[April Audiobook Popularity Ranking] Literary Works Dominate Top Spots! The Highly Anticipated Latest 'The Twelve Kingdoms' Release, 'Kaze no Banri Reimei no Sora (Part 1),' Takes 1st Place for Single Purchases!
Audiobook streaming service 'audiobook.jp' has announced its monthly rankings for April. Literary works dominated the top spots, with the latest release from Fuyumi Ono's 'The Twelve Kingdoms' series taking first place for single purchases.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 8, 2026 at 22:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 8, 2026 at 13:30
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 20, 2026 at 18:10 (292h 40m after Collected)
OtoBank Inc. (Headquarters: Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Yuya Kubota), operator of Japan's No. 1 audiobook streaming service 'audiobook.jp' with over 3 million members and the largest book lineup (*1), has announced its audiobook monthly rankings for April (March 1 - March 31, 2026).
*1. According to a November 2023 survey by the Japan Marketing Research Organization on Japanese audiobook book lineups.
We are announcing the top 10 rankings for 'Single Purchase Works' (*3) and 'All-You-Can-Listen Eligible Works' for April (March 1 - March 31), based on the number of downloads or unique users of audiobook works (*2) on 'audiobook.jp' (*4).
*2. Limited to audiobook works based on books. Podcasts, etc., are excluded.
*3. The 'Single Purchase Works' ranking targets works released in the last three months (Jan 1, 2026 - Mar 31, 2026).
*4. The 'Single Purchase Works' ranking is based on download counts, and the 'All-You-Can-Listen Eligible Works' ranking is based on the number of unique users.
**■ Ranking Summary**
This time, literary works dominated the top of both the single purchase and all-you-can-listen rankings.
In the single purchase ranking, the long-awaited latest release from Fuyumi Ono's beloved 'The Twelve Kingdoms' series, 'Kaze no Banri Reimei no Sora (Part 1) The Twelve Kingdoms 4,' took first place. It gained strong support, mainly from series fans, immediately after its release.
Meanwhile, the top spot in the all-you-can-listen ranking went to the 172nd Naoki Prize-winning work, 'Ai wo Tsugu Umi' by Arata Iyohara. The work, which paid close attention to dialect expression by using narrators from the regions where each story is set, also ranked second in the single purchase ranking, gathering support from a wide range of users.
In second place on the same ranking was Jiro Asada's 'Omokage.' This moving work, which also became a topic of conversation through its newspaper serialization and drama adaptation, was once again acclaimed as audio content.
Furthermore, ahead of the new fiscal year in April, business and self-help books such as 'Why Is That Person Trusted at First Sight?' and 'First-Class Brain: The Time Management Techniques of People Who Persevere' also ranked high.
*1. According to a November 2023 survey by the Japan Marketing Research Organization on Japanese audiobook book lineups.
We are announcing the top 10 rankings for 'Single Purchase Works' (*3) and 'All-You-Can-Listen Eligible Works' for April (March 1 - March 31), based on the number of downloads or unique users of audiobook works (*2) on 'audiobook.jp' (*4).
*2. Limited to audiobook works based on books. Podcasts, etc., are excluded.
*3. The 'Single Purchase Works' ranking targets works released in the last three months (Jan 1, 2026 - Mar 31, 2026).
*4. The 'Single Purchase Works' ranking is based on download counts, and the 'All-You-Can-Listen Eligible Works' ranking is based on the number of unique users.
**■ Ranking Summary**
This time, literary works dominated the top of both the single purchase and all-you-can-listen rankings.
In the single purchase ranking, the long-awaited latest release from Fuyumi Ono's beloved 'The Twelve Kingdoms' series, 'Kaze no Banri Reimei no Sora (Part 1) The Twelve Kingdoms 4,' took first place. It gained strong support, mainly from series fans, immediately after its release.
Meanwhile, the top spot in the all-you-can-listen ranking went to the 172nd Naoki Prize-winning work, 'Ai wo Tsugu Umi' by Arata Iyohara. The work, which paid close attention to dialect expression by using narrators from the regions where each story is set, also ranked second in the single purchase ranking, gathering support from a wide range of users.
In second place on the same ranking was Jiro Asada's 'Omokage.' This moving work, which also became a topic of conversation through its newspaper serialization and drama adaptation, was once again acclaimed as audio content.
Furthermore, ahead of the new fiscal year in April, business and self-help books such as 'Why Is That Person Trusted at First Sight?' and 'First-Class Brain: The Time Management Techniques of People Who Persevere' also ranked high.