AKB48 sets a chart record, but Daoko and Kenshi Yonezu are playing the long game
Call it the end of an era. Last week, AKB48's 49th single "#Sukinanda" sold over 1 million copies to take the top spot on the Oricon singles chart. Besides being the first song in the No. 1 position to feature a hashtag in its ...
Leave charts to fans of music, not gimmicks
Anyone who pays any kind of attention to the music charts in Japan knows that for many years now they've been a joke. Year-end charts are increasingly clogged up with mass idol collectives, sales buoyed by multiple purchases from "otaku" (obsessive fans), encouraged by marketing ...
2014 a groundhog year for top record labels
Avex has landed another No. 1 spot on the charts, but this time it's for the record label itself. Oricon Inc., the company behind the domestic music industry's ranking charts, announced its annual market report for 2014 last week, with Avex Group Holdings Inc. topping ...
