Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s song “Lilac,” released in April 2024, has topped Billboard Japan’s 2025 Year-End Japan Hot 100. During the chart year, from November 25, 2024, to November 23, 2025, the track reached No. 1 on five occasions and recently achieved 800 million domestic streams, marking the second-fastest pace in history.
In 2025, the band became the first to surpass 10 billion cumulative domestic streams across their catalog. The year-end top 10 included four more of their songs: “Darling,” “KUSUSHIKI,” “Bitter Vacances,” and “Que Sera Sera,” showcasing the popularity of both their new and older material. The trio also earned the title of 2025 Artist of the Year for the second year in a row, based on the Japan Artist 100 ranking, which combines the Japan Hot 100 and Hot Albums lists.
Meanwhile, frontman, guitarist, and lead songwriter Motoki Omori became the first to lead both the Top Composers and Top Lyricists charts for three consecutive years.
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of their major-label debut, Billboard Japan interviewed members Omori, Hiloto Wakai (guitar), and Ryoka Fujisawa (keyboards) about their milestone “MGA MAGICAL 10 YEARS.”
“Lilac” finishes at No. 1 on the 2025 Japan Hot 100. You also topped the artist charts following your 2024 year-end and 2025 mid-year wins. Congratulations. How are you feeling?
Motoki Omori: I’m happy. Simply happy, and I really feel the weight of it. I’m going to keep working hard so we live up to what this represents. At the same time, I don’t want to carry it so heavily that it becomes a burden. I want to keep enjoying the process of making music.
Hiloto Wakai: “Lilac” came out in 2024, so having it recognized like this in 2025 makes us truly grateful that it’s been loved for this long. We love the song ourselves, so it’s a real joy.
Ryoka Fujisawa: Part of why we push so hard with Mrs. GREEN APPLE is to get Omori’s lyrics and music out into the world, so it makes me really happy to see “Lilac” being enjoyed for so long and that it’s reaching people. It means a lot to us that people are enjoying the various songs we’ve been releasing as a band.
Mr. Omori, you’re the first in Billboard Japan history to lead both the annual Top Lyricists and Top Composers charts for three consecutive years. Your first solo work in four years also drew major attention. I imagine your principle of making music first for yourself applies to both your band and solo endeavors, but was there anything you learned from the different ways your music reached listeners?
Omori: Since the music comes from the same person, it’s hard to put the specific differences into words, but I can do solo work because Mrs. GREEN APPLE exists, and releasing solo songs actually made that even clearer. It was a year of rediscovering, of being reminded how important it is for me to keep creating.
With your 10th anniversary, it must have been a year of reflecting on your past and present. What have been the major turning points or especially memorable moments?
Omori: Forming Mrs. GREEN APPLE was the biggest turning point. Back when we’d just formed, before we’d even planted any seeds, I remember the three of us in a rehearsal studio dreaming out loud like it was yesterday, saying things like, “We deserve to become busy, so let’s start running through a lot of songs now.” Being able to keep going with that same ambition is something that’s stayed with me.
Wakai: For me, the song “StaRt” that we released in 2015, the year we debuted, means a lot. We performed it again at our 10th anniversary show called FJORD, and it still hasn’t faded. It always reminds me to keep pushing forward without forgetting our early days, so “StaRt” is definitely the one that stands out.
Fujisawa: This might be a slightly different angle than a turning point, but during our two-day 10th anniversary show FJORD, 100,000 fans came out to see us, and so many more tuned in via livestream. You can’t summarize that feeling with a simple word like “joy.” The scale of how many people love our music hit me all at once and it was a moment that felt bigger than anything before.
Again, it’s been an incredibly full year. If you had to sum up 2025 in one word?
Omori: “Gratitude,” for me.
Fujisawa: Mine is “Love.” I wanted to send love out into the world as a thank-you for our 10th anniversary, and we received so much love from everyone this year in return.
Wakai: I’d say “rich,” as in dense. I really remember every single moment, and it was a year packed with major experiences — all of it compressed into this really rich year.
With your four-day “BABEL no TOH” run at Tokyo Dome, the exhibition MGA MAGICAL 10 YEARS EXHIBITION “Wonder Museum” closing out your anniversary year, your slated appearance on NHK’s year-end Kohaku Uta Gassen extravaganza, and Phase 3 kicking off in the new year, there’s still so much ahead. Please share a message for your fans.
Fujisawa: We were fortunate to tour for many days in huge venues this year, and there were so many things to be grateful for. But beyond the numbers, what means the most is everyone who discovered Mrs. GREEN APPLE in our 12th year as a band and 10th anniversary of our major-label debut — people who listen to our songs in their daily lives, who look forward to our TV appearances, who come to our shows. That support is something we deeply appreciate. With Phase 3, we want to create a chapter where you can enjoy Mrs. GREEN APPLE even more deeply and love us even more. We’ll do our best so you can enjoy our music.
This interview by Mariko Ikitake first appeared on Billboard Japan.
Billboard Japan
