PPAP Sets World Record For the Shortest Song to Enter Billboard Hot 100

The catchy 45-second viral hit PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen) has now made it to the Guinness World Record as the shortest song to ever appear on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Japanese singer/comedian DJ Daimaou Kosaka, who penned the infectious song under his comic persona “Piko-Taro”, debuted this month at No. 77 on the Hot 100. The artists, whose real name is Kazuhiko Kosaka, is also the first Japanese artist to be listed on the Billboard since 1990, according to Billboard.

On Friday, the 53-year-old singer/comedian received the Guinness award at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo, the Straits Times reported. The previous record was held by American band The Womenfolk, who set the record in 1964 for their song 62-second single Little Boxes.

At a press conference, Kosaka sang the world premiere of the longer version of PPAP, which lasted for about two minutes. The song added a part where two pens are fused together to form a “long pen”. He later announced that he has signed up with multiple record companies such as Sony, CNR Music and Time Records for his future recordings.

During the song’s peak in popularity last month, Canadian pop star Justin Bieber posted a Tweet endorsing the song, posting a link to the video while saying PPAP was his “favourite video on the Internet.”

Produced on a budget of just 100,000 Japanese yen, ($955) the simple song with repetitive lyrics immediately went viral after it was uploaded in August. It has so far exceeded 200 million total views in various YouTube accounts, spawning several covers and parodies.

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