The highest rated Music shows in Japan

[SunshineSlayer]

Hopefully this gets some attention in this category, because I think it is a very interesting topic for discussion. I checked the ratings of music shows since the 1970s and found that far less people watch them today than in the past.

Now, declining sales are always blamed on downloading, but why then do you think that the viewership of music shows is declining as well? Do you think it has something to do with the quality of the music? Or is it other reasons?

The first category is the name of the show, the second is the airdate and the third is the rating. The first list is the top 10 ratings for regular music shows. The second list is for special music shows such as Kohaku and FNS. btw, this list only takes into account the ratings from 1977 onwards. For some reason the 60s through mid 70s were not included, but from what I understand ratings were extremely high then too.

1 ザ・ベストテン (The Best Ten), 1981年9月17日(木), 41.9%
2 夜のヒットスタジオデラックス・スペシャル (Yoru no Hit Studio Deluxe Special), 1988年2月10日(水), 36.0%
3 NHKのど自慢, 1982年9月12日(日), 32.5%
4 ザ・トップテン, 1982年5月17日(月), 28.8%
5 特集・NHK歌謡ホール, 1982年1月5日(火), 28.5%
5 オールスター家族対抗歌合戦, 1982年1月24日(日), 28.5%
5 ヘイ!ヘイ!ヘイ! (Hey, Hey, Hey), 1999年6月21日(月), 28.5%
8 スター誕生!, 1978年5月7日(日), 28.1%
9 速報!歌の大辞テン! , 2000年2月9日(水), 26.8%
10 ミュージックステーション (Music Station), 1999年6月18日(金), 26.5%

1 第35回NHK紅白歌合戦 (35th Kohaku), 1984年12月31日(月), 78.1%!!
2 第19回輝く日本レコード大賞 (19th Golden Record Awards), 1977年12月31日(土), 50.8%
3 輝け!!第8回日本歌謡大賞, 1977年11月17日(木), 46.3%
4 第50回NHK紅白歌合戦 (50th Kohaku), 1999年12月31日(金), 45.8%
5 速報!日本レコード大賞, 1977年11月22日(火), 40.1%
6 決定!FNS歌謡祭・77最優秀グランプリ, 1977年12月20日(火), 36.0%
7 木曜スペシャル・第8回決定!日本歌謡大賞入賞者, 1977年11月3日(木), 34.1%
8 第10回思い出のメロディー, 1978年8月12日(土), 32.8%
9 さよならキャンディーズ, 1978年4月7日(金), 32.3%
10 輝け!!第9回日本歌謡大賞, 1978年11月15日(水), 30.9%

I'm trying to remember just what happened in 1984 to make that Kohaku so huge.

http://www.videor.co.jp/data/ratedata/junre/02music.htm

[noidea]

that's pretty sad...first conclusion would be people lost interest in music, but I doubt it's that way, I think the reason is the internet - not illegal music downloads or something - but the possibility to listen to way more different music than you see in tv shows, like music from other countrys or small bands with their myspace accounts

just take this forum as example, many people here listen to foreign music INSTEAD of the music in their country, so, the music is heard in the same way and tv shows watched in the same way, but by different people that dont affect rating because they watch it on the internet

I think thats one of the reasons

[~StarCatcher~]

That's really sad.
I think it's because the people think "the performance of the artists I wanna see are uploaded on the internet soon so I don't have to watch the whole show."

[*Petit*]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Now, declining sales are always blamed on downloading, but why then do you think that the viewership of music shows is declining as well? Do you think it has something to do with the quality of the music? Or is it other reasons?

Firstly thank you so much for posting this. I really appreciate your contributions here on the forum. =)

I think one of the reasons are the increaingly aging population of japan. Older people aren't as interested in current pop culture and current (teenage) trends, a market to which much of the pop music catered to begin with.

Another factor is the emerge of the internet and especially media such as youtube that permits people to view their favourite artists as much as they want and whenever they want without having to wait through an entire show. This should especially damage ratings for music shows as they depend on music more than continuous entertainment throughout the show.

Another maybe less prominent reason is that society has gone more multi faceted with more niche artists and products that will create more diversity, but take away from mainsream entertainment that "everyone", the whole family, would gather in front of the television to share together.

[Zemus]

Thank you for bringing this up. It is a very interesting topic. Petit's post above is excellent. I don't have much to add. However, let me comment on some of the shows with high ratings.

- That Yoru no Hit was actually a 3h SP to mark the 1000th episode of the show.

- HEY!x3 was the first time where both Hikki and Ayu were guests on the very same music TV episode. Glad to see it reached such high viewership.

