Domoto Tsuyoshi-san had the best-selling single last week, as his “Matataki” (瞬き) sold a very strong 95,472 copies – tantalizingly close to that 100k mark.
At #2, Juice=Juice had a single with an obnoxiously long title (no offense meant to the young group, of course). In Japanese, it’s “ロマンスの途中/私が言う前に抱きしめなきゃね(MEMORIAL EDIT)/五月雨美女がさ乱れる(MEMORIAL EDIT)”. The first bit is “Romance no Tochuu”, and that’s what I’m going to call it. Anyway, it managed 37,213 in sales.
I don’t get the “EXILE PRIDE ~Konna Sekai wo Koisuru Tame” thing. Are they still giving it away to everyone who buys a ticket to a show? I mean, it’s back at #3! In its 18th week! It sold another 29,756 to bring its total to 803,846. I probably wouldn’t be so upset if I wasn’t an Arashi fan who sees this as a cynical attempt to push the Arashi singles down one slot in the year-end charts (and everyone else except for AKB48, of course).
Porno Graffiti‘s “Seishun Hanamichi” (青春花道) started out at #4 with 26,853 in sales.
“Koisuru Fortune Cookie” from AKB48 is still in the top 10 in its fourth week. It took #7 with 13,271 copies sold for a total of 1,423,666.
The previous week’s top single, HKT48’s “Melon Juice” was at #9 this time. It’s new total is 279,929.
SHINee’s “Boys Meet U” climbed from #15 to #12, and now has a four-week total of 123,518.
At #13, Tohoshiki’s “SCREAM” added 6,353 for a total of 140,657 after two weeks.
“Peace & Hi-lite” from Southern All Stars took #14, tacking on 5,980 to bring its six-week total to 322,381.
Hikawa Kiyoshi-san saw his “Manten no Hitomi” take #16 in its third week. It now boasts a total of 58,802.
It doesn’t look like Nogizaka46’s “Girl’s Rule” will cross above AKB48’s single after all. It dropped to #20 in its eleventh week with 439,395 copies sold.
“Kimi to no Kiseki” from Kis-My-Ft2 passed the 300k mark, selling an additional 3,391 at #23 for a five-week total of 301,884.
Then we have two singles that simply don’t want to leave the top 30: “Shiosai no Memory” from Amano Haruko at #25 with 145,956 copies sold in seven weeks and Linked Horizon’s “Jiyuu e no Shingeki” at #26 with 212,338 in sales after ten weeks.
Okay, the album side held sort of a surprise, with Spitz beating out Yamashita Tomohisa-kun for #1. Spitz’s “Chiisana Ikimono” (小さな生き物) sold an impressive 76,643 while Yamapi’s “A NUDE” took #2 with 63,486 copies finding new owners.
Nishino Kana-san’s two compilation albums, “Love Collection ~mint~” and “Love Collection ~pink~” took #3 and #4 respectively in their second week, selling 51,841 and 49,859 to reach running totals of 199,217 and 196,523.
At #5, Ayaka-san’s “Asobu Oto Kurabu ~1st grade~” sold 17,661 in its second week to bring its total to 62,993.
Sonar Pocket’s “Sonar Pokeism SUPER BEST” saw 13,480 in sales at #6, also in its second week, and it now has a total of 58,918.
Close behind at #7, the Amachan compilation album from various artists had 13,288 copies sold. It’s three-week total is 112,797.
J-Everything 
I return from the dead (back at school and settled in after a few weeks)! From here on forward, I think that this post of mine should become regular again now that I once again have a normalized schedule, and I’m quite glad to be back. I’ve acquired so much music to share, I don’t even know where to begin, though I suppose that I’ll figure that out somehow. Anyway, some quick things worth noting before I get back into the swing of things. Firstly, Spitz had the advantage over Yamashita Tomohisa in every way in terms of this release, so I’m not surprised at all that they beat him (despite a decline in sales since their previous studio set three years ago). Secondly, and you mentioned this a few weeks back (I still read things), just to let you know, AKB48’s Koisuru Fortune Cookie was actually very popular with the general public – it just didn’t translate to physical sales, it translated to digital ones. The song topped the Recochoku charts for 5 weeks until EXILE’s “No Limit” dethroned it. Lastly – GO Southern All Stars! Highest selling non-idol single of the year (depending on whether you count EXILE PRIDE or not). Anyway, now onto this week’s exciting Ryusenkai Report!
To start off our Singles experience this week there’s an old friend of yours that refuses to go away. EXILE’s “EXILE PRIDE ~Konna Sekai wo Aisuru Tame~” has risen back to the top of the charts out of NOWHERE and sold another 80,279 copies today, enough for a commanding lead. Their Tour is pretty much over now, so I have NO idea where the spikes these past few weeks are coming from (they supposedly intend to release ANOTHER edition of this single in October – they REALLY want this thing to be a Million-seller). This one in particular baffles me, since it’s huge, and they have a new single coming out next week. Anyway, at #2 for the day is Maeda Atsuko’s “Time Machine Nante Iranai” with 28,137 copies sold today – she’s apparently not doing any events for this single, hence the massive drop from what you’d usually expect with 48-related idols. At #3 is boy-band Lead with “GREEN DAYS / strings” and 20,498 copies sold in its first day on the shelves – not a bad number for them. Also of note this week are Yuzu at #6 with “Tomo ~Tabidachi no Toki~”, Kazuyoshi Saito at #9 with “ALWAYS”, THE BACK HORN at #11 with “Battle Ima”, and JUJU at #12 with “Distance”.
