As everyone knows by now, it takes more than high CD sales to get a hit. In the mid 2010s, it was hard to figure what exactly was popular, a time some have dubbed “The Lost Decade of JPop.”

But as things have progressed to the current streaming era, it is now more clear what is a hit. It is now possible to have a huge hit song without ever releasing it on CD. This transition in terms of how music is consumed has even rendered Oricon less and less relevant in the face of the more digital-friendly Billboard.

Now not only is music listened to online, but the new stars come from the internet as well, as opposed to the usual talent agencies and TV shows. Nippon.com’s Shiba Tomonori recently looked at four of the biggest of these new stars, YOASOBI, Yuuri, Ado, and EVE, to see how they debuted online and used online tools to take over the charts. He says that “JPop is being redefined by this new dynamism, along with its fusion with anime, novels, and other youth cultures.”

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