''Billboard Japan'' is a

sister organization A sister organization is an agency or body which is nearly or completely dependent upon another organization to exist. Sister organizations may exist in several different fields from business, government, law enforcement, and within the military. ...

of the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

-based music magazine ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''. It is operated by the Japanese

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of

Hanshin Electric Railway is a Japanese private railway company owned by Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group that links Osaka and Kobe. It also owns the Hanshin Tigers baseball team. The first character for Kobe (神戸) and the second character for Osaka (大阪) combine to form ...

), holding an exclusive licence from ''Billboard''s parent company to the Billboard brand name in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

,"Hanshin Contents Link, the operator of Billboard Japan":

and manages, among others, the website www.billboard-japan.com and several "Billboard Live"-branded music clubs located in the country. In February 2008, Hanshin Contents Link, under licence from ''Billboard'', launched the ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 music chart. As of 2025, the list of charts compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' also included an albums chart named ''Billboard Japan'' Hot Albums, physical-sales-only-based charts Top Singles Sales and Top Albums Sales, download-only-based charts Download Songs and Download Albums, an animation music chart named Hot Animation, and a chart for foreign songs named Hot Overseas, etc. From 2010 to 2016, ''Billboard Japan'' holds an annual awards ceremony called the ''Billboard Japan'' Music Awards, which honors domestic and international artists who achieved the best results on ''Billboard Japan''s music charts during the previous year.

Charts

Singles and tracks

Albums

Artists

''Music Labo''

was a music magazine in Japan, published from 1970 to 1994.

Billboard Publications ''Billboard'' (stylized in lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to th ...

bought 45% of that business to create Billboard Japan/Music Labo in 1971. The magazine published a number of record charts including the "Hot 150", the "Hot 100", and the "Hot 50". The ''Music Labo'' charts were used for the "Japan" section of "Hits of the World" in ''Billboard''. There were ''Billboard'' and ''Music Labo'' Awards at the

Tokyo Music Festival The Tokyo Music Festival was an international music contest that ran from 1972 to 1992. It was organized by the Tokyo Music Festival Foundation. The first edition of the Tokyo Music Festival took place on 13 May 1972 with 12 participating countr ...

."First Tokyo Music Festival". Billboard. 3 June 1972. p
46
& 47.

Notes

References

External links

''Billboard Japan''
{{italic title Billboard (magazine) Japanese news websites Japanese music websites Japanese-language websites Magazines with year of establishment missing Mass media in Osaka Online music magazines J-pop