- The Best Ten rating was very high. TBS should consider bringing back a music TV show that airs during prime time instead of middle of the night. They already have CDTV but it's hardly considerable as a "normal" music TV show anyway. I am not completely sure why that particular The Best Ten episode had such enormous high viewership. It's one of those Seiko + Toshi moments. They are walking under an umbrella together during the introduction to Seiko's 白いパラソル (Shiroi Parasol) performance. Other guests included Masahiko "Matchy" Kondo and Yuming, to name a few.

EDIT: For some reason I forgot that UTABAN is broadcasted on TBS. Please ignore my statement above.

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

I'm trying to remember just what happened in 1984 to make that Kohaku so huge.

• Harumi Miyako's announced her retirement earlier on. Kouhaku was supposed to be her final appearance, I believe, so it got a lot of attention?
• Red vs. White battle: Akina Nakamori vs. Masahiko Kondo & Seiko Matsuda vs. Hiromi Go. Two famous couples appearing on the same show. Huge for the media.

Why don't you rewatch Kouhaku 1984, I believe you should still have the video!?

[andre2907]

We have to take into consideration that TV ratings are dropping drastically as a whole. I mean, a few years ago, if a TV drama got a 15% rating it could be considered a huge flop depending on the timeslot and the channel. Now, a 15% rating means a huge success no matter what channel or slot the drama is on and is enough to be the highest-rated drama of the season.

So yeah, the fact ratings of musical TV shows are dropping so drastically is not a particular case. TV ratings are dropping drastically due to plenty of reasons such as the internet, DVR, DVDs, etc.

A very interesting post anyway. And thanks Zemus for highlighting why the ratings were so huge.

[TITANIC]

wooow.. FNS is included.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Zemus

Why don't you rewatch Kouhaku 1984, I believe you should still have the video!?

Believe it or not, I still haven't watched it! lol. But thank you for the video.

As for one of the points being brought up here - that people now can download their favorite artists performances online - I agree that this could be part of the reason. However, notice that there is hardly anything on these lists that aired in the 90s and digital downloading of these shows wasn't really happening during that time.

Also, while I do think that ratings in general are probably lower, if you look further on that site at the ratings of variety shows, dramas, sports etc through the years - all of the categories except for anime have more things listed from the 90s and 00s than the music category does.

[Yumsushi]

How interesting. Many have said it before me, but people just don't watch TV as much anymore. If you want to watch something, you search for it online. I don't think its the quality of music but rather from the episodes that I've seen, and people can disagree, it seems like the same Main stream artists appear on these shows over and over again. Are people bored with them?

[SunshineSlayer]

^ You had the same thing happening back in the 70s and 80s though with the same artists appearing over and over again. Zemus can probably give exact numbers of how many times for example that Seiko Matsuda was on The Best 10.

[andre2907]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Also, while I do think that ratings in general are probably lower, if you look further on that site at the ratings of variety shows, dramas, sports etc through the years - all of the categories except for anime have more things listed from the 90s and 00s than the music category does.

Yes, but we still can't link the drop in music shows with sales because CD and single sales in Japan reached its peak during the 90s/late 2000s, right? And the ratings peak of those shows were the 70s/80s.

But I think music shows peaked in the 80s because I guess Jpop acts were less targeted to a specific group back then. With a few exceptions (like SMAP), most Jpop acts today are targeted to YOUNG people (and usually GIRLS). Back then, Seiko Matsuda appealed to businessmen (with her "innocent girl image") but also to housewives, teenagers and kids so I guess this can also be a factor.

[SunshineSlayer]

^ Yes, this is what I was trying to get at.

Not only that, but I think from the mid-90s onwards, J-Pop became much less Japanese and much more western. Of course there has always been a western influence in J-Pop, but not to the extent that it is today - I think that also has turned off people that are outside of that younger demographic. Before, J-Pop always remained very distinctly something that was Japanese but with some western influences in it however, today for example, you've got Koda Kumi releasing a song called BLING BLING BLING, lol.

Also, about the cd sales thing - it's hard to know whether the mid-to late 90s was the actual peak for sales or not because from what I understand, the method for counting sales prior to that was not very accurate.

[Zemus]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

^ You had the same thing happening back in the 70s and 80s though with the same artists appearing over and over again. Zemus can probably give exact numbers of how many times for example that Seiko Matsuda was on The Best 10.

Actually, I can't give you an exact number, reason is that I'm lacking complete data for 1980-1984 performances. However, I do know that she could have been a potential guest a maximum of about 222 times. Because that is how many times her songs charted in the top 10 on the show. On several occasions she couldn't make it due to concerts or other activities, The Best Ten was aired live after all. Sometimes VTRs were shown though. If I have to give an estimate, then I would say that she appeared at least 120 times (1980-1988).

