is a song by Japanese singer

Masato Shimon , also known as Masato Simon, is a retired Japanese vocalist from Meguro, Tokyo. He is most known for his contributions to the theme songs of various anime and tokusatsu series. In his career, he has sung under the names and . "Masato Shimon" is a ...

, released by Canyon Records (now

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...

) on December 25, 1975. The B-side "Ippon Demo Ninjin" was sung by Japanese

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

singer Kenichi Nagira. However, the label claimed that the song was a

children's song A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied ...

because the song was used in Japanese child television program ''Hirake Ponkikki''. On the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

weekly chart, it became the first single to debut at number one in the Oricon history on January 5, 1976, and stayed there for 11 consecutive weeks. It surpassed the sales of "

Onna no Michi is the debut single by Shiro Miya & Pinkara Trio released on May 10, 1972, in Japan. The lyrics are simple, but sad. The song is written about a woman who devoted herself to her only man but was deserted by him and was crying. The single became ...

" and eventually sold over 4.53 million copies, becoming the best-selling song in Japan. This record was certified by

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

. Despite the success, the company paid Shimon only 50,000 yen (approximately 170 dollars given the exchange rate at the time) as a guarantee. The single was re-released as a CD single that came with an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

DVD by Pony Canyon in 2008.

References

1975 singles Japanese children's songs Oricon Weekly number-one singles 1975 songs Works by Hiroo Takada {{Japan-single-stub