Chihiro Onitsuka’s Most Popular Songs Ranking [2026]

Slow DanceOnitsuka Chihiro31rank/position

Chihiro Onitsuka – Slow Dance (Film Version Music Video for the movie “Pornographer: Playback – The Movie”)

When it comes to the live-action adaptation of the popular boys’ love manga Pornographer, many fans probably feel that Onitsuka’s theme song is indispensable.

Released in February 2021, Onitsuka’s 23rd single, Slow Dance, was also chosen as the theme song for the film Pornographer: Playback, released the same year.

With lyrics that portray a pure, awkward kind of love—distinct from her more abstract and sometimes enigmatic turns of phrase—the song brings out a different side of Onitsuka’s appeal.

Even now, in the 2020s, more than 20 years after her debut, her undiminished talent as a singer-songwriter continues to astonish.

It’s a masterpiece we especially want those who only know her early work to hear.

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Sin of SummerOnitsuka Chihiro32rank/position

Chihiro Onitsuka – “Sin of Summer” MUSIC VIDEO

Chihiro Onitsuka’s “Natsu no Tsumi” is a song in which she sings, with a powerful voice and beautiful melody, about her feelings for a man who betrayed her and left without even showing a sad expression.

It was chosen as the theme song for the TV drama “Age Harassment,” and Natsumi Hanaoka also performs it, showcasing her unique style.

An unfinished letterOnitsuka Chihiro33rank/position

Chihiro Onitsuka – An Unfinished Letter (Live at Bunkamura Orchard Hall on November 17, 2020)

This is a digital-only single by Chihiro Onitsuka, released in June 2020.

It’s positioned as a recut single from the best-of album REQUIEM AND SILENCE, which was released in February of the same year to commemorate the 20th anniversary of her debut, and it’s a superb ballad that lets you fully savor Onitsuka’s unchanging individuality as a singer-songwriter since her debut.

The sound arrangement by keyboardist Masayuki Sakamoto—who serves as bandmaster for major names like Chihiro Onitsuka and Hideaki Tokunaga—is also outstanding.

Onitsuka herself has said it’s “the first song I’ve ever sung about myself,” and compared with the lyrics of her early masterpieces, which often carried a somewhat detached, objective gaze typical of an artist, the candid fragments of memory and the messages that evoke hope feel like words only she could write upon reaching her forties.

At the same time, while she uses the word for “self,” it also seems as though she deliberately avoids the first-person pronoun “I,” which inevitably makes one imagine a kind of karmic burden inherent to being a songwriter.

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fireflyOnitsuka Chihiro34rank/position

Chihiro Onitsuka – Hotaru

It’s a single released in 2008.

It was also used as the theme song for the film “The Last Game: The Final Waseda–Keio Match.” The “firefly” in the title doesn’t signify a season, but is used as a symbol of transience.

It expresses the sadness of precious moments passing in an instant and the wish for them to last forever by likening those feelings to the brief glow of a firefly.

Precisely because moments pass so quickly, the song, imbued with gentleness and warmth, makes you want to cherish the here and now.

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Blue BirdOnitsuka Chihiro35rank/position

[PV] Blue Bird / Chihiro Onitsuka

This song is also a very beautiful piece.

It’s a track that makes you happy to say, “Chihiro Onitsuka is back.” Her singing voice has changed a little, but it’s still beautiful, and the calming atmosphere remains—making it a very soothing song to listen to.

Star Light LetterOnitsuka Chihiro36rank/position

Chihiro Onitsuka – Starlight Letter (Full Ver.)

This is a single that was sold exclusively to members of Chihiro Onitsuka’s fan club, “Welcome To Butcher Club,” in 2015.

The sound is very simple, with an acoustic guitar tone that feels warm.

The lyrics depict a romance between a man and a woman, conveying an attempt to express one’s feelings.

By incorporating many fantastical words associated with stars, the song’s world becomes expansive, which seems to reflect the depth and strength of those emotions.

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End of the worldOnitsuka Chihiro37rank/position

Chihiro Onitsuka – End of the World (Pornographer: Indigo no Kimochi drama version Music Video)

Released in March 2019 as a digital-only single, End of the world was written as the theme song for the drama Pornographer: Indigo no Kibun, based on a popular boys’ love manga.

The moment the melancholic piano and Onitsuka’s vocals begin, you’re already immersed in the world of Chihiro Onitsuka.

It’s not a dazzling love story; the suffering and pain—indispensable elements of her universe—and even the phrase “end of the world” are quintessentially her.

But it should also be emphasized that the song touches on gentle feelings, like gratitude toward a cherished person, and evokes a warm sense of wonder.

Her inexhaustible, overwhelming individuality and talent are not the sort of things that could ever be harmed by gossip or superficial images.

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This Silence is MineOnitsuka Chihiro38rank/position

This Silence is Mine / Chihiro Onitsuka (CC Subtitles in Chinese)

This is the 20th single, released in 2013, a song written specifically as the theme for the game Drakengard 3.

Its sound is grand yet dark and eerie, and the strained, anguished vocals seem to resonate with the game’s bleak worldview, which often includes scenarios that end in bad endings.

As the artist has said, it’s a song that feels cold to the heart, expressing a kind of nameless anxiety and fear.

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daisyOnitsuka Chihiro39rank/position

Chihiro Onitsuka – Daisy

Hinagiku, with its beautiful music video directed by filmmaker Kei Ikeda—known for working on MVs for bands and artists like SUPER BEAVER and MY FIRST STORY—is singer Onitsuka’s 22nd single, released in August 2018.

Chosen as the theme song for the FOD original drama Pornographer, it may have been the first time some viewers in their teens or early twenties discovered Onitsuka through the show when it aired.

The song is a medium-tempo ballad centered on piano and strings, which Onitsuka excels at; her vocals convey the gravitas of an artist seasoned by age and experience—truly impressive.

Interestingly, the song was originally composed by Onitsuka with the iconic Fuyumi Sakamoto in mind.

Due to various circumstances, Sakamoto did not end up performing it at the time.

In October 2021, to commemorate the 35th anniversary of her debut, Sakamoto finally recorded the song for her cover album Love Emotion.

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Losing the way backOnitsuka Chihiro40rank/position

Chihiro Onitsuka – Losing My Way Home

It’s a song brimming with Chihiro Onitsuka’s unmistakable style.

At the same time, it has a certain sense of maturity rather than youthful exuberance.

That very quality overflows with the charm of a woman in her prime, and I think it’s a lovely track that further brings out what makes Chihiro Onitsuka so compelling.