Yoasobi

Yoasobi is a Japanese pop duo formed in 2019. It consists of musician and record producer Ayase and singer-songwriter Lilas Ikuta, under the moniker Ikura. With the slogan "novel into music", the duo originally released songs based on selected fictional stories posted on , a social media website for creative writing operated by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Sources later also come from various media such as stories written by professional authors, books, letters, messages, plays, etc.

Rising to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, Yoasobi's debut single, "Yoru ni Kakeru", spent six non-consecutive weeks atop ''Billboard'' Japan Hot 100 and topped its 2020 year-end chart, the first ever non-CD single to do so, as well as receiving the first ever diamond and double diamond certifications for streaming figure from the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). Three other songs were also certified diamonds: '' Blue Period''-inspired " Gunjō" and opening themes for anime ''Beastars'' "Kaibutsu" and ''Oshi no Ko'' "Idol"; the latter set the record for the longest-running number one on the Japan Hot 100 history with 22 non-consecutive weeks, and the first Japanese act to top the ''Billboard'' Global Excl. US, as well as the 19th best-selling song globally in 2023, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). With these successes, the duo was dubbed as a representative of J-pop of the 2020s.

Yoasobi released three Japanese-language EPs: '' The Book'', ''The Book 2'' (2021), and ''The Book 3'' (2023), which all peaked at number two on the Oricon Albums Chart; and three English-language ''E-Side'' (2021), ''E-Side 2'' (2022), and ''E-Side 3'' (2024). Outside their discography, the duo collaborated with four Naoki Prize-winning novelists—Rio Shimamoto, Mizuki Tsujimura, Miyuki Miyabe, and Eto Mori—to publish the short story collection ''Hajimete no'' in 2022, and performed the songs based on each story. Yoasobi has received various accolades, including multiple CD Shop Awards, Japan Gold Disc Awards, Japan Record Awards, MTV Video Music Awards Japan, Music Awards Japan, Reiwa Anisong Awards, and Space Shower Music Awards.

Name

The duo's name, Yoasobi, originates from the Japanese word , meaning "nightlife". Ayase, who came up with the name, explained that is a wish that he and Ikura could take on various playful challenges by comparing their individual career to daytime and Yoasobi's career to nighttime. The duo represents themselves by the slogan . With this slogan, if the song they performed is not based on a fictional story, they are not credited under Yoasobi, but separately under their individual names (Ayase and Lilas Ikuta).

History

2019–2021: Formation, "Yoru ni Kakeru" and ''The Book''

Both members of Yoasobi had active music careers before Yoasobi formation. Ayase was a vocalist of rock band Davinci, which was active from 2012 to 2018 and eventually disbanded in 2020. He began using Vocaloid software Hatsune Miku to produce music during his treatment at hospital due to peptic ulcer disease. He uploaded his first song, "Sentensei Assault Girl", on the video-sharing website Niconico in 2018 and gained popularity with "Last Resort" a year later. Then, he released his debut extended play '' Ghost City Tokyo'' in December 2019. Lilas Ikuta, who later adopted the stage name Ikura for Yoasobi, is a singer-songwriter and a then member of the cover group Plusonica from 2017 to 2021. In 2016, she participated in a new artist training course, called the Lesson, sponsored by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, and released her demo CD ''15 no Omoi''. Later, Ikuta released her first two EPs: ''Rerise'' (2018) and ''Jukebox'' (2019) through independent label After School.

In 2019, Yohei Yashiro, a founder of Monogatary.com, a social media for creative writing owned by SMEJ, presented the idea of project to produce songs inspired by selected story submissions published on the website as a prize to authors instead of book or anime adaptation, which not all were successful. Yashiro enlisted Shuya Yamamoto, who handled SMEJ's artists at that time, shortly after their first meeting at a party. In the mid-year, Ayase received an offer from Yashiro and Yamamoto to produce songs for the project. During the discussion about vocalists, Ayase found Ikura from her cover of Aimyon's " Kimi wa Rock o Kikanai" on Instagram. He later checked her YouTube channel, where she uploaded some of her music and covers, and contacted her directly to persuade her to form the duo. Yoasobi announced their debut via teaser video on October 1, and marked as their anniversary.

