What do Shohei Ohtani, tax-free savings accounts and affordable grilled eel meals have in common? They were among the top products and services shoppers in Japan went crazy for this year.

Annual rankings of hit products have a 53-year history in Japan. It all started in May 1971 with the Nihon Keizai Shimbun's launch of a thrice-weekly trade publication, the Nikkei Ryutsu Shimbun, that covered marketing and distribution. As a promotional gimmick, someone came up with the idea of running a hitto shōhin banzuke (hit product listing) in the form of a traditionally stylized list of wrestler rankings issued ahead of the six annual Grand Sumo tournaments. Using the same distinctive brush calligraphy as in sumo, the Nikkei's banzuke was topped by yokozuna (grand champion), followed by ozeki (champion), sekiwake (junior champion) and so on.

The rankings immediately resonated with the public and remain popular to this day, appearing on the front page of the since-renamed Nikkei Marketing Journal (Nikkei MJ) in the first week of December.