The 1st Dorama World Awards 2016 - Winners in the Best Theme Song category

Much as I would like to provide the music videos for all the winning theme songs in this post, not all of them especially those from Johnny's Jimusho artists are available online. Many fans may have uploaded "unofficial" versions of the PVs but I would like to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to them so if you need to find the songs, there's always Google which you can use. ^__^

Without further ado, here are the winners in the Best Theme Song category:

No.5: Echo by UNICORN (Juuhan Shuttai!) - 29 points

For those who are unfamiliar with UNICORN, they are a rock band who made their debut in 1987 and disbanded in 1993 before coming back together in 2009 with some changes in members over the years. This song was included in the band's 13th album released on 10 August 2016.

Although the drama did not fare so well in terms of ratings (average rating of 8.0%), it had garnered accolades such as Best Drama in the 4th Confidence Award and Best Script and Best Directing in the Tokyo Drama Award 2016.

No. 4: Daylight by Arashi (99.9 Keiji Senmon Bengoshi) - 38 points

Besides this song, there was another song from Arashi i.e. I Seek which was the theme for "Sekai ichi muzukashii koi" and I actually voted for that instead of this. Both songs were released as Arashi's 49th single on 18 May 2016. Voting for this song actually started off rather slowly until it picked up in the second week. 

To be honest, I was a bit surprised that the Arashi songs didn't do that well considering their strong fanbase but I guess the timing of the drama's broadcast also had a part to play especially when you consider that the top 2 songs were from dramas in the last season of 2016.

No.3: Unlock by KAT-TUN (Kaito Yamaneko) - 40 points

This song is KAT-TUN's last single as a four-member group before Taguchi Junnosuke left on 31 March last year. Coincidentally, this also happens to be KAT-TUN's last single before they started their self-imposed "recharging" period from 1 May. Voting for this song was concentrated within a period of a few days and all the votes received placed this as the No.1 choice.

No.2: Koi by Hoshino Gen (Nigeru wa haji daga yaku ni tatsu) - 140 points

Going by the guesses received, it seemed like many people had thought that this song would win the title. As such, this led to only one person guessing the No.1 song correctly. 

Actually, from the start, this song from Hoshino Gen was leading by a huge margin until a surge of votes in the second week for the No.1 song contributed to a tug-of-war between both titles. As such, the point different between both songs was only a single-digit.

This song was released as Hoshino's 9th single on 5 October and became such a big hit, thanks to the drama's popularity and the accompanying Koi dance. Although this was not my No.1 choice, I voted for this and placed it as No.3 in my list.

No.1: 99 by Superfly (Doctor X 4 Gekai Daimon Michiko) - 149 points

Does this come as a surprise to you? Many people actually thought that Koi would grab this title (even I thought so too) but it seems like the Doctor X fans managed to prevail in the end by pushing this theme song from Superfly to the top. Initially, there were not that many votes for this song but there was a huge surge in the second week thus leading to the No.1 and No.2 songs switching places almost every day. 

This song was Superfly's 22nd single that was first released on iTunes Store on 13 October and sold as a single on 23 November. To date, Superfly has sung the theme songs for all four seasons of Doctor X and this single also contains the three theme songs for the previous seasons as the coupling tracks.

In case you are wondering which songs I chose, here they are:

No.1 Suna no Tou by THE YELLOW MONKEY (Suna no Tou)

No.2 Ai! Wanna be with you by TOKIO (Kaseifu no Mitazono)

No.3 Koi by Hoshino Gen (Nigeru wa haji daga yaku ni tatsu)

No.4 I Seek by Arashi (Sekai ichi muzukashii koi)

No.5 Smile for Me by Matsutoya Yumi (Chef ~ Mitsuboshi no Kyuushoku ~)

So how do you feel about the winners in the category? Please feel free to share your comments in this post or via the Facebook fanpage!