May 21, 2008

By By Gary Trust, N.Y

The recently launched Billboard Japan Hot 100 finds a global audience tomorrow (May 22) when the chart joins the menu at billboard.com and billboard.biz.

Assembled by Billboard licensee Hanshin Contents Link Corp., the Japan Hot 100 anchors a set of Billboard-branded charts that were first offered Feb. 28 on Web site TSUTAYA Online.

Like Billboard?s signature chart in the U.S., which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, the Billboard Japan Hot 100 ranks popular singles by tracking both sales activity and radio audience data, incorporating the resources of SoundScan Japan and radio tracking service Plantech.

The chart appears in English on billboard.com and billboard.biz and will update each Thursday when the rest of Billboard's charts are refreshed. As is the case with the Canadian Billboard Hot 100, which launched last summer, billboard.com visitors will have access to all 100 titles on the Japanese chart.

Japan represents the second largest music market in the world, second only to the United States, and is the only country among the leading global markets to see its music business grow in recent years.

Hanshin Contents Link began its relationship with Billboard through the August opening of branded club and restaurant Billboard Live, with locations in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka.

In October, HCL and DWANGO Co. launched the official mobile-based Web site ?Billboard Official,? which offers downloadable ringtones and full-version downloads.

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