Yeah, that pretty much proves the point about same artists appearing over and over, no matter if it is today or back then. Let's compare... Ayu has been 75 times on Music Station (1998-2009).

[Andrenekoi]

Tv ratings are declining everywhere in the world... And this is the internet fault!


But not because people are downloading tv stuff and being mean, but cuz a lot of people are spending time surfing on the net while they would watch tv when there weren't the internet option^^

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

I guess music is not that important anymore? maybe they've seen it all already, or getting bored of their own artists?? the overseas competition is HUGE.

[TLBandwut]

Thanks for this. It's really interesting to see how things have progressed in Japan.

[Yumsushi]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Not only that, but I think from the mid-90s onwards, J-Pop became much less Japanese and much more western. Of course there has always been a western influence in J-Pop, but not to the extent that it is today - I think that also has turned off people that are outside of that younger demographic. Before, J-Pop always remained very distinctly something that was Japanese but with some western influences in it however, today for example, you've got Koda Kumi releasing a song called BLING BLING BLING, lol.

I guess overexposure only costs specific artists fans and sales as opposed to the shows they are appearing on. I agree that music lately seems to target younger female fans, and I guess if it was over-westernization that turned people away from music, that would explain the slump in sales Namie experienced when she switched over to a more "Hip" style?
I find it fascinating that English song names and random English phrases in songs are wholly accepted but not less poppy musical styles.
japan never ceases to confuse.

[emi♡]

Originally Posted by *Petit*

Firstly thank you so much for posting this. I really appreciate your contributions here on the forum. =)

I think one of the reasons are the increaingly aging population of japan. Older people aren't as interested in current pop culture and current (teenage) trends, a market to which much of the pop music catered to begin with.

Another factor is the emerge of the internet and especially media such as youtube that permits people to view their favourite artists as much as they want and whenever they want without having to wait through an entire show. This should especially damage ratings for music shows as they depend on music more than continuous entertainment throughout the show.

Another maybe less prominent reason is that society has gone more multi faceted with more niche artists and products that will create more diversity, but take away from mainstream entertainment that "everyone", the whole family, would gather in front of the television to share together.

I personally really agree with this statement about society.

Another thing is that, back in the day, television was the popular thing to do, today, definitely not so.
----

I personally don't really blame it all on the internet, the internet is just a medium. If the companies were smart, they would all take more advantage of it.

All in all, people are just changing, and imo, television is going to become a bit of an outdated medium, in the sense that, they rely on viewers at certain times, etc.


About the music changing...that happens everywhere. There will always be music that appeals to older people, and music that younger people listen to...I guess perhaps on a whole in Japan, in the old days, this wasn't so?

But to me, it's a natural progression of things, and I personally feel that their industry is extremely young, and that, there will be big changes for it in the future as they begin to understand how things work and don't work in their own culture.

I also have a hunch that their industry will turn out, just as the American industry has, and will see many of the same trends.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by emiko

I personally really agree with this statement about society.

Another thing is that, back in the day, television was the popular thing to do, today, definitely not so.
----

I personally don't really blame it all on the internet, the internet is just a medium. If the companies were smart, they would all take more advantage of it.

All in all, people are just changing, and imo, television is going to become a bit of an outdated medium, in the sense that, they rely on viewers at certain times, etc.


About the music changing...that happens everywhere. There will always be music that appeals to older people, and music that younger people listen to...I guess perhaps on a whole in Japan, in the old days, this wasn't so?

But to me, it's a natural progression of things, and I personally feel that their industry is extremely young, and that, there will be big changes for it in the future as they begin to understand how things work and don't work in their own culture.

I also have a hunch that their industry will turn out, just as the American industry has, and will see many of the same trends.

Everytime a new medium is created, the older ones (the ones that are not going to disappear) need to share the public...

So, people still read newspaper, listen to the radio and watch tv, but now, the public is also shared with internet... on the same way radio ratings were higher before tv for example...^^

I was studing this for college other day... Brazil's biggest tv channel is losing ratings, and the other channels are using this to promote themselves saying that this channel is starting to fall from the top... But all the channels are losing ratings

[SunshineSlayer]

^ As I mentioned though - at least in Japan - the ratings for dramas, sports, news, etc are all still doing pretty well. It only seems to be music shows and maybe anime as well that seem to have lost a lot of support compared to the past.

I do think the internet definitely has something to do with it - but the internet doesn't really explain why ratings in the 90s (with the one exception of the year 1999 when Hikki and Ayu were both getting to their peaks) were lagging as well. I do think there were also some cultural shifts at work too.