The top single for the past week was AKB48’s “Mae Shika Mukanee”, which saw 1,091,406 copies sold, which is in-line with expectations set by the first AKB single of the year for the past three years.

E-girls had a good showing with “Diamond Only” at #2, selling 72,808. That’s at exactly the same level as their previous two singles, so full marks for consistency.

At #3, Lead’s “Sakura” did well, selling 41,559.

AAA’s “Love” took #4 with 25,486 copies sold.

In its second week, “King of Otoko” from Kanjani8 sold only 20,761 at #5 to bring its total to 373,649. That’s just 6% of first week sales, and suggests some . . . interesting features . . . were involved in getting the first week number where it was.

“Bittersweet” from Arashi took #10 in its third week, tacking on 13,201 to push its total to 567,793.

Two instances of special coverage this week: Gouriki Ayame-san’s new single took #12 and sold 9,231 in its first week. Kondo Masahiko-san’s “Sennen Renbo” was at #22 and saw 5,003 copies sold.

As expected, it’s never safe to count Fukuda Kouhei-san’s “Nanbu Semishigure” out. It bounced back once again to #21, selling 5,134 to bring its seventy-one week total to 164,091. It’s sort of amazing that it’s only sold 164k after spending so long in the top 30.

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