Next, Albums. Starting off at the top spot this week we have AAA with “Eighth Wonder”, which has sold 17,786 copies in its first day. This is NOT a good number for them, though it might very well be enough to hold the #1 for the week, we shall see. At #2, and the album I’d like to see top the charts this week, is Kobuchi Kentaro (from Kobukuro) with “Tsumabiku Utagoe ~KOBUKURO songs, acoustic guitar instrumentals~”, which has sold 11,337 copies thus far this week, and received pretty good reviews. I can’t wait to take a crack at listening to this, and I think it would be interesting to see an instrumental album top the charts, but eh, we’ll see. Korean idol-band FTISLAND holds the third spot with 7,575 of their compilation “THE SINGLES COLLECTION” sold. Overall, pretty weak week albums-wise, with nothing to note otherwise.
Now, song recommendations. As per our previous agreement, I’ll limit myself to three songs a week, difficult though that may be. What better way to begin my triumphant return than with Yuzu’s new song, “Tomo ~Tabidachi no Toki~”. This song is a nice ballad which has a nice meaning and atmosphere to it; reminds me a lot of a graduation song, though given that it’s the theme for this year’s High School Music Competition in Japan, I’m not surprised. Nonetheless, please enjoy Tomo.
Next, I’m going to give you the title track off of Spitz’s new album, “Chiisana Ikimono”, which is brilliant, and probably my favorite album released thus far this year. It’s a great eclectic mix of pop-rock, classic rock, and some great experimentation, all set to the tune of Masamune’s wonderful vocals. All in all, the album is a great experience to listen to, and if you get a chance, I recommend that you do so yourself. As such, here’s a taste of what “Chiisana Ikimono” has to offer.
Lastly, I have quite the fitting closer. This ballad is a collaboration between flumpool and a very popular Taiwanese band, Mayday (who are looking to start releasing music in Japan). I actually like a good amount of material from both groups, so the fact that they were collaborating on a song was quite exciting. The song, titled “Belief ~Haru wo Matsu Kimi he~”, is sung entirely in English by both band’s vocalists, and makes use of every member of both groups. While this song doesn’t break any molds, I still like it a lot, and the styling for the PV is actually really, really nice. So, without further ado, here you are.
That concludes this week’s Ryusenkai Report! Be sure to let me know what you think of each of the songs (and anything else that you feel like talking about :p). It feels good to be back in the swing of things – let’s see if I can build up a pattern again.
Gah – I meant that Belief was sung entirely in Japanese, not English! Curse you late night posting!
Welcome back! Quite a resurrection – I thought you might be gone for good this time.
I don’t have a good read on Spitz album sales, so if you say they had a clear advantage, I’ll take your word for it. On “Koisuru Fortune Cookie”, it sure looks stronger than I thought it would be at first, and if most of the popularity translated to digital sales, the results are a good sign for the group as it makes its transition away from the big names in its first generation. I think I’d rather give the top-selling non-idol title to Southern All Stars. I’m borderline on whether EXILE is an idol group, though their second week sales tend to match idol numbers (less than 10%).
But before I give EXILE any title by virtue of “EXILE PRIDE” sales, I would really like to know how it had gotten the numbers it did – how it can be selling more in its nineteenth week than the average recent EXILE single sells in its first! And if it’s not their tour, then is there some declared rule that a person cannot claim to be an EXILE fan unless they buy a copy (or three copies . . .) of this single? I just want an answer!
Why is Maeda Atsuko-san not doing events for the single? I haven’t been keeping track of her activities, but that seems like an odd choice. Of course, considering the crazy situation at the top of the charts, I guess there was no point in her attempting to take #1.
Ouch on the AAA number – that’s surprisingly weak – but even bigger ouch that they might retain the top of the album chart with a number like that.
On Yuzu’s “Tomo ~Tabidachi no Toki~”, my first reaction is that the two of them look even younger than they did the last time I saw them, and they’ve never looked their age anyway. Good call on it being a graduation-style song. More broadly, it’s the kind of song they set as background music to touching montages – you know, like a retrospective of the year or one of tear-jerkers in the 24-hour TV telethon. It’s certainly a song with a purpose, so it was sort of a surprise that the video didn’t put it to that purpose – they should have done the montage thing.
Right away, Spitz’s “Chiisana Ikimono” has me with the strong vocal melody. I love a firm up-front delivery of a melody. It was contrasted well by the deliberately flat verses. The use of brass instruments was interesting – it’s fairly unusual have them in blended into the background like this. That was probably the most unconventional aspect of the song. I’ll give the album a try.
“Belief ~Haru wo Matsu Kimi he~” is a sweet, wintery song with a vague hope of spring – a theme the video itself does a great job of bringing out. Unfortunately, where I am in the Central Valley of California, it is still very much a scorching summer, and I’m actually hoping for some wintery relief from the heat. But that’s neither here nor there. As you noted, the song is nothing particularly noteworthy, though it’s a solid ballad and an interesting collaboration. It’s about two to three months too early for me, though.
Thanks so much for the pleasant surprise of your return! Please do keep sharing that music you’ve acquired!