Arashi outperforms everyone again! (Oricon 2010)

Oricon has compiled total sales data for the top artists of 2010, counting singles, albums, and DVDs. This year's top artist was Arashi, with more than 17.16 billion yen worth of sales. In fact, Arashi ranks as the #1 artist in seven different categories: Total gross sales for an artist; Total gross single sales for an artist; Copies sold for an album; Gross sales for an album; Copies sold for a music DVD; Gross sales for a music DVD; Total gross music DVD sales for an artist.

Arashi easily outdid their numbers from 2009, when they were also the #1 selling artist at 14.46 billion yen. (Tokyograph)

I couldn't help but grin while reading this article.

AKB48 and (awesome) Arashi dominate top 10 of Oricon 2010 Rankings (Singles)

Oricon is beginning to release its cumulative sales data for 2010. So far, it has announced the Top 50 in singles and albums, as well as the Top 5 in total sales. As predicted, the singles rankings were dominated by Arashi and AKB48, who together held all of the Top 10 spots.

This is the first time in the ranking's history that the Top 10 has been occupied by just two artists. Before this, the record was five artists in the Top 10, which happened in 1989.

AKB48 had the top 2 singles with "Beginner" and "Heavy Rotation." They are only the third female artist to hold the top 2 singles of the year, a feat previously accomplished by Princess Princess in 1989 and Pink Lady in 1978.

Arashi, who had the top 2 singles in 2008 and the top 3 singles in 2009, settled for taking 6 of the top 10 spots this year.

Top 50 Singles:

1. Beginner - AKB48 - 954,283
2. Heavy Rotation - AKB48 - 713,275
3. Troublemaker - Arashi - 698,542
4. Monster - Arashi - 696,022
5. Ponytail to Chouchou - AKB48 - 659,959
6. Hatenai Sora - Arashi - 656,343
7. Love Rainbow - Arashi - 620,057
8. Chance no Junban - AKB48 - 596,769
9. Dear Snow - Arashi - 591,207
10. To be free - Arashi - 516,142

(Tokyograph)

150 million yen to feature Arashi in a CM

The cost of featuring an artist in an advertisment usually reflects the artist's degree of activity or popularity that year. Recently, the estimated CM fee of some popular artists in Japan have been revealed.

(fee in 2010 → fee in 2011)
Arashi - 150 million yen → 150 million yen
Oguri Shun - 25 million yen → 25 million yen
Mizushima Hiro - 35 million yen → price not available*
Mukai Osamu - 30 million yen → 35 million yen
Fukuyama Masaharu - 50 milion yen → 50 million yen

Ayase Haruka - 35 million yen → 35 million yen
AKB48 - 30 million yen → 30 million yen
Sawajiri Erika - 30 million yen → price not available*
Ueto Aya - 30 million yen → 30 million yen
Yamada Yuu - 8 million yen → 8 million yen

*Mizushima Hiro has left his agency, Ken-on, to pursue a writing career. Sawajiri Erika is not attached to any agency now and has disappeared.

For example, the price of hiring Mukai Osamu has increased because of his rising popularity. (Entame)

There are a lot more listings at the actual site where I got this from, so you might want to take a look. It's quite easy to figure out, since it's just kanji names and numbers.

With numbers like this, it's got to be Arashi

Arashi's album "Boku no Miteiru Fuukei" has officially become the first release of 2010 to reach 1 million copies sold. According to Oricon's sales numbers, the album sold 8,561 copies this past week, pushing the total sales to 1,007,896. Their greatest hits album "All the BEST! 1999-2009" last year was their first work to reach the million milestone, but "Boku no Miteiru Fuukei" is their first original one to achieve that feat.

Arashi personally announced the news to their fans on Tuesday during an event at Haneda Airport. JAL's customized Arashi Jet made an appearance at the airport's new international terminal, which is scheduled to open for operation on October 21.

"Boku no Miteiru Fuukei," released on August 4, sold approximately 731,000 copies in its first week. At the time, that one week alone was enough to make the album #1 in total sales for the year. (Tokyograph)

AKB48's "Heavy Rotation" fast catching up with Arashi

Oh no... All-female idol group AKB48's newest single, "Heavy Rotation", which was released on the 18 of July, has apparently sold close to 650 000 copies, almost catching up with Arashi's 690 000 copies for "Monster", which was released earlier this year on 10th May.

The PV for the single has generated a lot of buzz, especially with the young female members of the group dressed in lingerie and kissing each other. Some say that this buzz will cause "Heavy Rotation" to become the best selling single of the year.

This sales record is the best ever for AKB48. (Entame)

Arashi has the #1 album this year, and SMAP's album outsells the other Johnny's groups

SMAP proves that they have still got it! Their latest single "This is Love" sold an impressive 276 000 copies, their highest first week single sales in over 5 years. This single has already outsold the latest efforts by NEWS, Yamapi, Kanjani8, Hey Say! JUMP and KAT-TUN.

