targeting Generation Z found that the top 4 spots in the “go-to songs people sing often” ranking were swept entirely by tracks released during the Heisei era (1989–2019). That means most respondents’ signature songs are hits that came out around the time they were born. The results sparked a wide-ranging debate on 5ch — from generational takes like "there just haven’t been any good songs since Heisei ended," to points about the streaming environment like "you can listen to endless old songs online now," to the view that these tracks became standards precisely because they’re the kind everyone can sing together.
Tue, Sep 1, 6:54 PM
According to the latest karaoke survey conducted by ReBear LLC targeting Generation Z, tracks released during the Heisei era swept the top 4 spots in the ranking of go-to songs people often sing at karaoke.
When the survey asked about “go-to songs you often sing at karaoke,” the results were as follows.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
OK grandpa.
Daba daba daba daba daba daba daba daba (the scat-singing part of the Lupin III theme)
A~shi mo~to ni~ / ka~ra~mi tsu~ku~ (drawn-out karaoke phrasing of a Lupin III lyric)
"Ashimoto ni karamitsuku" ("clinging around your feet")? Is that the line?
Some bar owners and regulars visibly sour up if you sing anything but enka, so you've gotta be careful with your picks.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HKfndu-bwAA17l3?format=jpg
#1 Southern All Stars
#2 Arashi
#3 Mr.Children
#4 Spitz
#5 Namie Amuro
#6 DREAMS COME TRUE
#7 Yuzu
#8 B'z
#9 Masaharu Fukuyama
#10 SMAP
#11 Hikaru Utada
#12 aiko
Yeah, that's not a song that gets karaoke hyped. Now "Kaijuu no Hanauta" or "Tokimeki" would go off.
https://livedoor.blogimg.jp/geinoutakuhaibin/imgs/2/1/21d5e776.jpg
#1 Namie Amuro
#2 Hikaru Utada
#3 Arashi
#4 Southern All Stars
#5 SMAP
#6 Miyuki Nakajima
#7 Mr.Children
#8 Yumi Matsutoya
#9 B'z
#10 Kazumasa Oda
#11 Ikimonogakari
#12 Kenshi Yonezu
#13 ZARD
#14 Keisuke Kuwata
#15 X JAPAN
#16 AKB48
#17 Spitz
#18 L'Arc~en~Ciel
#19 Morning Musume.
#20 Yuzu
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ds-GQKCUcAAP1eS?format=jpg
#1 "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" — SMAP
#2 "Hero" — Namie Amuro
#3 "CAN YOU CELEBRATE?" — Namie Amuro
#4 "Eikou no Kakehashi" — Yuzu
#5 "Kawa no Nagare no You ni" — Hibari Misora
#6 "TSUNAMI" — Southern All Stars
#7 "Makenaide" — ZARD
#8 "Lemon" — Kenshi Yonezu
#9 "Ito" — Miyuki Nakajima
#9 "Automatic" — Hikaru Utada
#11 "Koi" — Gen Hoshino
#12 "Koisuru Fortune Cookie" — AKB48
#12 "Tomorrow Never Knows" — Mr.Children
#14 "First Love" — Hikaru Utada
I thought "wait, #5, seriously?" and looked it up — turns out it technically does count as Heisei.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ds9tMk-V4AIAirh.jpg
#1 "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" — SMAP
#2 "Hero" — Namie Amuro
#3 "CAN YOU CELEBRATE?" — Namie Amuro
#4 "Eikou no Kakehashi" — Yuzu
#5 "Kawa no Nagare no You ni" — Hibari Misora
#6 "TSUNAMI" — Southern All Stars
#7 "Makenaide" — ZARD
#8 "Lemon" — Kenshi Yonezu
#9 "Ito" — Miyuki Nakajima
#9 "Automatic" — Hikaru Utada
#11 "Koi" — Gen Hoshino
#12 "Koisuru Fortune Cookie" — AKB48
#12 "Tomorrow Never Knows" — Mr.Children
#14 "First Love" — Hikaru Utada
"Baibai FIGHT" — the rapid-fire solo relay part near the end is genuinely tough, but it's a total blast to sing lol
This obsession with "taipa" (time-performance, i.e. efficiency) has gotten out of hand.
Is a song like that actually fun? I honestly don't get what today's karaoke crowd is into anymore.
"Hakata no Shio," a jingle that's only 3 seconds long, hits #1 on the weekly karaoke ranking — surprisingly hard to score high on
https://natalie.mu/music/news/680096
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
The Heisei era spans the 30 years from 1989 to 2019, and in the other surveys cited in the thread (TBS’s “Toudai-Ou” and the Yomiuri Shimbun), artists from the first half of Heisei — Namie Amuro, Hikaru Utada, Southern All Stars, SMAP — repeatedly land near the top as well. For Gen Z respondents in their teens and twenties, these are songs that were hits around the time they were born. Posters in the thread were split on why these songs became “standards.” One camp pointed to the streaming/online environment — "you can now listen to old songs endlessly via subscriptions or the internet" — while the other pointed to how songs themselves are written today, arguing that "recent tracks tend to be fast-paced and individualistic, which doesn’t suit group singing." Rather than simple nostalgia, what emerges is a picture where demand for "songs that people from different generations who don’t otherwise share musical tastes can still sing together" is what keeps Heisei-era tracks standing as standards today.
※This article is compiled as an excerpt/summary of the 5ch (Geisports Sokuhou+) thread “What Do Young People Even Sing? Heisei Songs Somehow Sweep the Top 4 Karaoke Standards Ranking — Why Are Hits From Before They Were Born the “Go-To Songs”?“.
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