The first song released by Yoasobi, "Yoru ni Kakeru", was based on the short story '' Thanatos no Yūwaku'' written by Mayo Hoshino, which won the novel contest Monocon 2019. Its music video was initially uploaded via Ayase's YouTube and Niconico channels on November 16, 2019, which accrued one million views within one month. The songs was subsequently commercially released the next month on December 15. During the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, "Yoru ni Kakeru" went viral on social media, including the song's '' The Home Take'' solo performance by Ikura, bringing it to top several music streaming service charts in Japan. Five months after its release, the song ascended to number one on the Oricon Combined Singles Chart and ''Billboard'' Japan Hot 100 for the first time. The latter spent a total of six weeks atop the chart of which three weeks were consecutive. "Yoru ni Kakeru" finished 2020 as the year's top Japan Hot 100 song, making it the first-ever non-CD single to top the year-end chart. Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) certified the song diamond and double diamond for exceeding 500 million and 1 billion streams, respectively, becoming the first song in history to do so. The song won the Song of the Year at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards Japan and the 2021 Space Shower Music Awards, and the Silver Prize at the 2023 JASRAC Awards.

Following their debut single, Yoasobi released "Ano Yume o Nazotte" on January 18, 2020. Like "Yoru ni Kakeru", the song is based on another Monocon 2019-winning short story by Sōta Ishiki, '' Yume no Shizuku to Hoshi no Hana''. The next single, "Halzion", sourced from Shunki Hashizume's ''Soredemo, Happy End'', was released on May 11 as part of Suntory's "Immersive Song Project" to advertise energy drink Zone. It was the duo's first collaboration with a professional novelist, whereas the first two were amateur writers. In the second half of the year, they continually released three more singles. The first, " Tabun", was released on July 20 and based on the short story of the same name by Shinano, which won Yoasobi Contest Vol. 1. Inspired by the manga series '' Blue Period'' and sourced from the short story written by the brand's creative team '' Ao o Mikata ni'', " Gunjō", featuring uncredited chorus of Plusonica, was released on September 1. It was used for Bourbon's Alfort Mini Chocolate commercial. On December 18, the duo released the song "Haruka", a collaboration with screenwriter Osamu Suzuki's short story ''Tsuki Ōji''.

On December 31, Yoasobi concluded 2020 at the year-end television special ''71st NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen'' with the debut live performance of "Yoru ni Kakeru" as a duo, along with band members, filmed at Bookshelf Theater, Kadokawa Culture Museum in Tokorozawa. It made the duo the first-ever artist to perform at the TV special without any physical releases. All previously released singles were featured on the duo's debut EP '' The Book'', released on January 6, 2021, expressing a theme of "reading CD" with binder package. It additionally included "Encore", based on Yoasobi Contest Vol. 1-winning ''Sekai no Owari to, Sayonara no Uta'' by Kanami Minakami, and used for a Google Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a (5G) advertisement. The EP debuted at number two on the Oricon Albums Chart and the ''Billboard Japan'' Hot Albums. As of 2021, ''The Book'' has sold 150,000 CD and 100,000 digital sales, the latter making it the only album to reach the milestone that year, and was certified gold for the both by the RIAJ. The EP won Special Award at the CD Shop Awards.

2021: ''The Book 2'' and English-language releases

First announced in late 2020, Yoasobi recorded both the opening and ending themes for the second season of the Japanese anime series ''Beastars''. Its opening theme, "Kaibutsu", was released on January 6, 2021, the same date as the duo's EP ''The Book'', while its ending theme, "Yasashii Suisei", came on the 20th. Both songs were based on short stories written by the anime's writer Paru Itagaki—''Jibun no Mune ni Jibun no Mimi o Oshi Atete'' and ''Shishiza Ryūseigun no Mama ni'', respectively. Later, the double A-side CD single of the both songs was released on March 24. It debuted at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, and made "Kaibutsu" peaking at number two on the Japan Hot 100. "Kaibutsu" won four awards for Song of the Year (Japan) in both download and streaming categories at the 36th Japan Gold Disc Award, and ranked number five in ''Time'' 10 Best Songs of 2021, the only Japanese act to appear on the list. In support of ''The Book'', the duo held their first livestream concert, Keep Out Theater, on February 14 at the construction site of former Shinjuku Milano-za (today Tokyu Kabukicho Tower) for 40,000 online audiences. The duo were radio hosts for their '' All Night Nippon X'' every Tuesday from March 2021 to 2022.

