[lizzylovesongaku]

Originally Posted by Bigtop

Looks like Ayu's reign as the highest-selling female artist in terms of CD sales has come to an end, unfortunately.

【オリコン】AKB48、音楽CD総売上5100万枚超え 女性歌手1位/歴代3位に浮上
http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2096754/full/

AKB48's 49th single "#SukiNanda" sold 1,089,288 in in the week. It is their 36th #1 single and their 31st million seller (30th consecutive). But that's not the key takeaway.

The key takeaway is that with "#SukiNanda," AKB48 has now put themselves on top of the Oricon all-time female artist CD sales rankings, with nearly 51.3 million CDs sold throughout the 11 and a half years in existence. Ayu has 50,675,000, and her CD sales (if she ever releases more) are pretty much all but dead.

Oricon rankings: All-time CD sales ranking, female artists, top three

1. AKB48 - 51,298,000
2. Ayumi Hamasaki - 50,675,000
3. Yumi Matsutoya - 39,581,000

(Well, the bulk of the sales were on the first day, so Ayu's reign was already over just on the first day of #SukiNanda's release last week...)

I mean, I guess it's kinda sad, but she's still the highest selling solo artist, so I'm okay with it. With the way AKB48 sells, it was bound to happen sooner or later. But it doesn't take away for all of Ayu's success or accomplishments. Let them have the title, it doesn't really take anything away from Ayu.