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Kenshi Yonezu's Hit Song 'Kick Back' Achieves Historic RIAA Gold Certification
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
Artist Kenshi Yonezu just made a first in Japanese music history after the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded him a Gold certification for his song "KICK BACK," the opening theme song of last October's Chainsaw Man anime. This is the first time that a song written and performed in Japanese has received a Gold certification by the RIAA.
The @RIAA is proud to announce that #KICKBACK by Kenshi Yonezu (@hachi_08) has become the first Japanese-language song 🇯🇵 to receive an #RIAATopCertified Gold certification in the US 📀! A monumental achievement, congratulations to Kenshi & the @milanreclabel ! pic.twitter.com/4f5bmq4cMp
— RIAA (@RIAA) October 28, 2023
Yonezu released the "KICK BACK" single in November 2022, and immediately began breaking records, landing on Spotify's Global Top 50 chart. Yet again, a first for a J-pop artist.
To remind you of the LSS-inducing hit song, below is its official music video, posted on Yonezu's YouTube channel with over 134 million views so far:
The Chainsaw Man anime premiered in October 2022, and here is the creditless version of the series' opening theme video (which is probably one of the best anime opening videos in recent history. Discuss.), posted on MAPPA's YouTube channel:
Yonezu most recently performed the theme song for Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron anime film titled "Chikyūgi" (Globe).
Sources: Press release, RIAA's X/Twitter account