Yoasobi released "Mō Sukoshi Dake" on May 10, using as the 2021 theme for the morning show ''Mezamashi TV''. It was based on the Yoasobi Contest Vol.3 with ''Mezamashi TV''-winning story ''Meguru'' by Chiharu. A song for NTT Docomo's mobile network operator Ahamo commercial, "Sangenshoku", based on scriptwriter Yūichirō Komikado's ''RGB'', was released on July 2. On August 9, Yoasobi released the song " Loveletter" based on Hatsune's letter ''Ongaku-san e'', which won the Letter Song Project, a contest held by Tokyo FM's radio show owned by Japan Post Service, '' Sunday's Post''. Between September 9 and 13, the duo and Sony Park Exhibition held Semiconductors Create New Realities exhibition at Ginza Sony Park, where they first previewed the song "Taishō Roman", based on Natsumi's short story ''Taishō Romance'', which won the Yoasobi Contest Vol.2. The song was released the next two days after the exhibition had finished. The duo was in charge of a theme for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) children's television shows '' Hirogare! Irotoridori'', titled " Tsubame", featuring children group Midories. The song was released on October 25, and based on Nana Ototsuki's short story ''Chiisana Tsubame no Ōkina Yume''. In the same month, they published the YouTube Music documentary ''Yoasobi – Artist Spotlight Stories''.

Yoasobi's released their second EP, ''The Book 2'', on December 1, 2021. The EP features the duo's all singles released in that year, including "Moshi mo Inochi ga Egaketara", a theme for and based on the 2021 play of the same name written and directed by Osamu Suzuki, performed in August and September 2021. The EP debuted at number two on the Oricon Albums Chart, and topped the ''Billboard Japan'' Hot Albums for the first time. It won Special Award at the CD Shop Awards. In support of ''The Book 2'', Yoasobi held their first face-to-face one-off concert called Nice to Meet You at Nippon Budokan on December 4 and 5, receiving 14,000 offline attendees, and starred on an episode of documentary program '' Jōnetsu Tairiku'' on December 12. The duo participated in the ''72nd NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen'' on December 31, to perform "Gunjō" for the main show featuring a symphony orchestra, and "Tsubame" as part of "Colorful Special Segment" with Midories and mascots from ''Hirogare! Irotoridori''.

Furthermore, in 2021, Yoasobi began exploring English-language songs by translating the original Japanese as the duo were suggested by their music distributor The Orchard. The first song, " Into the Night", was released on July 2, translated from "Yoru ni Kakeru". They subsequently released three other singles: "RGB" ("Sangenshoku") and "Monster" ("Kaibutsu") in July, and "Blue" ("Gunjō") in October. All singles were included in the duo's first English-language EP ''E-Side'', released digitally on November 12. The EP peaked at number 19 on the Oricon Combined Albums Chart, and number nine on the ''Billboard Japan'' Hot Albums. Yoasobi won Artist of the Year at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards Japan and the 2022 Space Shower Music Awards, as well as the Special Achievement Award at the 63rd Japan Record Awards.

2022–2023: ''Hajimete no'', "Idol" and ''The Book 3''

Yoasobi collaborated with four Naoki Prize-winning novelists to perform four songs based on their short stories under the theme of "a story to read when you do omethingfor the first time". It contains Rio Shimamoto's ''Watashi Dake no Shoyūsha'', Mizuki Tsujimura's ''Yūrei'', Miyuki Miyabe's ''Iro Chigai no Trump'', and Eto Mori's ''Hikari no Tane''. All stories were published as a ''tankōbon'' book by Suirinsha, titled ''Hajimete no'', on February 16, 2022. The first single of the project based on Shimamoto's story, "Mr.", was released in conjuction with the book publication, and followed by Mori's story-based " Suki da" on May 30, Tsujimura's story-based "Umi no Manimani" on November 18, and Miyabe's story-based " Seventeen" on March 27 the next year. All songs were collected on the book's companion EP, issued on May 10, 2023, peaking at number nine on the Oricon Singles Chart. The sequel project ''Hajimete no Bungei-bu'' was announced in September 2022.

