December 2025 J-Rap Activity Index: Ranking Withdrawal and Corrections

Correction — October 15, 2026: HIPHOPCs withdraws the Top 15 ranking and all eight component scores in this December 2025 “Weekly Activity Index.” We could not reproduce the underlying observations, collection records or scoring rules from the saved material reviewed for this correction. The evidence was insufficient to present the ranking as an objective comparison of weekly activity. We apologize to readers and to the artists included.

This page remains a correction record at its original URL and publication date. It documents the withdrawal and the dates and wording checked against official sources. We have not substituted a new ranking or estimated scores. The Japanese correction covers the same scope.

What we are withdrawing

The original article assigned up to 20 points each for Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, social media, media exposure, releases, collaborations and buzz, for a maximum of 160. It placed Tsubaki first with 138 points and Creepy Nuts second with 129. We cannot establish how the observations were converted into those scores or whether the artists were compared across the same period, territory and sample. Links to platform homepages or individual announcements do not make that scoring reproducible.

We withdraw all 15 positions, totals and component scores, together with the conclusions about momentum, relative standing and scene-wide trends derived from them. This withdrawal also covers the assessments labeled “INTELLIGENCE UNIT” and the next-week predictions that appeared in the Japanese version. Unsupported claims about streams, simultaneous chart entries, social growth, sellouts, appearances and comparisons with earlier rankings are not carried into this corrected record. The problem concerns our measurement and reporting, not the value of the artists’ work.

Corrections to dates and wording

December 10–18 is not a seven-day window

The stated period covers nine calendar dates when both endpoints are included. Describing it as one week was inaccurate. The earlier analysis also used cumulative views as evidence for a weekly metric. Without records separating cumulative totals from growth within a defined period, we cannot repair the ranking simply by relabeling its dates.

MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2025 was held in May, not December

The original coverage linked Creepy Nuts’ awards to the December reporting window; the Japanese version explicitly described them as announced in the same week. The official MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2025 website dates the ceremonies to May 21 and 22, 2025. Those ceremonies cannot be counted as events during December 10–18. The earlier “seven awards” figure is not used here as a December weekly achievement.

Tsubaki’s Budokan show: “first Okinawa-born rapper” claim withdrawn

ZEROTOKYO’s official “Camellia” after-party announcement describes the December 16, 2025 Nippon Budokan concert as Tsubaki’s own first at the venue. It does not establish that Tsubaki was the first Okinawa-born rapper to perform a solo show there. We withdraw that broader claim. This pre-event announcement also cannot confirm that the concert took place, a sellout or how the show went.

Novel Core’s “ビリビリ”: the official notice gave December 15 as the release date

The original article gave December 10 as the release date of “ビリビリ feat. JESSE (RIZE / The BONEZ).” Novel Core’s official announcement, dated December 10, 2025, said the song would be released on December 15. The original date matches the date of that announcement, not the release date it announced. We withdraw the December 10 date and correct it to December 15, 2025, the date given in the official notice. The notice was issued before the release and does not itself confirm that the release took place.

A release date we could verify

NITRO MICROPHONE UNDERGROUND’s “DAY ONE” was released on December 10, 2025, according to the December 11 PR TIMES release issued by 有限会社ナイトリッチ. The announcement describes it as a new song following “SHUTTA,” issued in October. Verifying the release date does not validate the old ranking or its description of a “full comeback.” The release information is the part retained as verified here.

How to use this record

Announcements and release dates can be checked against their individual sources. Comparing artists’ activity on a common scale additionally requires a defined period and sample, collection timestamps, underlying observations, a missing-data policy and a reproducible scoring method. The saved material reviewed here does not meet those requirements, so we are not republishing a ranking.

For artists’ own accounts of their music and work, explore HIPHOPCs’ original interviews in English.

Update history

• December 18, 2025: Original Japanese publication.
• December 21, 2025: Original English publication.
• October 15, 2026: Withdrew all 15 positions, scores across all eight categories for the 15 artists and unsupported related interpretations. Corrected the period, awards timing, the scope of Tsubaki’s “first” and the release date given in Novel Core’s official notice, with sources linked.