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The story
The announcement of this year’s NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen lineup confirmed =LOVE’s first-ever appearance, and since Sashihara Rino wrote the lyrics for nearly all of the group’s 170 songs, the scale of the royalties heading her way became a hot topic. On 5ch, the discussion ranged widely — from the going rate (“lyricist royalties run about 1.5-2% of sales”), to suspicions that someone else is actually doing the writing, to comparisons with other girl groups using karaoke play counts and streaming numbers.
How Much Is the Huge Royalty Rolling in for Sashihara Rino from =LOVE’s First Kohaku Appearance? She Wrote Lyrics for Nearly All 170 Songs | Nikkan Gendai DIGITAL
Published: Nov 13, ’26, 16:15 / Updated: Nov 13, ’26, 16:38
This year’s NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen lineup was announced on November 13. The seven groups appearing for the first time took part in a press conference held at 1 p.m. Among them, a sports-newspaper entertainment desk is keeping an eye on the appearance of the girl group “=LOVE” (Ikorabu).
Source: nikkan-gendai.com / Original article here
What people said
Seriously?
According to fans: the word choices are a bit off, so it's probably Sashihara herself rather than a pro.
The fans are in on the act too.
Got fired from 'Pokapoka' (a Fuji TV variety show).
Well, taxes get tangled up in this stuff.
Why not just ask her directly on social media?
I think for karaoke specifically, the royalties go to the lyricist.
True or not, at least that version wouldn't cause drama.
Single sales history (recent major releases)
• 21st single "Koi, Hajimemashita." ("I've Started Falling in Love," released Aug 26, 2026)
• First week: approx. 515,000 copies (Oricon) / Cumulative: approx. 600,000 copies (shipped, etc.)
• 20th single "Gekiyaku Chuudoku" ("Addicted to a Powerful Drug," released Apr 1, 2026)
• First week: approx. 360,000 copies / Cumulative: approx. 400,000 copies
• 19th single "Love Song ni Osowareru" ("Attacked by a Love Song," released Oct 8, 2025)
• First week: approx. 330,000 copies / Cumulative: approx. 400,000 copies
• 18th single "Tokubechu, Shite / Koibito Ijou, Suki Miman" ("Give Me a Special Kiss / More Than Lovers, Not Quite Love," released Feb 26, 2025)
• Cumulative: approx. 300,000 copies
• 17th single "Zettai Idol Yamenaide" ("Please Never Quit Being an Idol," released Jul 31, 2024)
• Cumulative: approx. 200,000 copies
Still, Akimoto Yasushi makes stuff that sticks with people, for better or worse — this group has none of that. Though as a business case, it's not a bad success story.
If that's the case, the early material was pretty rough. Well, these days she's probably getting it rewritten/polished by someone.
Even if it's true, you don't need to keep saying it out loud. Keep it to yourself.
AKB is the only one still doing the up-close handshake events these days.
That whole CD-dumping scandal tied to those events flared back up recently.
DAM
Karaoke Artist Ranking
Weekly Ranking
Updated 2026/11/08
https://www.clubdam.com/ranking/artist/
Girl groups only, excerpted
16 =LOVE (prev. week 17)
60 AKB48 (prev. week 68)
75 iLiFE! (prev. week 77)
82 HANA (prev. week 97)
Everything below 100 is unranked
Major groups that used to be regulars in the rankings but are now unranked:
CUTIE STREET, FRUITS ZIPPER, CANDY TUNE, Nogizaka46
JOYSOUND Updated 2026/11/02
Artist Karaoke Ranking (Weekly)
Aggregation period: 2026/10/26 – 2026/11/01
https://www.joysound.com/web/karaoke/ranking/artist/weekly
Girl groups only, excerpted
14th → =LOVE (14th)
51st ↗ AKB48 (55th)
73rd ↗ iLiFE! (81st)
82nd ↗ HANA (84th)
Everything below 100th is unranked
Major groups that used to be regulars in the rankings but are now unranked:
CUTIE STREET, FRUITS ZIPPER, CANDY TUNE, Nogizaka46
If that's the case, put that investment into voice acting instead. For years now I've kept wondering if at least one of them might break into voice acting, but no luck so far.
Last year, the #2 spot for royalty earnings among Japanese singers was Misora Hibari's "Kawa no Nagare no Youni" ("Like the Flow of a River").
Akimoto makes way more off that one than he does from AKB.
https://www.jasrac.or.jp/magazine/2026_jasrac-awards_distribution10.pdf
[Billboard] Songs that broke 100 million streams (updated 2026/11/10)
◆=LOVE
"Tokubechu, Shite" — 200 million
"Zettai Idol Yamenaide" — 100 million
"Love Song ni Osowareru" — 100 million ← NEW
◆FRUITS ZIPPER
"Watashi no Ichiban Kawaii Tokoro" — 200 million
"NEW KAWAII" — 100 million
◆CUTIE STREET
"Kawaii Dake ja Dame Desu ka?" — 200 million
◆CANDY TUNE
"Baibai FIGHT!" — 100 million
Meanwhile, in a class of her own as an artist, HANA:
◆HANA
"ROSE" — 400 million
"Blue Jeans" — 400 million
"Drop" — 200 million
"Tiger" — 200 million
"Burning Flower" — 100 million
"BAD LOVE" — 100 million
"My Body" — 100 million
"NON STOP" — 100 million
If it's getting streamed that much, why aren't sales going up? If they're losing to the Sakamichi groups, they're not even in AKB's league.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Lyricist royalties are typically distributed via JASRAC based on sales, broadcast use, and karaoke play, with the lyricist’s cut generally said to be around 1.5-2% of sales. That’s notably smaller than the common assumption of “10% for lyrics,” and several thread posters were surprised by the figure. It’s said to be not unusual for idol-group lyric credits to actually be written by someone else — so-called ghostwriting — though this can’t be independently confirmed. The thread was split on two fronts: whether Sashihara herself is really writing the lyrics, and how =LOVE’s actual popularity compares to Akimoto Yasushi-produced groups, with posts citing karaoke rankings and streaming numbers as evidence. Worth noting too: the Kohaku appearance fee itself is reportedly modest and is separate from the lyricist royalty income.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5ch (Geisoku Sokuhou+) thread “How Much Is the Huge Royalty Rolling in for Sashihara Rino from =LOVE’s First Kohaku Appearance? She Wrote Lyrics for Nearly All 170 Songs.”
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