is a single by

Pikotaro , better known by his stage names and , is a Japanese comedian, television personality and entertainer. Kosaka insists that Pikotaro is another personality promoted by him, but they are considered the same person. He is currently signed with Av ...

, a fictional singer-songwriter created and portrayed by Japanese comedian

Daimaou Kosaka , better known by his stage names and , is a Japanese comedian, television personality and entertainer. Kosaka insists that Pikotaro is another personality promoted by him, but they are considered the same person. He is currently signed with Av ...

. It was released as a music video on YouTube on 25 August 2016, and has since become a

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

. , the official video has been viewed more than 418 million times. PPAP spawned parodies, and was hailed as the new " Gangnam Style" by various newspapers and online media. The single itself reached number 1 on the '' Billboard'' Japan Hot 100 chart. At the time of its release (with a duration of 0:45), it became the shortest single to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, a record that was later broken by Kid Cudi's " Beautiful Trip" (0:37). At the end of 2016, the song charted at number 6 on Japan Hot 100 Year-end Chart.

Background and composition

Kosaka, the creator of "PPAP", said in an interview that he came up with the song sitting in his house. He was listening to the tune when he picked up a pen to start writing. He thought about his background of being from Japan's biggest apple-producing region (

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the eas ...

) as he also realized that he had an open can of pineapple slices on the table. The song is written in the key of C♯ minor with a

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note val ...

tempo of 136

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ...

. Pikotaro's vocals span from F♯₃ to C♯₅ in the song.

Music video

The song originated as a music video released on YouTube on 25 August 2016. In the video, Pikotaro, dressed in a yellow snake/leopard

animal print Animal print is a clothing and fashion style in which the garment is made to resemble the pattern of the skin and fur, feathers or scales of animals such as a leopard, zebra, giraffe, tiger or cow. Animal print is also used for room decoration, ...

costume, dances around, and then sings English lyrics like "I have a pen, I have a apple. Uh! Apple pen" while making the gestures of holding the named items and combining them. The video's expense was about 100,000 yen. On 26 September, Pikotaro released a video on how to do the dance and the gestures. On 27 October, Pikotaro posted a "long version" of the music video. On 17 November, Pikotaro made an appearance on the Japanese edition of ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...

'', where he joined

Elmo Elmo is a red Muppet monster character on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street''. A furry red monster who has a falsetto voice and illeism, he hosts the last full five-minute segment (fifteen minutes prio ...

and

Cookie Monster Cookie Monster is a blue Muppet character on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street.'' In a song in 2004, and later in an interview in 2017, Cookie Monster revealed his real name as "Sid". He is best known for hi ...

in singing their version of the song titled "CBCC (Cookie-Butter-Choco-Cookie)". Pikotaro has since revisited the compounding-words concept of PPAP in later music videos, such as the musically similar "Beetle Booon But Bean in Bottle (BBBBB)".

Release

"PPAP", alongside three other works by Pikotaro, was released to digital storefronts through Avex Music Creative on 7 October 2016. An

instrumental version A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

of the song was made available on 12 October 2016.

Reception

Viral spread

The video accumulated about 1 million hits in its first month of play. Kosaka remarked it was mostly popular among Japanese students. On 27 September 2016, Canadian pop singer

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

shared the video on Twitter, captioning it as his "favorite video on the Internet". The video had since gone viral, averaging over 1.5 million hits a day, and being touted as the new " Gangnam Style" by various newspapers and online media. It has spawned many videos from people doing their own versions. On the YouTube music video charts it reached number 1, and stayed there for three weeks in a row. A PPAP Cafe in Tokyo was open for 20 days starting from 1 November 2016.

COVID-19 pandemic

In response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Pikotaro uploaded a remix of the song on 4 April 2020, titled "PPAP-2020." In the remix, Pikotaro pretends to combine his hands with soap, and repeats "Wash! Wash! Wash! Wash!" while pretending to wash his hands. In the end, he tells the viewers to "Pray for People And Peace." In '' Mashin Sentai Kiramager, THE MOVIE: B-Bop Dream'', Muryo Hakataminami, portrayed by

sings PPAP to wake the Kiramagers.

Chart performance

The song debuted at number four on the ''Billboard'' Japan Hot 100 dated 22 October 2016. The following week it climbed to number three and the week after that it peaked at number two. After dropping to number three, it topped the chart for the 14 November edition. The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United States at number 77, and at 45 seconds in length, becoming the shortest song to chart in its history at the time. The previous shortest song was "

Little Boxes "Little Boxes" is a song written and composed by Malvina Reynolds in 1962, which became a hit for her friend Pete Seeger in 1963, when he released his cover version. The song is a social satire about the development of suburbia, and associa ...

" by The Womenfolk, which reached number 83 in 1964 and was 1 minute and 2 seconds in length. The fact was recognized 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 ...

. The song has since reappeared twice more, at number 82 for the week of 26 November, and 93 the week of 3 December.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2010s fads and trends 2016 singles Avex Group singles English-language Japanese songs Billboard Japan Hot 100 number-one singles Internet memes introduced in 2016 Viral videos 2016 songs Compositions in C-sharp minor 2016 YouTube videos