[Charts & Rankings] AKB48 surpass Ayu as best selling female Japanese artist

[hud]

Oricon made it official with the first tracking week of #Sukinanda pushing their total sales record to 51,298,000. Ayu still holds the record for best selling female solo artist with an amazing record of 50,675,000 units, however, Oricon doesn't differentiate between solo artists and groups under the male and female categories.

The current Top 3 of the best selling female Japanese artists of all time is:

1　51,298,00　AKB48
2　50,675,00　Ayumi Hamasaki
3　39,581,00　Yumi Matsutoya

source:
Article from Aramajapan which is based on Oricon itself.

[hayasaki]

Whatever ORICON. For me it still doesn't count since they're group versus one awesome living legendary woman. lol

[Evan Odinson]

I don't care about those idol groups, specially this one that had what? about 50 members or something lol sorry, that's just my opinion, they are only cute girls dancing around, they are a product, entertainers, but not real artist, as I said this is just my opinion tho

[Next_Level29]

Originally Posted by hayasaki

Whatever ORICON. For me it still doesn't count since they're group versus one awesome living legendary woman. lol

[oaristos]

Ayumi is still the best-selling solo artist in Japan. Like, ever.

[truehappiness]

Solo vs. like hundreds of girls, lol.

[visionfactory]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Solo vs. like hundreds of girls, lol.

Thousands of girls to be more accurate

Seriously you can't compare 1,000 people to 1 people's record

That just translates on how amazing ayu's record is that the only way it can be outsold is by 1,000 women that do bikini shoots in order to promote their "music"

[Yoake]

I could understand if AKB48 was a normal band but with a group whose members are changed every X years, it just sounds ridiculous. It's the name who sells not the singers. I wouldn't be surprise if Oricon received money to make such kind of article as big show like MS special to get more air time than the other singers.

[TeamAyu2004]

I thought Hikki did pretty well, where does she sit?

[Evan Odinson]

^Hikki has sold about 37 millions

[hayasaki]

^highest selling album in the history i think?

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by hayasaki

^highest selling album in the history i think?

Yeap. Had her released more during her peak she would most likely had topped Ayu...

[DeepRiver]

Originally Posted by hayasaki

^highest selling album in the history i think?

Jep ... First Love is No 1. Distance No. 4 and Deep River No. 8 ...

[truehappiness]

If anything this makes Ayu look even better because in order to 'topple' her, they had to have this massive and ever changing super group do it.

[EndOfTheWorld]

The biggest difference is that Ayu will always be remembered and represent an entire era of music in Japan. AKB48 is just one of many idol groups of this new era who happens to be commercially successful.

[Diego-kun]

Originally Posted by EndOfTheWorld

The biggest difference is that Ayu will always be remembered and represent an entire era of music in Japan. AKB48 is just one of many idol groups of this new era who happens to be commercially successful.

AKB48 is not just another group. They achieved huge success in a time when female idol groups were in the dark by making a difference with theater stages, senbatsu elections, janken tournament, etc. We can't deny their impact in the J-pop scene in this current decade. Songs like Heavy Rotation, Everyday Katchyusa, Flying Get or Koisuru Fortune Cookie were big hits.

Even so, this sale record is not real and can't be compared to Ayu's. Yes, one reason is because it's a group vs solo artist but there's a stronger reason. AKB48 huge sales are due to crazy fans buying hundreds of singles in order to get a hadshake ticket or senbatsu vote. Their singles also have multiple editions with different covers, songs and extras. Ayu sold million of copies without having all those. She sold because her music was good and people liked it.

In a recent LINE female idol popularity poll, AKB48 ranked 5th. Perfume topped the poll, followed by Nogizaka46 and Momoiro Clover Z. Then, why AKB48 latest single has sold 1 million and Perfume 49k? How many people buy AKB48's singles because they like the songs and not because they wanna get a handshake ticket to spend 30 seconds with a cute girl?

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Diego-kun

Even so, this sale record is not real and can't be compared to Ayu's. Yes, one reason is because it's a group vs solo artist but there's a stronger reason. AKB48 huge sales are due to crazy fans buying hundreds of singles in order to get a hadshake ticket or senbatsu vote.

This is why I never count AKBs sales. They are popular. They are not THAT popular. Same reason why I don't count Exile's one million seller either; it was obtained through super manufactured means.

