AKB48 First Week Sales 513 453, Best Record in 9 Years For Female Artist
 

wouldn't this be first WEEK sales?

Congrats to teh girls

congrats to the girls

i will never comprehend why. but in a sense, i will. considering the other songs it with. kinda disturbing

I'm sure many thousands of otaku bought this only for those covers, lol. :P

Anywho. Even though I'd rather this go to a soloist, of course, better them than a boyband, for a change. And I'd much rather have these girls as the dominating girl group, rather than Morning Musume or some ****. So congrats to them!

Which just goes to show that no matter how hard they try, there is SOMETHING weird about the Japanese.

(Just kidding of course.)

only 2,000 copies to surpass Morning Musume's record @_@ that was close

With this single they are also breaking the 2 million copies sold mark, Congratulations AKB48!

I just think it's a bit sad that a lot of that money will go to their producer/manager, and the rest will have to be divided amongst the, what, 72 members? I hope they get enough of it for their hard work.

I may not like them but being in an idol group is harder than most seem to think >.>

how?? HOW?? Congrats to them but I just don't get them at all. They sell loads and stay on the charts for ages X_X People can't really think they are that good, can they??

Or maybe they get all members of their family to buy 2 copies each?? That alone would surpass the 100,000 mark :P

^ Yup. That's the key to any girl/boyband, actually. If each of their five to fifteen members (or, in this case, fifty >_>) have even a few thousand core fans - which they will, because even the 'lower' soloists and such can easily sell that much, and they aren't even a group of mass produced products! - that's already a great start, considering friends and family will also be guaranteed to buy some, along with what ever casual listeners they get. It's also a great help that these groups are usually idols more than anything. I mean, look at those covers, for instance..... Like I said, lots of guys will be all over that, lol. Though, it is a little more amazing with female groups, because even though you can technically appeal to men easier with women, girls are the ones who become crazy obsessed fans. :laugh

Wait what? They have 50 people in their group? WHAT?

^ Where do you think the "48" in their name comes from? ;) They don't all sing at once, though. (At least not alway/usually, right?) They are divided into, I believe, three "teams", with a captain for each... I don't know much more about them than that, though. Somebody feel free to correct me if I got something wrong, or to add any info......Such a complicated group, lol.

^yeah thats right (looked up wiki :P)

But its ridiculous! I think this is one of my biggest pet peeves about J-Pop. They create all these "generation-based" groups that make artificial, sugary pop music with music videos of under-aged girls dancing around in skimpy outfits singing about things they can't even understand, while in the process of making huge sums of money while the girls barely get any of it. (sorry I just really dislike it :P)

Also, all these "generation" groups like AKB40, Morning Musume, etc. WTF?! Why don't they just call it "groups that change their line-up to appeal to paedophiles once a girl starts to look beyond 16"?? It is messed up! I actually read once that like 50% of Morning Musume's profit comes from over-seas buyers, of which 90% of them are creepy middle aged men!!!! (I think the same statistic applies to Johnny's Juniors haha :P)

Congrats :D Girl Power

While all of this "they only sell as well because of their hardcore fans" things in general does count for girl bands, AKB48 has a special position right now. They're starting to become like Arashi, where EVERYBODY likes them. They're not there yet, but it's sorta like that ... How else would you explain their enormous explosion in sales? Core fansgroups don't grow THAT fast.

I think you underestimate the power of obsessive fans.
The only way to know if they are universally liked is to see how they are portrayed in various media outlets. I personally didn't see them portrayed in any positive, albeit any light at all. Also, their biggest fan base is Otakus no?...and there are plenty of Otakus in japan who LOVE cute school girls in bikinis. It might be the second coming of those DBSK like fans that rally and plan to get their idols to number 1.

wtf are you talking about akb48 is EVERYWHERE

tons of the girls model for popular magazines (which greatly helps their female fanbase), appear on tv, star in popular cms etc.

I said that I haven't seen them portrayed positively anywhere. But I guess when you have a singing group the size of a small country, its hard not to be noticed.

There are 63 members in AKB48 at the moment (Team A + Team K + Team B + Research Students)

Even so, their sales jumped from 230.000 to 380.000 to 515.000 IN THE FIRST WEEK. That can't just be obsessive fans.

