Charts: AKB48, Mr.Children, SMAP
Tue, December 14, 2010 (9:11pm EST)
AKB48's 19th single, "Chance no Junban," is #1 on the sales charts this week, moving just under 597,000 copies. Although this is a drop from the 827,000 copies sold in the first week by their previous single "Beginner," the song is still their fourth consecutive single to exceed half a million in first-week sales.
AKB48 now has five #1 singles for the year, a feat that has not been accomplished by a female artist since Pink Lady in 1978. The group also has achieved a streak of six consecutive chart-toppers. Among female groups, this ties for the record with Onyanko Club, who had six number-ones between February 1986 and May 1987.
Two singles by the anime band Girls Dead Monster ranked #2 and #3, followed by Kaela Kimura's latest song at #4. Choshinsung, TUBE, and Sata Andagi entered the charts in the #7 to #9 spots.
On the album charts, Mr.Children's "SENSE" held on to the #1 seat for the second straight week, selling an additional 95,000 copies. This brings its current sales total to 597,000.
A few new albums made the top ten, coming from Dragon Ash (#7), Yuna Ito (#8), INFINITY16 (#9), and GARNET CROW (#10).
The overall DVD charts were led by SMAP's "We are SMAP! 2010 CONCERT DVD" at a pace of 164,000 copies in its first week. This is SMAP's 2nd consecutive DVD (and 5th in total) to reach #1 in the overall DVD rankings. In just the music DVD category, this is their 6th consecutive #1.
AKB48 promotes 8 research students
Thu, December 9, 2010 (11:29am EST)
AKB48 announced on Wednesday that 8 of its research students are being promoted to member status, though their teams have not yet been revealed. More details will be available soon.
The 8 members being promoted are all part of the 9th generation of research students:
Mina Oba
Haruka Shimazaki
Haruka Shimada
Miyu Takeuchi
Mariya Nagao
Mariko Nakamura
Anna Mori
Suzuran Yamauchi
AKB48 currently has three teams with 16 members each. As long as all of them remain with their teams, the promotion of these 8 members will increase the group's size to 56 members in total.
AKB48 sub-unit to release first single as "Watarirouka Hashiritai 7"
Fri, December 10, 2010 (10:44am EST)
The AKB48 sub-unit Watarirouka Hashiritai has added two more members for its next single: Team B's Mika Komori (16) and Team A's Misaki Iwasa (15). It is not yet clear whether this is a permanent change, but for the time being, the group has changed its name to Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 to reflect the size of the new lineup. They will release a single under that name in February, though the title is unannounced.
Watarirouka Hashiritai was originally formed in 2008 as a four-member group with Mayu Watanabe, Aika Ohta, Haruka Nakagawa, and Natsumi Hirajima. Ayaka Kikuchi joined earlier this year as their fifth member.
This past June, Komori and Iwasa joined the other five members to launch a new radio show called "Watarirouka Hashiritai 7." Their participation was originally limited to radio activities, but this single will mark their first release together as a unit.
The new single is described as a Valentine's song created by AKB48's producer Yasushi Akimoto. It is scheduled for release on February 2, 2011.
Ameblo's Blog of the Year 2010: Osamu Mukai, Atsuko Maeda
Blogging service Ameblo has announced its Blog of the Year 2010 awards, chosen through an online survey conducted between December 17 and December 20. The winner in the male category was actor Osamu Mukai (28), while the winner in the female category was AKB48 member Atsuko Maeda (19).
Mukai became tremendously popular this year thanks to his role in the drama series "Gegege no Nyoubou," as well as parts in high-profile movies like "BECK" and the upcoming "Paradise Kiss."
Maeda has been popular as one of the top members of AKB48, and her starring role in the drama series "Q10" also drew a lot of attention to her blog.
Ameblo also announced the top 10 rising blogs of 2010, and Maeda was #1 on that list as well. Fellow AKB48 members Yuko Oshima, Rino Sashihara, and Tomomi Itano also made the rankings, as did Morning Musume's Reina Tanaka and actress Riisa Naka.
The complete rankings are expected to be published soon.
Tomomi Itano, 19, of AKB48, model Marie, 23, and TV personality Akina Minami, 21, all attended the Tokyo Bridal Festa 2010 Wedding Best Dresser Awards in Tokyo recently. Itano turned up, draped in 700 million yen worth of jewelry for the occasion, telling the audience, “I’m pleased to have been able to wear the kind of wedding dress every girl dreams of. I’d like to get married some day too.”
However, Itano then revealed that romantic entanglements are forbidden for AKB48 members. When asked by Marie, “Aren’t you looking for Mr Right?” Itano responded, “We’re not allowed to look.”
She then added, “Marriage isn’t forbidden though, so I’d like to get married before I’m 30.”
Minami spoke of her own strong desire to marry, saying, “When I was at school, I thought I’d be married at 20. I really hope to be married in the next 5 years.”
AKB48 dating game reaches 250,000 reserved copies
Mon, December 20, 2010 (12:46pm EST)
The AKB48 virtual dating game "AKB 1/48 Idol to Koi Shitara..." (PlayStation Portable) is being released this week on December 23, but it has just been learned that the game has already reached 250,000 reserved copies. At this pace, it is predicted that the game will eventually sell at least 500,000 copies.
"AKB 1/48 Idol to Koi Shitara..." was initially unveiled in September. As the first official video game focused on the group itself, it allows players to virtually confess their love to one of the 48 members and turn down the rest of the girls. The game includes thousands of images and more than 80 minutes of video, with all of the girls' lines recorded to audio.
As of December 16, one week before the game's release, it was confirmed that there have been 250,000 copies reserved. According to one industry source, games that get more than 100,000 reservations are typically very popular ones that are recognizable by everyone. 100,000 copies sold is generally considered a "hit," while 200,000 is a "big hit." On that scale, 500,000 copies is a "mega hit." For a niche game like this, already reaching 250,000 copies is highly extraodinary, especially for a game that isn't a sequel in an already popular series.
AKB48 breaks record in Japan with five consecutive #1 hit singles
December 21, 2010 by J!-ENT
Popular all-female group AKB48 has now broken a record in Japan by becoming the first female group with five consecutive #1 hit singles in Japan. The previous record was held by Pink Lady back in 1978.
The group was also entered in the Guinness Book of World Records this year for pop group with the greatest number of members.
Author
Post time 13-12-2010 09:02 PM
....
