SB19’s ‘Gento’ Tops LINE Music Japan’s World Music Top 50

Filipino boy group SB19’s hit song “Gento,” which has been making waves and promoting Filipino pop music in different parts of the world, recently topped the World Music category of LINE Music Japan, the country’s version of Spotify.

As of press time, SB19’s “Gento” under the “PAGTATAG!” EP is still at No. 1, followed by City Girls’ “Face Down,” Celtic Woman’s “You Raise Me Up,” Hoàng Thùy Linh’s “See Tình (Speed Up Version)” and Enya’s “Only Time” at the second to fifth spots, respectively.

Meanwhile, “Gento” as a single is currently at the 15th spot. SB19’s “Crimzone” also charted on the list at No. 37.

LINE Music Japan reportedly has 58 million registered users, per A’TIN Global Society. “SB19 debuting at No. 1 under the World Music category is a BIG BREAK already!” the fanbase account tweeted.

“Almost 50% of the Japanese population of 125 million are listening to music through the LINE Music app in Japan. This is huge! Congratulations!” another fan claimed.

Earlier this month, a Japanese translation of a snippet of “Gento’s” lyrics went viral on TikTok. Japanese K-Pop fan account @momonaa.10 captioned it, “Why didn’t I know such a good [Filipino song] until now? Too good!”

As of press time, the video has gotten even more viral. From 67,700 views on Sept. 11, the video has now amassed over 448,300 views on TikTok.

Japanese K-Pop fans thanked the uploader for allowing them to discover a new good song. Meanwhile, Filipino A’TIN – SB19 fans – thanked the uploader for introducing “Gento” to their Japanese followers.

Interestingly, Japanese pop groups and idols have joined the “Gento” fever as well.

J-Pop groups and idols, including &TEAM’s K, Johnny’s Jr.’s Kairi Kitano and Sora Ota, Bullet Train’s Yuki, Ryugujo’s Ito Keigo, MY0NE’s Rikuto, TFN’s Noa and Kio, INI’s Kimura Masaya and Matsuda Jin, former “Boys Planet” contestant Kato Haru and Yogayonara!!!, among many others, uploaded their “Gento” dance challenge entries on TikTok.

“Gento,” which was released in May, is a pop, hip-hop track recorded by Filipino boy band SB19 for its “PAGTATAG!” EP. The song, which talks about empowerment, was written by SB19’s leader Pablo and co-produced by Joshua Daniel Nase and Simon Servida.

In the song, Pablo used gold mining and refining gold as a metaphor for achieving success.

Aside from Japan, “Gento” has also gained overwhelming success in China, South Korea and Malaysia, among many other countries outside the Philippines.

In an interview with the Philippine media outlet Inquirer, Pablo, Josh, Stell, Ken and Justin shared that “Gento’s” popularity “feels like a dream.”