Neither of us has any evidence to the contrary. This is all speculation.

LOL


this is just not fair for the ones in the chart.... they're not solo artists like most of the others.... is just not fair to compare!



and I really don't believe in their sales... I mean, come on! not even the top artists in Japan get to sell THAT GOOD! I just don't believe that half of a million "fans" went to a music store on the first day and bought the thing xD something is just not right...


EDIT: Its like a really bad joke xD

well, some of them are models in gyaru magazines. like Asuko Maeda is a model for Popteen, one of my favorite magazines.

actually they can. Recently their singles sales are VERY high, even higher then ayu. that's why i'm happy that ayu's single release date is not crashing with them.

and for this single, i contribute one of the sales too. i quite like their songs, it's catchy, but not those over-sugary-pop type.

in fact, they will be releasing another single, Kokoro no Hane on 21st July, with 11 versions. I'm getting Asuko Maeda version. these are all the versins

■初回限定盘・前田敦子ver
■初回限定盘・高桥みなみver
■初回限定盘・渡辺麻友ver
■初回限定盘・大岛优子ver
■初回限定盘・板野友美ver
■初回限定盘・小嶋阳菜ver
■初回限定盘・柏木由纪ver
■初回限定盘・チームドラゴンver
■初回限定盘・ドラゴンボール改ver
■通常盘・チームドラゴンver
■通常盘・ドラゴンボール改ver

Well of course it is. I was just saying what I thought about it. I never intended to start a debate >_>

wow, 3 of ayu's singles made into the list too?

I couldn't be happier~~ :D

This is first week right? Not first day? XD
anyways I heard the song on Music Station and it was just meh to me, but I can see why they're popular I guess. With groups like this there are more people to like so more fans of each member.
I think they have too many though XD

^
1st day sales: 354,403

The only thing that's true it's that the manager of AKB48 is in acknowledge that at least 5 fans bought 800 copies of the single each :yes

Seriously? That's sick. Buying each and every version once is already borderline crazy, but buying 800 each is just ... I hope they enjoy their collection in their mother's basement.

Not only their crazy wota fans are buying all up the singles, they have casual fans as well :| Also Kokoro no Hane isn't really a single from the main group, but from a subgroup so it'll be interesting to see how that sells. I really don't see why it's so hard to believe that AKB can sell so well, either o_O They work hard and their music is good. I'm so happy they've become this popular <3

LOL. I don't think people living in their parents' basement can afford to shell out near a million yen like it's nothing.

The power of obsession! And it is precisely people that live in their parent's basements/homes than can afford to do things like this since most of these people generally have no living expenses to pay for.

Well some otakus are rich, they might not have a proper job, but in japan there are other ways to earn good money, like through gaming. Even in Singapore, i know a few people doing this, to other's they look like they are jobless, but actually they can earn like USD$5000+ a month!

If you have a group of people who haunt online rpg games, to farm gold and rare items that people want, these can earn good money. But doing this is illegal, most gaming don't allow players to buy from illegal sellers, but there will always be players who are willing to fork out money for it.
A rare piece of good weapon can reach USD$1000, now this money is more then enough to support the otakus' hobbies, let alone buying additional versions of cd.

i for one am happy for the girls, enough of the boygroups, make room for the girlsgroup ^^ and i would buy a copy for the only reason to help them beat the boygroups, cuz i doubt im gonna be liking their music XD

I like how everyone's like....wow 500k copies....must be all them otakus. They must be soooo obsessed and buying so many copies. Can't we use that same psychology for other artists too?

It's true though that groups like these have a relatively large otaku fanbase, just like the boybands have a relatively large CRAZED FANGIRL fanbase.

I don't think anyone's suggesting that ALL their sales and success comes from otakus though. Of course they're getting more and more casual fans ; )

^i for one, is a casual listener. I like some of their songs, but part of the reason why I buy the singles, other then I like the song, is to help them with the sales record and to beat the boybands' sales!!!

Yeah, of course not all of their sales are from otaku/overly obsessed fans, but a cute idol group, full of MANY girls, is bound to get quite a few of those fans, to say the least.

And wait. Wait wait wait. Are you guys serious about the 800 copies thing!? I thought you were joking. Please be joking....... 'Cause that is some seriously super-unreal ****. :thud

^ Apparently there was this one guy who bought 700 copies so his favorite member could make it into the ranks for the senbatsu elections.

Anyway, not all AKB48 fans are Wotas. I've heard from people who've seen them live that they actually have a good amount of just plain old fans a good amount of who were female.

I'm really glad for the girls.

It's not a joke... They do have some crazy fans who are really rich and buy hundreds of copies....
Just their last single, I saw someone selling 100 copies of it for 10000 yen in an auction, so each single is like 100 yen only

Yeah, this is a picture of that guy, he appeared on TV :tipsy it's crazy

http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...uroso/wota.jpg

^* Holy. ****. :thud :thud :thud

omg.....


if i was rich i would do that for ayu and alan :laugh

No you wouldnt....cause there's only one Ayu and one alan....and they don't need votes to get on their covers.

not for that you silly :P just for the sales.

Oh lol....just bribe Oricon :P

It's so good to see a girl group selling good for once. AKB48 is really, really good. Their songs and PVs are very well produced, and they're all very good idols. Although I don't really like their live performances, I've never seen them singing live :P

Back to Oricon Daily #1 Today! :thumbsup

If the sales curve is like that of a normal AKB single it means that the grand majority of the purchases have gone to wota. Ayu's sales patterns are similar (but less front loaded) as well, which means that mostly her hardcore fans buy her stuff. DOn't fool yourself. A casual fan wont obsessively seek out release dates and few of them will be buying the single on the first day compared to wota, and this goes for any artist except those who have very heavy marketing. If this single doesen't end up selling more than 600k in total you do the math. It doesen't mean the group or their music is "bad" or anything, it's just the way the music market in *** works these days...

its very sad but so true ...... sadly this band in bikini will appeal to the wrong people . the cover and pv helped a lot to push this to sell high .

its like koda kumi and her ero kakkoi that made her sell over a million album ( exerpt she wasnt under age but still attracted a good amount of perv lol )

the 700 copie guy disgust me , those girls could be his daughters at 30 years old it would be time to grow up and stop looking at very young girls who are almost half his age ....

ikr? I don't like'em much myself but I'm not going to demean their sales by pinning it mostly on pervy old otakus (which I do take offense to as I could be considered an otaku :grumpy ). I remember seeing in one of Ayu's sales thread someone did a poll among students about who their favorite artist was and such and I do recall seeing AKB48 ranked high among males and females. Momosu and other idol units have obsession hardcore fanbases powering them too but they don't sell nearly as much (well, these days). The fact is that AKB48 is "in" with the hipsters right now just like Ayu, Hikki, and Momosu used to be. That's why they're selling. End of.

i bet the boygroups have crazy fan girls doing such things as well.. cuz i dont think that many people like crappy music they release XD :innocent

I love them.

Agreed. They have one of the most creative and thoughtful producers in the industry producing their music. He basically redefined the meaning of "idol", setting AKB48 apart from all other proclaimed idol groups such as Momosu.

I wonder how much it cost to make the Ponytail to shoushou PV.......@_@ Between the transportation for all those girls.... accommodations in Guam....the helicopter....lol Their PVs are probably gonna be cheap and crappy for a long time after that.

^ well they new PV is made of almost recycled material :laugh but it's really touching! :)

From new album SET LIST Kanzen Ban: "Anata ga Ite Kureta Kara" PV

And it's interesting to note that "Best Record in 9 Years" refers to AKB48 beating Ayu's evolution record 9 years ago. :P Although Hikki's Can you keep a secret? is the newest single on the list there (only a month or so after evolution though.)

Well, I will say that I really like the song River (although it sounds like they are saying liver). And I think these girls deserve their congrats, even if their fanbase is somewhat odd. I'm sure these girls just want to sing and have their music heard, no matter who is hearing it. Kinda like I don't think Kuu was walking around in a bra before Avex picked her up, but I know she just loves making music and did anything she could to be heard.