Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen sets world record for shortest song to chart on US Billboard Hot 100

Piko-Taro - the alter ego of Japanese comedian and DJ Daimaou Kosaka, whose real name is Kazuhiko Kosaka - has termed his style of musical comedy "piko-pop", which he called a cross between Japanese oldies and old-time music.

Opening the press conference with a world premiere of the "long version" of PPAP - it lasted about two minutes and involved among other things, fusing two pens together to form a "long pen" - Piko-Taro said: "I'd like to see a mash-up of all the existing different styles out there."

He also threw down the gauntlet to pop artists such as Bieber and Ariana Grande - whom he said he was a huge fan of - to cover PPAP.

His favourite parody, he added, was the Bollywood-styled version.

In a tongue-in-cheek interview with Japanese public broadcaster NHK earlier this month, he said he conceptualised the tune while he was "eating fruits and facing his computer" one day.

"The message of Pen Pineapple Apple Pen is that apples and pineapples can be united if we stick a pen in them, and that we are all riding in one spaceship called earth," he told NHK. "I hope that it will make some money, too."

"All I'm trying to do is to write tunes that will put a smile on people's faces and are easy to remember."

Piko-Taro has followed up PPAP with another tune, titled Neo Sunglasses. Released three weeks ago, the new 56-second clip has more than nine million views so far. - The Straits Time/Asia News Network