B’z, MISIA, Leo Ieiri… The latest CM songs that attract viewers “Nailed It” ranking
Special Research Project Part 1
[Joon] Images and performers are not the only attractions of commercials.
Sometimes the background music attracts viewers.
What commercial songs have made viewers stick with a commercial?
A specialist company conducted an independent analysis to rank the most popular commercial songs.
The reason why you are “hooked” on the song
The black silhouette of a man walking slowly down a corridor with a guitar in his right hand. The other man is probably composing lyrics. He is writing something in a notebook with a serious expression on his face. The up-tempo song started a dozen seconds after the video began.
This is a commercial for Asahi Super Dry featuring “B’z.” The name of the song is “FMP. The name of the song is “FMP. The song is called “FMP,” and the groove that is typical of “B’z” attracts the viewers. Sori Yasutake, in charge of public relations and marketing at REVISIO (hereafter “R”), a TV viewing data analysis company, explains.
The tempo of B’z’s music matches the invigorating image of Super Dry. It is also rare to see Takahiro Matsumoto (64, guitar) and Hiroshi Inaba (61, vocals) perform together in a commercial. The ten-second pause before the song starts probably also attracted viewers who wondered what was going to happen.
Company R conducted its own analysis to score the number of viewers who paid attention to commercials with background music with lyrics that were first broadcast from January to November 2013. Unlike the viewer rating, which can be increased by “watching while watching” if the TV is turned on, the score measures how much viewers were glued to the screen.
The top 30 commercial songs with the highest nail-biting scores were ranked, with 100 as the average.
Mr. Yasutake continued.
Naturally, the song must match the image of the product being introduced in the commercial. Also, no matter how impactful the song is, if there is too much narration, it will interfere with the music. Looking at the ranking, few financial, pharmaceutical, or cosmetics-related CMs, which tend to include a lot of product handling explanations, are included. On the other hand, beverages and food products such as beer have a high affinity with commercial songs because they can express the excellence of the product through the facial expressions of the performers.
MISIA (47)’s “Be KIND” (No. 2) and Babydolla’s “Today, for example” (No. 3) are both played in commercials with little explanation of the product or company. Mr. Yasutake speaks.
The former is a commercial that tells the story of a young woman who lives alone for the first time, then moves to a new house, gets married, takes care of her mother, and moves on with her life. The story makes you want to say, ‘Hang in there,’ which is matched by MISIA’s cheering song.
The latter depicts casual acts of kindness in daily life, such as picking up a lost item on the street or giving up your seat on the bus.
Although the singer, Babydolla, is not a well-known artist, her lyrics are so comforting that you can’t help but be drawn in. The former is a commercial for a real estate rental company and the latter for a bed company, but there is no explanation of the products and the corporate philosophy is conveyed through images. The narrative nature of the commercials allows the viewer to concentrate on the images and the music.
Fourth-placed Iairi Leo (31), “Rain Wind Sora Niji,” is a boat racing commercial with the theme of “battle,” as explained by Koki Mitsuhashi, marketing team manager at R Corp.
It is a series of commercials depicting the battles and growth of boat racers. The series of commercials tends to keep viewers interested and hooked, wondering what will happen next. Ieiri’s music is used in the commercials, in which “Sasano,” a 60-year veteran of the sport, struggles to keep up with the youngsters. Ieiri’s aggressive voice and lyrics express well the undiminished passion of “Sassano.
From “FRIDAY” February 13, 2026 issue
PHOTO： Kumataro Arai Kazuhiko Nakamura Kyodo News