Kenshi Yonezu's official website announced on November 4 that the music video for his song "Lemon" surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube at 11:08 PM on the 3rd. This marks the first time an MV for a song with Japanese lyrics has achieved this milestone.
The track was originally written as the theme song for the TBS drama series "Unnatural." Directed by Tomokazu Yamada, the music video was released on February 27, 2018, taking approximately 8 years and 8 months to reach the 1 billion view mark.
In a comment regarding the record, Yonezu expressed that he still struggles to fully comprehend the immense reach and reception of the song. He recalled his surprise immediately after its release, thinking, "Oh, is this song going to be my signature song?" and conveyed his bewilderment at how the song spread far beyond his initial intentions and personal feelings.
He also shared his sentiments about the song that led him to uncharted territory, and acknowledged the meticulous care with which the drama's production team handled it. Congratulatory messages were also received from Satomi Ishihara, the lead actress of "Unnatural," Akiko Nogi, the scriptwriter, and Ayuko Tsukahara, the director.
To commemorate the 1 billion views, a live performance video of "Lemon" is being premiered on his official YouTube channel starting at 8:00 PM on November 4.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Kenshi Yonezu: A Message on "Lemon" Reaching 1 Billion Views ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ https://t.co/vutWFqCOeK #KenshiYonezu #Lemon #Unnatural #Lemon1Billion https://t.co/S5uyU1U3f9 — REISSUE RECORDS (@reissuerecords) November 3, 2026