Meanwhile on the album chart Arashi's Boku no Miteiru Fuukei sold 731 000, which already gives them the number 1 selling album of the year. (aramatheydidnt)

Oh Arashi, I'm so proud~

Because Arashi never stops getting better. (275 000 copies in one day!)

Johnny's Entertainment boyband Arashi released a new album on Wednesday, titled "Boku no Miteiru Fuukei." In its first day of sales, fans bought 275,000 copies, setting a new personal record for the group. Last year, their "All the BEST! 1999-2009" collection set their previous record with 261,000 copies in its first day. That album went on to sell 753,000 copies within the first week, so many are hoping to see "Boku no Miteiru Fuukei" break that record as well.
Arashi's last original album was "Dream A live" in 2008. Since then, they have released several hit singles, including "Monster" and "Troublemaker," which both sold more than half a million copies in their first weeks. (Tokyograph)

Akanishi Jin's jdorama "BANDAGE" is number one!

Figures released by Oricon today have revealed that Akanishi Jin’s (26) movie “BANDAGE” made its DVD sales debut at number one.

Released on July 23, the DVD has already sold more than 37,000 copies in Japan, making it to the top of the DVD sales chart. This has given Akanishi his first number one since becoming a solo artist.
The movie is set in the rock band boom of the 1990s, where LANDS (Akanishi’s band) have to overcome a number of challenges in order to make their professional debut. When the movie was released in Japan on November 21 2009, more than 70,000 pre-sold tickets had been bought by fans. This was the largest number of pre-sold tickets Toho cinemas had sold for a live-action film.
The number one record also beats Akanishi’s previous record for solo work, when the DVD box set for his drama “有閑倶楽部 (Yukan Club)” peaked at number nine in April 2008, with 20,000 copies sold. (MomoEdgewood's Mediawatch)

Goo keyword rankings for the first half of 2010

Ranking of keywords users search for in Goo between 1st January 2010 and 30th June 2010.


Top 20 Celebrities
1. Hoshino Aki
2. Akanishi Jin
3. Inoue Mao
4. Uchi Hiroki

5. Kitagawa Keiko
6. Matsumoto Jun
7. Maeda Atsuko
8. Sawajiri Erika
9. Kamenashi Kazuya
10. Lee Byung Hun
11. Ohno Satoshi
12. Fukuyama Masaharu
13. Nishino Kana
14. Kimura Kaela
15. Sasaki Nozomi
16. Mihiro
17. Oshima Yuko
18. Mizuki Nana
19. YUI
20. Kusakari Tamiyo

Top 20 Male Celebrities
1. Akanishi Jin
2. Uchi Hiroki
3. Matsumoto Jun
4. Kamenashi Kazuya
5. Lee Byung Hun
6. Ohno Satoshi
7. Fukuyama Masaharu
8. Sato Takeru
9. Yamada Ryosuke
10. Ikuta Toma
11. Kimura Takuya
12. Ninomiya Kazunari
13. Michael Jackson
14. Yamashita Tomohisa
15. Yuzu
16. Shibata Hidetsugu
17. Hiraoka Yuta
18. Tamaki Hiroshi
19. Yazawa Eikichi
20. Daito Shunsuke

Top 20 Female Celebrities
1. Hoshino Aki
2. Inoue Mao
3. Kitagawa Keiko
4. Maeda Atsuko
5. Sawajiri Erika
6. Nishino Kana
7. Kimura Kaela
8. Sasaki Nozomi
9. Mihiro
10. Oshima Yuko
11. Mizuki Nana
12. YUI
13. Kusakari Tamiyo
14. Hamasaki Ayumi
15. Hosokawa Fumie
16. Ayase Haruka
17. Shinoda Mariko
18. Yuki Maomi
19. Horikita Maki
20. Tsuji Nozomi


Top 20 TV Programs1. Gegege no Nyobo
2. Ryomaden
3. Hanamaru Market
4. Nakanai to Kimeta Hi
5. MOTHER
6. Sunao ni Narenakute
7. Shiru Shiru Mishiru
8. Shop Channel
9. Shofu to Shukujo
10. Tameshite Gatten
11. Kaibutsu-kun
12. Nodame Cantabile
13. Tumbling
14. IRIS
15. Ainori
16. Kaidan Restaurant
17. Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge
18. Tsuki no Koibito ~Moon Lovers~
19. Magerarenai Onna
20. Code Blue

Arashi take 1st and 2nd spots on Oricon - first time in (almost!) a decade

Last week, Arashi released their single “To Be Free” which is currently ranked at #1 on Oricon Charts. And this week, Ohno Satoshi released his solo single “Yukaitukai Kaibutsukun”, which is ranked #2 on the charts. To Be Free and and Yukaitukai Kabutsukun sold 46 200 and 14 300 copies respectively.

This is the first time in nine years and ten months since a simultaneous achievement like this has been made. (Tokyohive)

AWESOMEZ.

New viewership record set during Japan-Paraguay World Cup match

Broadcaster TBS experienced its highest-ever ratings with Tuesday night's broadcast of the World Cup match between Japan and Paraguay. During the match's scheduled broadcast time, ratings averaged 57.3% and peaked at 64.9%.


