Where does Pen Pineapple Apple Pen come from?

You may have heard this catchy snippet and not known the origin. Here, we explain the meaning of pen pineapple apple pen, so you’ll know next time it’s in your head!

What’s the origin of “Pen Pineapple Apple Pen”?

Back in early 2016, and after the success of Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style‘, which was the first YouTube video to break 1 billion views, a Japanese comedian named Daimaou Kosaka (stage name PIKOTARO) uploaded a video to YouTube, on 25 August 2016.

In the video, the comedian sings a parody song that he “created for fun”, taking inspiration from things he could see around him at the time – picking up a pen as he began writing, with an open tin of pineapples on his table. Finally, Kosaka’s birthplace in Aomori Prefecture, Northern Japan, best known for producing apples, gave the third word in the phrase.

You can listen to the original masterpiece right here… a perfect soundtrack to accompany your favourite pineapple cocktail!

PIKOTARO – PPAP (Pen Pineapple Apple Pen)

The video currently has over 250 million views, and was the first song of Japanese origin to break into the US Top 100 Billboard Charts for 26 years.

Originally released at just 45 seconds long, PPAP holds The Guinness World Record for Shortest song to enter the Billboard Hot 100.

The single didn’t gather much attention outside of PIKOTARO’s native Japan until it spawned lots of lip-syncing videos across the internet. From there, it found its way into Justin Bieber’s attention span, who promptly tweeted it out as his “favoute video on the internet”, thereby causing the single to go ‘viral’ in a big way.

Kosaka and Beiber would later team up for some sorta commercial for a Japanese bank.

What are the Lyrics to PPAP?

I have a pen, I have a apple
Uh
Apple-Pen

I have a pen, I have pineapple
Uh
Pineapple-Pen

Apple-Pen, Pineapple-Pen
Uh
Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen
Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen