Tribute: Kyu Sakamoto - “Sukiyaki” (1961) First year released in Japan

Kyu Sakamoto

The plane left Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) at 6:12 PM with 509 passengers and 15 crew members on board, enroute to the city of Osaka. About 12 minutes after takeoff, the rear pressure bulkhead failed. The resulting explosive decompression tore the vertical stabilizer from the aircraft and severed all four of the aircraft’s hydraulic systems.

Thirty-two minutes elapsed from the time of the accident to the time of the plane crash, long enough for some passengers to write farewells to their families. One of these passengers was Kyu Sakamoto, who had the 1963 US #1 & UK #6 single “Sukiyaki”, which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies. He was the first Asian singer to have a #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyu_Sakamoto