The Hot 100 launched in 1958, just 13 years after the end of World War II. The war was still well within living memory, and I have to imagine that it left deep psychic wounds all across the globe. And ...

Underlying the sweetness of Kyu Sakamoto's unexpected hit song "Sukiyaki" was a story of sadness and loss. (Courtesy of the artist) ...

(CBS 11) - Today's song was a #1 hit from 1963… and sung all in Japanese!! Kyu Sakamoto (born November 10, 1941 in Kawasaki, Japan and died on August 12, 1985 in a plane crash) was a Japanese adult ...

Growing up, family parties would wind down around our favorite special occasion appliance. My father clumsily ran cables from the karaoke machine into our television, transforming the living room into ...

In June of 1963, Kyu Sakamoto's "Ue wo Muite Aruko" — better known as "Sukiyaki" overseas — became Japan's first, and only, No. 1 hit single in the United States. Fifty years later, the song is still ...

In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. The Hot 100 ...