AKB48's New Single "Beginner" ships 1,030,000 copies

[dartsofpleasure]

Wow good for them I guess? Are we congratulating them for having a giant creepy following?

[bondingo]

Originally Posted by dartsofpleasure

Wow good for them I guess? Are we congratulating them for having a giant creepy following?

Don't just assume. They have a really diverse following, which is a large part of the enormous sales.

[sanzo2011]

Congrats them ! this's so awesome ! although i don't like them and their music , i'm still so haapy'cause it's been a long time i didn't see big sales or shipment in first week like this !^^!

[Amrai-chan]

Originally Posted by dartsofpleasure

Wow good for them I guess? Are we congratulating them for having a giant creepy following?

Didn't think I'd have to quote myself...

Originally Posted by Amrai-chan

They have guy and girl fans where the ratio is like 60% to 40% or something. They have a lot of fans who are like university age and then on their radio shows they get mail from girls and young boys.

AKB48 is all over TV, books, magazines etc.

Their audience is really diverse.

Unless by "giant creepy following" you mean wotas. In that case not all wotas are creepy, perverted, old or even men. It depends on the individual.

[Ranma Matsuri]

I'd assume that the "target demographic" would probably be the same as for H!P which are (based on my experiences) kids, teenage/young adult females, some questionable middle-aged men, and horny teenage/young adult males. XD

But right now, since they're going through their "prime" the audience can pretty much be anyone including a lot of casuals who usually aren't in to this stuff just like with Momosu back in the day.

Oh and the single has sold 680,242 so far. In just several hours it could be the #1 yearly... and it would have only taken 3 days.

[LacusClyne]

Originally Posted by bluegie

I only saw one pv from them (can't remember the name). It's a girl undressing in a room (hotel room?). Then she had a blanket wrapping around her, and said the title before the scene changed into swimming pool. My brother showed me that because he thought the opening was like an AV scene . Oh and I have no idea how the opening scene connects to the main pv scenes.

But yeah, I wonder if they have lots of kid fans. If their pvs are similar to the one I saw, then I guess it's quite inappropriate for kids to watch them.

She's Atsuko Maeda, one of the top 3 popular members in the group, and she's a Popteen model too.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by bluegie

I only saw one pv from them (can't remember the name). It's a girl undressing in a room (hotel room?). Then she had a blanket wrapping around her, and said the title before the scene changed into swimming pool. My brother showed me that because he thought the opening was like an AV scene . Oh and I have no idea how the opening scene connects to the main pv scenes.

But yeah, I wonder if they have lots of kid fans. If their pvs are similar to the one I saw, then I guess it's quite inappropriate for kids to watch them.

Search for some song translations xD Some lyrics would make Koda Kumi embarassed xD

[Cherry Dynamite]

I don't listen to them but damn it that's awesome

Congratulations~

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

ridiculous!

[DA1SUK1DAY01691]

I haven't had the chance to listen to much of their recent stuff besides this song, but this song is a really strong pop song. It's great, there's no denying it!

I totally agree with the people saying they have the magic touch with this, because somehow they've overcome the obstacle Momusu and the rest of H!P have: spreading their demographic to almost anyone. In fact, they're probably the only artist currently with a large, diverse fanbase right now.

Sure, I'll be sad Hikki will be knocked down, but seriously, they've really improved and all the props to them.

[Minttulatte]

1 million copies? Wow. Nice to see a big number like that. Hopefully it's gonna revive the music industry in Japan. <3

[FIRSTKLAS]

Originally Posted by DA1SUK1DAY01691

I totally agree with the people saying they have the magic touch with this, because somehow they've overcome the obstacle Momusu and the rest of H!P have: spreading their demographic to almost anyone. In fact, they're probably the only artist currently with a large, diverse fanbase right now.

Morning Musume sold 1.6 million copies of their Love Machine single when they were in their prime so I don't think you can say that they weren't able to appeal to a wide demographic. You don't sell that many copies to only wotas.