Beyond their musical discography, Yoasobi released their first video album, '' The Film'', on March 23, containing videos of the duo's three concerts held in 2021 and unreleased footage from their episode on the documentary program ''Jōnetsu Tairiku''. The duo participated in an outdoor music festival for the first time in August at the Rock in Japan Festival. Yoasobi performed the first opening theme of the mecha anime series '' Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury'', titled "Shukufuku", based on the short story ''Yurikago no Hoshi'' by the anime's writer Ichirō Ōkouchi. The song was released on October 1 and peaked at number two on the Japan Hot 100. The duo released their second English-language EP ''E-Side 2'' on November 18. The EP debuted at number ten on the ''Billboard Japan'' Hot Albums. Yoasobi performed overseas for the first time in December 2022 at the Head in the Clouds Festival in Indonesia and the Philippines. The duo collaborated with Universal Studios Japan to perform a theme for the student support campaign Unibaru, based on the story that won the campaign's contest, under the theme "unforgettable memories in school age at the SJpark". The winning story was ''Lens Goshi no Kirameki o'' by Nagi, and the song "Adventure" was released on February 15, 2023.

In 2023, Yoasobi was in charge of the opening theme of the anime series ''Oshi no Ko'', titled "Idol", based on manga artist Aka Akasaka's short story ''45510'', released on April 12. It peaked at number one on both the Oricon Combined Singles and ''Billboard'' Japan Hot 100 charts, which the latter stayed for 22 non-consecutive weeks, surpassing the previous longest record of 13 weeks of Official Hige Dandism's "Subtitle". The song broke the record for the fastest song to be certified diamond for streaming by the RIAJ within 295 days since its release. Globally, "Idol" peaked at number seven on the ''Billboard'' Global 200, the highest position by Japanese act, and topped the Global Excl. US, the first Japanese-language song to do so. Its music video also set a new record as the fastest music video by Japanese singer to reach 100 million views within 35 days. The song won various awards, including Best Animation Video and Song of the Year at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, Best Anime Song at the 8th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, Song of the Year in both download and streaming categories at the 38th Japan Gold Disc Award, Gold Prize at the 2024 and 2025 JASRAC Awards. and Top Global Hit from Japan, Best Anime Song, Best Music Video, and Song of the Year for Creators at the 2025 Music Awards Japan. Oricon and ''Billboard Japan'' ranked "Idol" as the 2023 best-performing song in Japan, while the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) ranked the song as the 19th best-selling song in 2023 globally, earning 1.01 billion subscription streams equivalents.

The duo embarked on their first concert tour in 2023, titled Denkōsekka Arena Tour, in seven cities with fourteen shows throughout Japan, starting in Nagoya on April 5 and concluding in Yokohama on June 24, which amassed 130,000 attendees. During the tour, they also held a livestream concert via TikTok on April 24 at Theater Milano-za, the same venue as Keep Out Theater when it was under construction. The duo had their first performance in the Western Hemisphere at the Head in the Clouds Festival in the United States in August. Yoasobi released their third EP, ''The Book 3'', on October 4, comprising all singles from 2022 to the September 2023, which included the first opening theme for the anime series '' Frieren: Beyond Journey's End'', titled " Yūsha", based on Jirō Kiso's short story ''Fanfare for Frieren''. The song was released ahead on the EP on September 27 and peaked at number two on the Japan Hot 100. ''The Book 3'' debuted at number two on both the Oricon Albums Chart and ''Billboard Japan'' Hot Albums.

