Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 09-28)

The top single for the past week was “Hikaeme I Love You!” (控えめ I love you!) from HKT48, which saw 277,534 copies sold. That’s the best first week result for the group, narrowly continuing their streak of growth.

Fudanjuku was at #2 with “BE HERO” selling 32,248.

Taking #3 in its second week, “Midaretemina” from 2PM had a very good second week – selling 14,374 to pass the gold mark, reaching 109,471.

“Tokyo Victory” by Southern All Stars got #9 with 8,273 sold in its third week, and now boasts a total of 119,386 copies sold.

Right behind was Nogizaka46’s “Natsu no Free & Easy” which now has a twelve-week total of 516,931.

Hikawa Kiyoshi-san’s “Choito Kimagure Watari Dori” took #14, selling 6,206 in week two to bring its total to 59,338.

In its second week, “Omoide Breaker” from Lead sold a solid 5,556 for a running total of 48,783 sold.

At #26, Hey! Say! JUMP’s “Weekender/Ashita e no YELL” added 3,351 to its total, getting it to 207,448 in its fourth week.

AKB48’s “Kokoro no Placard” is still hanging out – taking #28, now with 1,042,729 copies sold in total after five weeks.

“Geragerapo no Uta” from King Cream Soda found itself at #29, which sold 2,894 to boost its twenty-two week total to 116,285.

The album side was thinner than it has been in a while. SHINee got #1 with “I’m Your Boy”, which sold 45,053 copies.

“TRAD” from Takeuchi Mariya-san was at #2 in its third week, still going strong by selling 25,055. Its fresh total is 192,449.

Ariana Grande’s “My Everything” bounced up to #5 by selling 13,165, and its five-week total is 76,253.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 09-21)

The top single for the past week was . . . EXILE TRIBE’s “THE REVOLUTION” which popped up from #129 to #1 in its fifth week by selling 156,271 copies to boost its total to 483,062. Really? Well, there’s no doubt at this point that we have some crazy manipulation on this one, since this is nothing like a normal sales curve. Even if the single sold just 100k in its first week, it shouldn’t have ended up all the way out of the top 100 in just its fourth week. And just like with that EXILE single a while back, it looks like the net goal is to get in the year-end top 10 by pushing everyone else up to and including Arashi, SKE48, and Nogizaka46 down a step.

If not for the EXILE TRIBE jump, it would have been 2PM’s “Midaretemina” at the top. As it was, it had to settle for #2 with 95,097 copies sold.

Hikawa Kiyoshi-san’s “Choito Kimagure Watari Dori” took #3, selling a solid 53,132.

At #4, “Omoide Breaker” from Lead sold 43,227.

“Sayonara no Mae ni” from AAA saw 25,018 copies sold at #5.

Southern All Stars saw their latest single, “Tokyo Victory”, take #6 in its second week. It sold a very strong 18,468 to boost its total to 111,113.

In its eleventh week, Nogizaka46’s “Natsu no Free & Easy” tacked on 6,598 in sales at #13, bringing its total to 508,856.

Taking #15 in its third week, Hey! Say! JUMP’s “Weekender/Ashita e no Yell” got above 200k, selling 5,528 to reach a total of 204,097 copies sold.

“Highschool Love” from E-girls took #19, selling 4,540 to bring its two week total to 65,586.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 02-02)

The real flood of big releases starts next week, but the standings were flooded with lesser known names this week taking an opportunity to vie for a good ranking, effectively clearing out most of the lingerers from 2013.

The number one single for the past week was a big one, though – Morning Musume’s “Egao no Kimi wa Taiyou sa/Kimi no Kawari wa Iyashinai/What is LOVE?” had the group’s best opening week since “Do It! Now” in 2002 (a claim also made by the group’s previous single until this one surpassed it). It saw 149,361 copies sold, continuing the recovery after the group’s dry period between 2005 and 2012.

Hikawa Kiyoshi-san’s new single “Otone Nagare Tsuki” (大利根ながれ月) did well at #2, selling 46,312.

At #3, Amuro Namie-san’s “TSUKI” sold 42,021 copies.

“Kimi no Tonari” from aiko-san took #5, selling 36,654.

Taking #9, Ieiri Leo-san’s “Chocolate” saw 18,047 copies sold.

In its second week, “Snow Magic Fantasy” from SEKAI NO OWARI got #11 by selling a very strong 16,237 copies to bring its total to 116,278.

Kanjani8 got #15 as “Hibiki” had 7,472 copies sold to bring its three-week total to 234,987.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 11-03)

The top single for the past week was AKB48’s “Heart Ereki” (ハート﹒エレキ), which sold 1,203,586 copies in its first week, which is within the rather wide expected range for AKB48.

Sandaime J Soul Brothers from EXILE TRIBE saw their “Fuyu Monogatari” (冬物語) take #2 by selling 67,939.

At #3, ClariS’ “Colorful” (カラフル) looks like it’ll be able to crack 50k, since it managed 39,446 in its first week.

“A Little Bit” from w-inds might also manage 50k in the long run. For now, it can boast 35,391 copies sold at #4.

TOKIO’s “Hontondoko/Future” took #6, selling 17,846.

In its second week, “Kakumei Dualism” from Mizuki Nana-san and T.M. Revolution was at #7, adding 15,863 copies for a total of 96,638.

“Mada Namida ni Naranai Kanashimi ga/Koi wa Nioeto Chirinuru wo” from KinKi Kids tacked on 15,449 at #8 to bring its two-week total to 193,797.

2PM’s “Winters Games” got #17 and now has a three-week total of 124,839.

I vowed not to mention EXILE’s “EXILE PRIDE ~Konna Sekai wo Koisuru Tame~” reaching seven digits, but no worries yet. Taking #18, its twenty-four week total is 996,898.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 10-27)

The top single for the past week was KinKi Kids’ “Mada Namida ni Naranai Kanashimi ga/Koi wa Nioeto Chirinuru wo” (I hope I got that right) which sold 178,348 copies. I think that’s the pair’s best first week result since “Secret Code” in 2008, but I’m missing some information. Anyway, it’s certainly an excellent showing, and continued evidence of KinKi Kids’ phenomenal longevity and consistency.

“Kakumei Dualism” from Mizuki Nana-san and T.M. Revolution took #2, selling a decent 80,775 copies. That’s not as good as their previous collaboration, but nothing to sneeze at.

Apparently EXILE decided to do a re-release of “EXILE PRIDE ~Konna Sekai wo Koisuru Tame~” less than six months after its original release. That boosted it from #105 to #3 as they managed to distribute 52,579 additional copies to bring the single’s total . . . to bring the single’s total to 991,608. Of course, they did this just to annoy me, and I’m not going to take it anymore! They clearly want to force their way to a million seller by whatever means necessary, but this is the last time I’m going to mention this blasted single. Sorry, EXILE fans, but I’m no longer tracking this puppy – I’m going to close my eyes and hum loudly as it crosses into seven digit territory.

At #4, Nishino Kana-san’s “Sayonara” saw 22,820 copies sold.

RADWIMPS‘ “Gogatsu no Hae/Last Virgin” had a very strong second week, taking #6 by selling 10,816 copies to bring its total to 54,110.

Right behind at #7, 2PM’s “Winter Games” now has a two-week total of 119,015.

“Halloween Party” by the collaboration group Halloween Junky Orchestra continued its re-release pop a year after its first release, taking #9 with a new total of 132,451.