AKB48 is just entering their prime and their appeal is at its widest right now just as it was for Momusu back then. If they can continue selling so well for years to come then you can say that they're more successful than Momusu but until that happens it's just history repeating.

[DA1SUK1DAY01691]

Originally Posted by FIRSTKLAS

Morning Musume sold 1.6 million copies of their Love Machine single when they were in their prime so I don't think you can say that they weren't able to appeal to a wide demographic. You don't sell that many copies to only wotas.

AKB48 is just entering their prime and their appeal is at its widest right now just as it was for Momusu back then. If they can continue selling so well for years to come then you can say that they're more successful than Momusu but until that happens it's just history repeating.

I forgot to mention that was my view of H!P and Momusu now. Hahaha.

Your point is totally valid though; I've been with Momusu since Furusato, so I've seen them burst onto the "Japan Zenkoku Mania" scene.

AKB48's prime is actually rather crazy, considering it started almost immediately after they switched labels; Momusu gained Goto Maki, who I think single-handedly brought Momusu to their prime almost a year in.

So that makes me wonder: what has this new label (King) done that the old label (DefStar) didn't do? I mean, normally you don't jump 65K (Sakura no Hanabiratachi 08 to Oogoe Diamond), then 113K (Iiwake Maybe to River), then almost exponentially after that. There has to be something King's doing...

[Nackar_91]

It's probably a combination of clever marketing tactics, but also just sheer luck. No matter how carefully you try to plan success, there is always the luck factor. There are artists with perfect marketing and huge budgets that fail to go anywhere, and artists that come out of nowhere and just POW BAM make it huge : P

[LacusClyne]

i went to their live today(they came to singapore), i bought the A seats(there's normal standing tickets too), around me, there are A LOT OF JAPANESE, and 1/3 of the audience are guys, then 1/3 are girls, while the rest made up of KIDS, and..... japanese guys in suits(these look like they were at least 25 to 60).

It looks like all the japanese guys in suits know each other and had spomsor tickets or something i saw them talking to the AKB48 japanese management before the mini concert start.

The kids are the cutest thing, they were dancing along to the songs!

i had uploaded the pictures to my blog

http://genie-message.blogspot.com/20...singapore.html

[FIRSTKLAS]

Originally Posted by DA1SUK1DAY01691

I forgot to mention that was my view of H!P and Momusu now. Hahaha.

Ah, ok. Cool, cool.

I just felt that I had to point out the "history repeating" thing because whenever a new artist/group breaks through, a lot of people get caught up in the hype and proclaim them as the greatest thing ever.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a hater and am definitely paying attention to what AKB48 does these days but I'm also acknowledging what came before.

[Polyrhythm]

Bringing this back up. AKB48's new single just shipped 1,000,000 copies.....again

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainm...000087080.html

[Nackar_91]

Originally Posted by Polyrhythm

Bringing this back up. AKB48's new single just shipped 1,000,000 copies.....again

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainm...000087080.html

I'm dying. Why would they do it, btw? Chance no Junban didn't do NEARLY as well as Beginner did, and shipping 1.000.000 copies when expecting 700k in sales is something of a waste.

Unless they're expecting this next single to do AMAZINGLY for whatever reason? Possibly because it's a Sakura song being released just before spring and the sakura season? Senbatsu? Any help here from an AKB48 fan?

I'm not a fan, but something about a Japanese artist, ANY ARTIST, selling high numbers like these makes me happy ^^

[LacusClyne]

^because chance no junban do not have the regular senbatsu.

Senbatsu is the team of the girls selected to be in the PV/promotions/CD covers...

For chance no junban, the senbatsu is decided by 'scissors/papers/stone', some of the fans aren't too happy with the results that their favorite members aren't in the senbatsu. Most of the senbatsu are just regular members, the most popular ones left in the Chance no junban senbatsu is only Atsuko Maeda 前田敦子, and she's at number 15.

So it's already expected that it won't sell as much as Beginner, but this new single has the senbatsu from Beginner, i think it might end up selling MORE then Beginner.

[Nackar_91]

Well then, I'll be looking forward to it!