This was TBS's first time doing a live broadcast of a Japan match in the World Cup. The 57.3% average set a new record for the network, which has been operating since 1955. The previous record was 56.3%, set on December 21, 1972, by the drama series "Arigatou."
TBS's live coverage of the match started at 10:40pm. Just before the 11:00pm kickoff, ratings rose to 50%, then reached 60% five minutes later. The peak of 64.9% came just before the end of the first half.
The 57.3% average was measured between 10:40pm and 1:10am, which was the match's scheduled time slot. However, because the score was still tied at 0-0 after the second half, the game went into extended time. The extended time and the subsequent penalty shootout were counted under a separate time slot, but even that period averaged 53.5% ratings. Overall, the match reached an estimated 77.8% of the television-viewing audience. (Tokyograph)

High viewership for Japan - Denmark World Cup match

From the viewership ratings, it seems that many Japanese are taking a keen interest in the World Cup and the fate of their team, Blue Samurai. The Japan - Denmark game was aired early this morning on NTV network, and ended with Japan winning Denmark 3-1, allowing Japan to advance to the next round. This is the first time Japan has done so on foreign soil.

Anyway, the average viewership rating for the match was 30.5% and 27.4% in the Kanto and Kansai districts respectively. Viewership peaked just before 0500, with a 41.3% viewership in Kanto and 35.9% in Kansai. (nikkansports)

Zzzz... I'm sorry if I haven't been posting much news recently, but all the Japanese entertainment sites seem to be full of articles about the World Cup, or W 杯 as they call it.

Arashi comes out tops... Again!

Oricon has published its music sales rankings for the first half of 2010, and for the second year in a row, Arashi held the #1 and #2 singles with "Troublemaker" (688,000 copies) and "Monster" (654,000 copies). Arashi is the only artiste to achieve this in consecutive years.
AKB48 held the #3 and #5 spots with "Ponytail to Chouchou" (577,000) and "Sakura no Shiori" (381,000), while KAT-TUN's "Love yourself ~Kimi ga Kirai na Kimi ga Suki~" landed in between them (440,000 copies).
In DVDs, Michael Jackson's "THIS IS IT" topped the rankings with 789,000 in sales. Arashi was #2 with their "ARASHI Anniversary Tour 5x10" (688,000). (Tokyograph)

KAT-TUN album number one on Oricon charts

KAT-TUN’s new 5th album “NO MORE PAIN” sold 69,000 copies on the day of it’s release, and took first place on the Oricon daily ranking chart.


KAT-TUN has repeatedly taken first place ever since their 1st album “Best of KAT-TUN” (March, 2006) up to their 4th album “Break the Records -by you & for you-” (April, 2009) on the Oricon weekly rankings.

With this 5th album, they will be expected to break all previous records. (tokyohive)

New record for Arashi: over 100 000 copies of Saigo no Yakusoku DVD sold!

Came across this article on this blog while surfing around, amazing!

126,000 copies of Fuji TV's "Saigo no Yakusoku", a New Year drama special starring all 5 members of popular group Arashi were sold within its first week of release, achieving first place in the comprehensive DVD sales for the week of 14 June. Not only it is the first time a drama-related product has broken through the 100,000 copies mark in its first week, it is also the highest first week sales ever recorded in the history of drama DVDs.
This product has sold almost three times as much as the previous first week sales record for drama DVDs of 41,000 copies, held by "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (First Season) Vol. 1" (released in January 2009). The current accumulative sales record of 75,000 copies for domestic drama DVDs by "ROOKIES Omote BOX" (released in July of 2008) was also surpassed in just one week.

With the addition of this record to their concert DVD, "ARASHI Anniversary Tour 5x10" (released in April), also recording the highest first week sales in the history of music DVD releases with 470,000 copies sold (accumulative sales at 682,000 copies), Arashi has become double first week sales champions in both the "music DVD category" and "drama DVD category". These results have once again shown us their tremendous popularity.

Arashi's awesomeness at setting new records never fails to amaze me!

BoA doing well in Billboard charts

According to Billboard, the largest album and records sales ranking site, BoA's "ENERGETIC" has been ranked within the top 50 of the "Hot Dance/ Club Play Song" genre on May 22th. This is the twelth week that the song has ranked within the top 50 of that genre.


The Billboard "Hot Dance / Club Play Song" charts are referring to the title tracks, which have been playing throughout the US during the week in the various clubs. BoA's track "Eat You Up" had also been ranking within the top 50 for 14 consecutive weeks. However, the outstanding aspect about "ENERGETIC"'s ranking is that it has been one year since the release of the song. (Music Japan+)

Arashi's "Monster" sets record!

Arashi's 30th single, "Monster," set a new record on the sales charts this week. At 543,000 copies sold, it barely surpassed their previous single "Troublemaker" (542,000 copies) to achieve the highest opening-week sales so far this year. It is Arashi's second consecutive single to break the half-million mark in the first week. (Tokyograph)