SHARES AWARD-WINNING
“IRIS OUT” PERFORMACE HERE
APPROVED IMAGE (FOR MEDIA USE): DOWNLOAD
TOKYO, JAPAN (June 15, 2026) – Following a historic year that saw KENSHI YONEZU become the first artist ever to earn an RIAA Platinum certification for a Japanese-language song and break multiple global streaming records, Japanese superstar KENSHI YONEZU has released his new single “Karasu – Raven,” the 2026 NHK Soccer Theme now available HERE.
Written by KENSHI YONEZU for the FIFA World Cup 2026 season, “Karasu – Raven” arrives digitally on June 15, coinciding with Japan’s opening World Cup match against the Netherlands. The newly unveiled cover artwork was illustrated by Yonezu himself, continuing the multidisciplinary creative approach that has defined his career as both a musician and visual artist.
The release follows the extraordinary success of “IRIS OUT,”Yonezu’s theme song for CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC. The track became one of the biggest Japanese-language releases in recent history, setting records for the highest weekly streaming total and the fastest song ever to reach 100 million streams in Japan, while also becoming the highest-charting Japanese-language song in global chart history.
To celebrate the release of “Karasu – Raven,” Yonezu has also shared a live performance video of “IRIS OUT” from MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2026, the country's largest international music awards ceremony watch here. At the event, Yonezu emerged as one of the night's biggest winners, taking home six awards including Best J-Pop Song, Best Digital Culture Artist, and regional honors across Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America.
The performance captures a landmark moment in Yonezu’s career as his influence continues to expand beyond Japan. Over the past several years, he has become one of the defining figures in contemporary Japanese music, with a catalog spanning blockbuster anime, film, television, and global cultural franchises.
His 2018 breakthrough hit “Lemon” became one of the most successful songs in Japanese music history, while “KICK BACK” made history as the first Japanese-language song ever certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 2025, Yonezu completed his largest-ever world tour, KENSHI YONEZU 2025 TOUR / JUNK, performing across Asia, Europe, and North America to more than 440,000 fans.
With “Karasu – Raven” now turns his attention to the world's biggest sporting stage, soundtracking Japan’s World Cup campaign while continuing a run of achievements that have helped redefine the global potential of Japanese-language music.
ABOUT KENSHI YONEZU
After gaining success with Vocaloid music under the stage name HACHI, Kenshi Yonezu began producing under his real name in 2012. In addition to music, he has attracted attention for his album cover illustrations and video productions. The video for his hit single “Lemon”, the long-running theme song for the TV series Unnatural, is the most-viewed music video in Japan, and topped Billboard Japan’s year-end charts for two consecutive years, leaving a mark on music history both in Japan and abroad.
His 2020 album STRAY SHEEP set a record of 1.9 million copies sold with the highest-placing Japanese artist ever to appear on the IFPI year-end global ranking chart. He continued to work tirelessly during the COVID-19 pandemic, including performing as the first Asian in a virtual concert hosted by the online game Fortnite. Collaborated globally with UNIQLO on their UT collection with the storefront collaboration displays in NY and other 8 UNIQLO stores worldwide. He was awarded an AAC Award, listed in Forbes’ 100 Asian Digital Stars, and received the Minister of NEWS RELEASE Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists.
In 2022, he released “M87” as the theme song for the filmShin Ultraman, and “POP SONG” as the theme song for a PlayStation commercial. His single “KICK BACK,” the opening theme for the TV anime CHAINSAW MAN, made Spotify’s Global Top 50, and became the first Japanese-language song certified Gold by RIAA®. He was also selected as the first and only Japanese artist to be a part of the “RIAA Class of 2023”, with which the association summarized the artists who had flourished in the year.
In 2023, Yonezu released “Tsuki Wo Miteita - Moongazing” as the theme song for the RPG game Final Fantasy XVI, and “Chikyugi - Spinning Globe” – the theme song Studio Ghibli’s animated film The Boy and the Heron (Academy Award Winner for Best Animated Feature, 2024), directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
In August 2024, Yonezu wrote “Garakuta – JUNK”, the theme song of the movie LAST MILE, and released his sixth studio album, LOST CORNER. In September, Yonezu released an exclusive line of graphic tees in collaboration with Uniqlo, as part of their ongoing UT series celebrating pop culture from around the world. After 11 years, Hachi (Kenshi Yonezu) himself created a new illustration for the VOCALOID song “Donut Hole”, and a fully animated music video based on the illustration. Original chocolate was also released from Godiva Japan as the “GODIVA x HACHI Donut Hole Collection” from October as the first time for Godiva worldwide to create a chocolate collection lineup in collaboration with an artist. In November Yonezu released “Azalea”, a song written as the theme song for the global Netflix series Beyond Goodbye. For the first time in 6 years, appeared at Kohaku Uta Gassen.
In 2025, Yonezu released “Plazma”, a theme to the filmMobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- and also the theme to its anime series Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX. He then released the theme to the anime series Medalist with a collaboration music video between Kenshi Yonezu and the Winter Olympics gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu. Yonezu kicked off his largest-scaled world tour, KENSHI YONEZU 2025 WORLD TOUR / JUNK after performing domes in Japan, toured Asia, Europe, and the U.S., drew a total of 440,000 people. In September, his global hit “KICK BACK” received Platinum certification from the RIAA, marking the first time a Japanese-language song has achieved the milestone in the U.S. He recently released “IRIS OUT” as the theme song for the theatrical feature CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC, alongside the ending theme “JANE DOE,” a collaboration with Hikaru Utada. “IRIS OUT” set multiple all-time records, including the highest weekly streaming total and fastest song to reach 100 million streams in Japanese chart history, the highest weekly point total on Billboard JAPAN, and a peak at No. 5 on the Billboard Global 200 chart, the highest placement ever for a Japanese-language song. In October, Yonezu released “1991” as the theme song for the film 5 Centimeters per Second, and on December 31, he appeared on the 76th NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen, delivering the first-ever live performance of “IRIS OUT.”
In May 2026, “Peace Sign” also achieved RIAA Gold certification, giving Yonezu three separate RIAA-certified Japanese-language hits — an unprecedented achievement for a Japanese solo artist. Kenshi Yonezu has just recently announced his new tour, KENSHI YONEZU 2026 TOUR / GHOST— a 6-city, 14-show arena headliner across Japan. The tour will kick off in Nagano on November 6, 2026, and will travel through Osaka, Aichi, Fukuoka, Miyagi, and Kanagawa, concluding on December 17.
As for Yonezu’s music videos, “Lemon” has surpassed 970 million views, continuing to break the records of Japanese artists. It is one of the 18 music videos of his songs that garnered him a commanding record of surpassing 100 million views each (“Lemon,” “Eine Kleine,” “LOSER,” “Peace Sign,” “Haiirotoao (+Masaki Suda),” “orion,” “Flamingo,” “Kanden,” “Fireworks,” “Paprika,” “Shunrai,” “Uma to Shika,” “Spirits of the Sea,” “KICK BACK,” “IRIS OUT,” Foorin’s “Paprika” and Masaki Suda’s “Machigaisagashi,” “Sayonara, Mata Itsuka! – Sayonara”). He has over 8.65 million subscribers on his official YouTube channel.
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Source: Sony Music