2023–present: Overseas expansion and fifth anniversary

In November 2023, Yoasobi was an opening act for two Tokyo shows of British rock band Coldplay's Music of the Spheres World Tour, and released the single " Biri-Biri", inspired by the short story written by Ayano Takeda ''Kimi to Ameagari o'', to commemorate the first anniversary of role-playing video games ''Pokémon Scarlet'' and ''Violet'' releases. The next month, the duo featured on Yumi Matsutoya's 50th anniversary greatest hit album '' Yuming Kanpai!!'', for the remake of "Chūō Freeway", originally from '' 14 Banme no Tsuki'' (1976), adding new materials sourced from Matsutoya's biographical novel ''Subete no Koto wa Message Shōsetsu Yuming'' (2022) by Mariko Yamauchi. They also participated in the seventh iteration of television special '' 18Fes'', singing one-time-only " Heart Beat" with 1,000 teenagers between 17 and 20 years old, broadcast on December 25 and the song was released the next day. From December 2023 to January 2024, the duo launched the radio show ''Yoasobi's Otsumami Radio'' with Apple Music and Podcasts for four episodes.

On December 31, 2023, Yoasobi performed "Idol" at the ''74th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen'', featuring selected members of Japanese and Korean idol groups, former idols, now actress Kanna Hashimoto and now singer Ano, dance group Avantgardey, and B-boy group Real Akiba Boyz. The duo embarked on their first Asia tour between December 2023 and January 2024, and continued with the Pop Out Zepp Tour in Japan from January to March 2024, The duo released their second video album ''The Film 2'' on April 10, collecting selected concert performances from 2023 to early 2024, and their third English-language EP ''E-Side 3'' the next two day. In the same month, they were invited for the US President Joe Biden-hosted state dinner for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House, and signed an agent contract with American Creative Artists Agency. In the United States, they finished two major music festivals and a concert tour in April and August: Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Lollapalooza, and the Yoasobi Live in the USA.

Yoasobi performed theme for anime series '' Monogatari Series: Off & Monster Season'', titled "Undead", released on July 1, 2024. It was sourced from two short stories, ''Nadeko Past'' and ''Shinobu Future'', by ''Monogatari'' writer Nisio Isin. In the same month, on July 25, the duo released " Butai ni Tatte", a theme for NHK's 2024 coverage of sports events, including the Summer Olympics and Paralympics, based on Jun Esaka's short story version of three one-shot manga: Taizan 5's ''Hanareta Futari'', Yūki Kirishima's ''Parallel Lane'', and Hirusagari Haruno's ''Owaranai Deuce''. On September 12, it was announced that Yoasobi had moved to SMEJ's newly established management team and record label, Echoes. " Monotone", a theme by the duo for 2024 animated film ''Fureru'', was issued on October 1. The film's writer Mari Okada wrote a based short story for the song ''Fureru. no, Zen'ya''.

To commemorate their five anniversary, Yoasobi collaborated with magazine ''Vi/Nyl'' to hold an exhibition titled Yoasobi Keep Out Gallery from October 5 to 14 at the new-build Ginza Sony Park, and publish ''Vi/Nyl Super Yoasobi 5th Anniversary Book'' on October 30. The duo also embarked on their Chō-genjitsu Dome Live from October to November, received 170,000 audiences. The tour's concert film was released to theaters on February 21, 2025. At the tour, they debuted " New Me" and released it on November 11. The song was sourced from Mado Arite's short story ''Hakusan-dōri Enjō no Ken'', winning '' Bungei'' × Monogatary.com Collaboration Award at the Monocon 2023, and used as a jingle for Recruit's second part of Mada, Koko ni Nai, Deai, Koko ni Nai, Ongaku project commercial, "Wakaranai mama, Sore de mo".

Yoasobi ran their second Asia tour of the same name as the dome tour Chō-genjitsu from December 2024 to February the next year, attracting 140,000 people. Released on March 21, " Players" is a collaboration with PlayStation for the Project: Memory Card based on "a game you want to erase your memory of and play again" collected from X users via hashtag #MemoryOfPlay to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the home video game console's first release. The next two month, on May 17, the duo released " Watch Me!" an opening theme for the manga series ''Witch Watch'', sourced from Kenta Shinohara's short story ''Kokoro Kororon''. They travelled in Europe to participate at Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Spain, and held a one-off concert at Wembley Arena, London, England in June, as well as embarking on their Japan Hall Tour from July to November.