Originally Posted by Diego-kun

In a recent LINE female idol popularity poll, AKB48 ranked 5th. Perfume topped the poll, followed by Nogizaka46 and Momoiro Clover Z. Then, why AKB48 latest single has sold 1 million and Perfume 49k? How many people buy AKB48's singles because they like the songs and not because they wanna get a handshake ticket to spend 30 seconds with a cute girl?

Yep. My experience when I was over there is that culturally AKB actually did not come close to having the same kind of impact as say, Morning Musume did or Arashi or SMAP by a longshot, yet "somehow" they have higher sales. It's a sham.

[oaristos]

Originally Posted by Diego-kun

AKB48 is not just another group. They achieved huge success in a time when female idol groups were in the dark by making a difference with theater stages, senbatsu elections, janken tournament, etc. We can't deny their impact in the J-pop scene in this current decade. Songs like Heavy Rotation, Everyday Katchyusa, Flying Get or Koisuru Fortune Cookie were big hits.

I have to disagree, I don't think they've had any real impact in the Japanese music industry apart from their huge sales.

AKB48 is marketed mostly as a fetish for older men who are interested in really young-looking girls whose record label swears are all virgins. That's why having a boyfriend, drinking, and partying is completely forbidden for them). There's something lacking in the life of those old men and they fill the gap inside them with an obsession for a girl band that lacks any real talent or skill (at least for music).

I don't care that someone outsold Ayumi, it just bothers me that even though AKB48 is very popular, their sales are only huge because each fan spends 1/3 of their house income purchasing 200 copies of each single. They're not ashamed of that and even post the pictures online. Those are not real sales, that's not real popularity and finally, that's not a real impact.

And last but not least, I am not by any means trying to offend any of the girls personally or any of their fans. You should listen to whatever you want and buy as many CDs as you want, but I also believe it's extremely important to be realistic.

[Corvina]

Originally Posted by oaristos

I have to disagree, I don't think they've had any real impact in the Japanese music industry apart from their huge sales.

AKB48 is marketed mostly as a fetish for older men who are interested in really young-looking girls whose record label swears are all virgins. That's why having a boyfriend, drinking, and partying is completely forbidden for them). There's something lacking in the life of those old men and they fill the gap inside them with an obsession for a girl band that lacks any real talent or skill (at least for music).

I don't care that someone outsold Ayumi, it just bothers me that even though AKB48 is very popular, their sales are only huge because each fan spends 1/3 of their house income purchasing 200 copies of each single. They're not ashamed of that and even post the pictures online. Those are not real sales, that's not real popularity and finally, that's not a real impact.

And last but not least, I am not by any means trying to offend any of the girls personally or any of their fans. You should listen to whatever you want and buy as many CDs as you want, but I also believe it's extremely important to be realistic.

Just wondering - so those sales are less creditable, ause less people bought more copies compared to more people buying single copies? Why?
I mean, nobody is forcing anybody to buy anything, looking at it objectively.

You can dislike them as much as you want (not a fan either), but they had quite a big impact the last ten years.
So I agree with Voltron. Even if they fade away within a year now, they will be remembered.

Also compared to Ayu, who made a huge part of her sales in a time, where physical sales were much higher than they are in the last years, AKB48 was popular in a time with steadily and heavily declining physical sales ( and no, digital isn't that big, it"s just about 20% of the whole Japanese market).

Though Oricon should separate groups and solos in their ranking for sure. That's strange.

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by oaristos

I have to disagree, I don't think they've had any real impact in the Japanese music industry apart from their huge sales.

AKB48 is marketed mostly as a fetish for older men who are interested in really young-looking girls whose record label swears are all virgins. That's why having a boyfriend, drinking, and partying is completely forbidden for them). There's something lacking in the life of those old men and they fill the gap inside them with an obsession for a girl band that lacks any real talent or skill (at least for music).

I don't care that someone outsold Ayumi, it just bothers me that even though AKB48 is very popular, their sales are only huge because each fan spends 1/3 of their house income purchasing 200 copies of each single. They're not ashamed of that and even post the pictures online. Those are not real sales, that's not real popularity and finally, that's not a real impact.

And last but not least, I am not by any means trying to offend any of the girls personally or any of their fans. You should listen to whatever you want and buy as many CDs as you want, but I also believe it's extremely important to be realistic.

Because I think that's the best comment here and I wouldn't be able to phrase it better at all, I just repost it. =)