Today’s Throwback Weekend selection brings us to the week of June 22, 1963, when the Billboard Hot 100 was topped by Japanese singer Kyu Sakamoto’s song ‘Sukiyaki.’

This was the first song by an Asian artist to reach #1 on this chart and remained the only one for nearly six decades, until BTS did it with ‘Dynamite’ in 2020. It is one of only nine songs not in English to top the chart, and the only one in Japanese. Extra credit to anyone who can name three or more of the others (and more on that next week).

The Japanese lyrics were written by Rokusuke Ei about a man holding back his emotions and whistling to mask his sorrow. The title ‘Sukiyaki’ was given to the song in English-speaking countries and refers to a Japanese beef dish. Publishers wanted a word non-native speakers would understand.

70s disco/R&B duo A Taste of Honey released an English-language version of ‘Sukiyaki’ in 1981 that reached #3 on the Hot 100. Their version featured completely new lyrics sung to the same melody as the original.

Kyu Sakomoto placed one other song on the U.S. charts later in 1963 but didn’t enjoy much success outside of Japan beyond that. He died at just 43 years old in a plane crash. He was one of 520 unlucky passengers in history’s deadliest single-aircraft crash, on Japan Air Lines Flight 123.