Artistry

Musical styles and influences

Yoasobi's musical style has been described as a mix of pop, rock, electronic, and Vocaloid music. In an interview with Associated Press, Ayase explained their genre: "We think that Yoasobi is its own genre. There's no specific genre they're going after we're going after. We're definitely influenced by J-pop in general." ''The Asahi Shimbun'' described their songs contain "complex structures with shifting rhythms and key changes", and "catchy melodies and memorable hooks", and Ikura's vocals "effortlessly clear nghigh notes and sails through rapid-fire lyrics in time with their tempos, even showing off some playful rap .." Ayase was influenced by '80s and '90s music, and K-pop, while Ikura was influenced by Western music such as songs from Disney, folk, and country. Ayase named Aiko, Exile, Post Malone, and rock bands: Sukima Switch, Kobukuro, Radwimps, Maximum the Hormone, Coldrain, Crossfaith, SiM, Slipknot, and Bring Me the Horizon; and Ikura cites Taylor Swift as each major music influence.

The duo and their music have been compared to other Japanese musical acts such as Yorushika and Zutomayo, which are also known for their Vocaloid roots and animated music videos. These three groups are collectively described by the neologistic genre , as all of them have the word "" (pronounced ''ya'', ''yo'' or ''yoru'' depend on word), which means "night", in their name. Furthurmore, Yoasobi's songs were often entitled with "straightforward" word, e.g. "Gunjō", "Idol", and "Yūsha", as "the best words to describe that music, not the story itself," and included Ikura's signature "ah" vocable, appearing both in lyrics and not.

Songwriting

Unlike other singers and songwriter, most of Yoasobi's songs are based on fictional stories submitted by general public, or written by professional novelist or manga artist, while some are non-fiction, such as letter as in "Loveletter", messages, essays, and videos as in "Heart Beat", or social media posts as in "Players". Music critic Tomonori Shiba classified their genre as . Hiroaki Nagahata from ''Pen'' magazine wrote that the duo's songs "reflect modern motifs, including negative things that no one would dare say in public."

Ayase interprets and writes Yoasobi's songs reflecting on his feelings and experiences based on the story. Described by themselves as having " DIY", " hands-on", and " handmade" styles, when writing music for the duo, Ayase first creates a demo by using digital audio workstation Logic Pro on his laptop with Vocaloid software, mostly Hatsune Miku, allowing him to avoid any distortion based on a human vocalist's interpretation, then records Ikura's vocals afterwards. Music director and record producer Konnie Aoki is usually in charge of translating Yoasobi's songs into English, which he uses word choices that maintained the rhythm of the original Japanese lyrics. Natsume Sogami of ''Real Sound'' described Yoasobi's music as a "derivative work", which creates style contrasting to other musicians and songwriters.

Other ventures

Endorsements and collaborations

Similar to other Japanese singers, Yoasobi's songs have been used in affiliation with various media, including anime series and films, advertisements, television shows, plays, events, and exhibitions. In June 2021, Uniqlo's T-shirt brand UT partnered with the duo to produce T-shirts with patterns inspired by their song's visuals. To promote the collaboration, they held the free livestream concert Sing Your World at Uniqlo City Tokyo and broadcast via the duo's official YouTube channel on July 4, which received 280,000 online viewers globally. Three months later in September, the duo was chosen as a mascot for the 59th Sendenkaigi Awards, an advertising award by Sendenkaigi. In July 2022, the duo partnered with Book Truck to launch a pop-up bookstore and café Tabi Suru Honya-san Yoasobi-gō: Books & Café, which was first launched at the Curry & Music Japan 2022 in the same month.

