Can anyone name a song that hit Billboard #1

[flotsam]

that was sung in Japanese?

[benld74]

1. Not from me

[Docreed2003]

2. Was it Sukiyaki???

Full disclosure I would never have known that if the story about the song hadn’t popped up on my Flipboard feed this am..

[flotsam]

4. It sure was and serendipity can be astonishing

"Ue o Muite Arukō" (上を向いて歩こう, "I Look Up As I Walk&quot is a Japanese-language song that was performed by Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto, and written by lyricist Rokusuke Ei and composer Hachidai Nakamura. Ei wrote the lyrics while walking home from a Japanese student demonstration protesting continued US Army presence, expressing his frustration at the failed efforts.[1][2]

In Anglophone countries, it is best known under the alternative title "Sukiyaki", a term with no relevance to the song's lyrics, as sukiyaki is a Japanese dish of cooked beef.

The song reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the United States in 1963, one of the few non-Indo-European languages' songs to have done so.

It is one of the best-selling singles of all time, having sold over 13 million copies worldwide.[3][4] The original Kyu Sakamoto recording also went to number eighteen on the R&B chart

Nice Job, Trivia pro!

[Docreed2003]

5. Lol...no pro

I was familiar with the song, but had no clue it reached #1 here in the states until this morning as I was reading the fascinating story about the song over my Morning cup of joe. I love my Flipboard app for pulling interesting stories like this that I might not have read otherwise. Thanks for sharing!

[flotsam]

7. I do not have the flipboard app...

I just happen to see a story on non-english hits which talked about mostly spanish language stuff (La Bamba) and I thought back to this song and googled some. It speaks volumes about the value of the internet that something I considered pretty esoteric popped up elsewhere just today...

[Docreed2003]

8. I have some pretty esoteric interests so maybe its that...

But if you have a smartphone, give Flipboard a try. Basically you plug in your interests on a whole spectrum of things and it pulls articles they think you might find interesting. I’ve read more cool stuff that I wouldn’t have found otherwise via that app.

[lunasun]

9. In 2017 a Spanish language song topped the US billboard @#1 for so many weeks it matched the

record set by Mariah Carey/BIIM

In honor of the singles to claim the Hot 100's top spot the longest, here's a look at the elite leaders to rule for double-digit weeks, an exclusive club now led by two titles with a record 16 weeks at No. 1 each: "Despacito" and Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's "One Sweet Day,"

http://ew.com/music/2017/08/28/despacito-ties-longest-run-no-1-billboard-hot-100-history/

[LeftInTX]

10. Don't make me cry............

I used to live in Japan from 1960-1963.
My dad bought me a jewelry box that plays this song.

My dad in 2016.

[Pope George Ringo II]

3. This is the sort of thing that would have won a bar bet once upon a time.

I am not going to pretend that I actually knew this had ever happened, let alone knew the actual answer. Sukiyaki.

[pressbox69]

6. I knew it.

Loved that song in the Kennedy, pre Beatles days. The song sounds upbeat but translated into English they're pretty mellow. He died tragically decades ago in a plane crash.

[malthaussen]

11. Sukiyaki, of course.

Which was the dumbest name they could have chosen for a song that had nothing to do with dinner.

As Fred Bronson of Newsweek put it, it was like issuing "Moon River" under the title "Beef Stew."

-- Mal

[Orrex]

12. Mr. Roboto!

(only hit #3, according to Wiki)