The group ILLIT has set a new record this first half of the year in Japan with "Almond Chocolate."
According to the latest 'weekly streaming ranking' released by Oricon on July 2, ILLIT (Yoona, Minju, Mocha, Wonhee, Iroha) has exceeded 50 million cumulative streams for "Almond Chocolate." This is the highest streaming count and the fastest record among songs by foreign female artists released this year.
Released on February 14 as the theme song for the Japanese film "I Don't Like You Just By Your Face," this song has received praise for its poignant sentiment and ILLIT's clear vocal tones, which hit the preferences of Japanese fans. Alongside this, local music broadcasts and performances have generated word-of-mouth buzz, causing the song to create a streaming resurgence on various music charts.
"Almond Chocolate" has entered the 'top 10' of major charts, including Oricon's 'weekly streaming ranking' (as of April 14) and Billboard Japan's 'streaming song' (as of April 9). Additionally, it ranked 6th on Apple Music Japan's 'weekly song ranking' (from March 31 to April 6), which is the highest position for an original song by a K-pop group in this chart's history.
It has also shown high popularity on short-form platforms. The 'Almond Chocolate (Sped Up)' version remained in the 'top 10' of the TikTok Japan weekly music chart for three consecutive weeks, achieving the highest rank among foreign artists.
ILLIT is making a notable impact on various Japanese charts this first half of the year. In the first half settlement of account released by Billboard Japan (reporting period from November 25, 2024, to May 25, 2025), their debut song "Magnetic" and "Almond Chocolate" ranked 58th and 80th, respectively, on the comprehensive song chart 'Hot 100.' In the "2025 First Half Comprehensive Ranking" and "Gen Z 2025 First Half Streaming Ranking Top 100" released by Rakuten Music, "Magnetic" and "Almond Chocolate" achieved the highest ranks among songs by foreign artists. ILLIT is the only K-pop artist to have two songs enter these charts.
ILLIT's dazzling activities continue in Japan. Following the release of their third mini-album "bomb," which has broken their previous records and gained popularity, they will hold their first fan concert in Japan, "2025 ILLIT GLITTER DAY IN JAPAN," at Pia Arena MM in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture on August 10-11 and at Osaka Castle Hall in Osaka on September 3-4.
[Photo] Provided by Belift Lab.
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