***48’s total dominance of 2012’s single charts has raised more than a few eyebrows amongst music lovers in Japan, with some voicing concern about the fact non-idol groups now barely feature at all…
The single sales figures for 2012, as compiled by Oricon:
1. 1,820,000 – AKB48 – Manatsu no Sounds good!
2. 1,437,000 – AKB48 – GIVE ME FIVE!
3. 1,303,000 – AKB48 – Gingham Check
3. 1,215,000 – AKB48 – UZA
5. 1,215,000 – AKB48 – Eien Pressure
6. 649,000 – Arashi – Wild at Heart
7. 620,000 – Arashi – Face Down
8. 593,000 – SKE48 – Kataomoi Finally
9. 588,000 – SKE48 – Kiss Datte Hidarisaki
10. 559,000 – SKE48 – Aishiteraburu
11. 559,000 – Arashi – Your Eyes
12. 449,000 – NMB48 – Nagiichi
13. 391,000 – NMB48 – Virginity
14. 376,000 – NMB48 – Junjou U-19
15. 375,000 – Eight Ranger – ER
16. 355,000 – Kis-My-Ft2 – WANNA BEEEE!!!/Shake It Up
17. 353,000 – NMB48 – Kitagawa Kenji
18. 322,000 – Kis-My-Ft2 – We never give up!
19. 320,000 – Kan Johnny∞ – Ai Deshita
20. 305,000 – NEWS – Chanpana
Japan’s collapsing music sales and the industry’s apparent near total reliance on “mass produced” idol groups have been the subject of much debate online, with explanations ranging from the creepy purchasing habits of otaku to the increasing irrelevance of CD sales to actual music…
why japanese love them? their music is boring
these single sales… for AKB, I thought one of them had some kind of meet and greet raffle entry, so people bought like tons… I don’t know if that is really FAIR to record…
Considering the list is all about sales, and not actually how much the population likes them, the whole list is bunk. I mean, come on, how many times on this site have we seen articles about individual otaku buying thousands of dollars of CDs just for AKB’s handshaking event tickets, then throwing the crates of CDs away?
If you want to know what music is ACTUALLY popular in Japan, you can’t, oddly enough, go by CD sales.
Actually the list isn’t about sales. It’s about shipments.
Sorry, but I really got to do this;
Hey Japan, originality called, they said you abandoned it some 20+ years ago and replaced it with good looking people who can sing and dance.
And that’s how it is. f♥♥k, the Japanese music industry is in even worse shape than the American, pre fabricated stars without any musical talents what so fucking ever. Forget writing their own songs, these bitches lack everything except looks. The worst part is the fact the idiots actually like it…
I forgot to add this, Justin Bieber is a musical genius, closer to the likes of Beethoven and Mozart than he is to these girls.
Again, the Japanese population is fucking retarded compared to their western compatriots in so many ways. Hell, in the western world, only teenage girls likes and buys this prefabricated s♥♥t, in Japan, the men buys this stuff. I mean, wtf?
Shitty songs and shitty list. I mean come on. THere is no real talent in the song or singing. AKB48’s only selling point is their stage presence, which I’ll admit. They work damn hard for a 3000 cd. They are more like a jack of all trades but master of none. Except their workload is 100 times greater. The sheer amount of work and the many types of jobs they deal with is amazing, aside from how well they deal with the schedule, that’s about as far as it goes.
Though I do notice though that when some members of AKB48 graduate and go solo and break away from the whole idol setup but concentrate more on the singing aspect, the song quality SOMETIMES improves. Sadly, most AKB48 graduate and disappear.