In June 2023, Super Cup 1.5x partnered with the duo to produce two special flavors for instant noodles: Ikura's salted tonkotsu and Ayase's spicy soy sauce. Starting in late 2023, Yoasobi collaborated with Suntory Draft Beer for various projects, such as a pop-up store at Shinagawa Station, and limited screened beer can, etc. In 2024, the duo collaborated with Pickles the Frog for special goods to celebrate Ayase's 30th birthday, and, in October, battle royale game '' PUBG: Battlegrounds'' for the game's emote. Sportswear brand Asics partnered with Yoasobi for pop-up gallery Just a Little Step at Rayard Miyashita Park from November 1 to 10, and scheduled to launch collaborative products the next year. In April 2025, the duo was appointed as the brand ambassador for cosmetics brand Shu Uemura, and starred on the smartphone Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra commercial, portraying performers being filming on the stage and featuring their song "Butai ni Tatte". In June, the duo, PlayStation, and F. C. Real Bristol, a subsidiary of cloth brand Soph., collaborated for long-sleeve topwear to sell at the duo's concert in London and online in Japan.

Impact and achievements

Yoasobi has won numerous awards throughout their career, including ten Japan Gold Disc Awards, five CD Shop Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards Japan, three Music Awards Japan, three Space Shower Music Awards, three Reiwa Anisong Awards, two Japan Record Awards, one Crunchyroll Anime Award, and one Melon Music Award, among others. In 2021, Yoasobi received the Noma Publishing Culture Award by Kodansha in honors of excellent contributions to publishing, regardless of its forms, alongside manga artist Hajime Isayama, author and lyricist Shizuka Ijūin, and Kadokawa Culture Museum. The duo won Person of the Year at the 2023 Japan PR Awards, organized by the Public Relations Society of Japan. In 2025, Yoasobi was nominated at the inaugural Music Awards Japan for 14 categories, three for the artist and 11 for "Idol". It is the third most nomination following Fujii Kaze (17) and Creepy Nuts (15).

Yoasobi has been credited as a pioneer and representative of Japanese pop scene in the 2020s. According to Oricon, the duo was the top-ten best-selling artist in Japan in 2021, 2023, and 2024, grossing billion, billion, and billion, respectively. For digital platforms, the duo grossed billion in 2022, billion in 2023, the best-selling of that year, and billion in 2024. As of December 2023, Oricon also named the duo the tenth best-selling artist in Reiwa era so far, earning billion, as well as "Yoru ni Kakeru", "Kaibutsu" / "Yasashii Suisei", "Idol", and "Gunjō" placing in the top-20 best-selling singles, and ''The Book'' becoming one of the best-selling album. On ''Billboard Japan''s year-end Artist 100 (formerly Top Artist), the duo was number eight in 2020, number two in 2021 and 2022, number one in 2023, and number three in 2024. Yoasobi is one of the artists who popularize J-pop internationally, especially in South Korea. According to Spotify, the duo was the most-streamed Japanese artists outside Japan for four consecutive years, from 2021 to 2024.

Members

* Ayase – composition, production, lyrics, keyboards, synthesizer, sampler
* Ikura – vocals

;Band members
* Zacro Misohagi – keyboards, backing vocals
* AssH – guitar
* Honogumo – drums
* – bass guitar, keyboard bass
* Satoru Taguchi – guitar
* Tatsuya Amano – drums
* Sota Morimitsu – bass guitar
* Ena Suzuki – keyboard

Discography

;Japanese extended plays
* '' The Book'' (2021)
* ''The Book 2'' (2021)
* ''Hajimete no – EP'' (2023)
* ''The Book 3'' (2023)

;English extended plays
* ''E-Side'' (2021)
* ''E-Side 2'' (2022)
* ''E-Side 3'' (2024)

Videography

;Video albums
* '' The Film'' (2022)
* ''The Film 2'' (2024)

Tours

;Japan tours
* Denkōsekka Arena Tour (2023)
* Pop Out Zepp Tour (2024)
* Chō-genjitsu Dome Live (2024)
* Yoasobi Hall Tour (2025)

;Overseas tours
* Yoasobi Asia Tour (2023–2024)
* Yoasobi Live in the USA (2024)
* Chō-genjitsu Asia Tour (2024–2025)

Filmography

Film

Television

Radio shows

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

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2019 establishments in Japan
Crunchyroll Anime Award winners
Female-fronted musical groups
Japanese musical duos
Japanese pop music groups
Male–female musical duos
Melon Music Award winners
Music Awards Japan winners
Musical groups established in 2019
Pop music duos
Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists