http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/2024989/full/
The group's 31st single, Sayonara Crawl, debuted at #1 on the Oricon Weekly charts with 1.763 million copies sold. This brings AKB48's total number of singles sold since they debuted in 2006 to 21.852 million copies. It took them seven years and four months to displace Hamasaki Ayumi (with 21.416 million singles sold) from the top spot.
01. AKB48 - 21.852 million
02. Hamasaki Ayumi - 21.416 million
03. Amuro Namie - 16.558 million
Starting with their 22nd single, Sakura no Ki ni Narou, the group has released 12 consecutive, million-selling singles. They currently do not hold the record for highest selling single by a female artist. That record is held by Amuro Namie, with CAN YOU CELEBRATE? (2.296 million copies).