The man behind one of the most famous tunes on Earth says he hasn’t earned a single yen from “PPAP.” Yet.
It’s the shortest single ever to hit the Billboard charts and as of writing, it has 89 million views.
According to Sponichi Annex, Pikotaro appeared on Japanese TV show Nonstop and revealed that while he’s famous the world over, “PPAP” hasn’t lined his pockets.
When the show’s asked him if he’s doing well financial because of the song, he replied, “About that, I haven’t even earned a single yen.”
Pikotaro continued, “Think about it. You didn’t know about it [PPAP] until recently, right?” Because of that, he’s yet to cash in. Makes sense, but still...
Then again, a PPAP Cafe did open in Japan on November 1, so I’m honestly not sure how he didn’t get any money from that. (Maybe it went to his management? He’ll get paid at the end of the month? Who knows!)
He has started appearing on Japanese TV more and stars in commercials, which is where Japanese celebrities can make loads of money.
So, he should start to see some returns from his viral hit, and it’ll probably be a bunch all at once. But even if he never becomes unbelievably rich from “PPAP,” at least this happened.
You can follow Pikotaro on Twitter right here. He seems to be unverified, so maybe Twitter can change that? Surely!
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.