Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 09-07)

The top single for the past week was Hey! Say! JUMP’s “Weekender/Ashita e no YELL”, which sold 184,509 copies. That pretty much splits the difference between “AinoArika” (207,469) and “Ride With Me” (162,993), so it looks like this is the new standard for HSJ singles – around 185k in the first week.

“EXCUSE ME” from B.A.P took #2, selling 50,723 copies. If Wiki’s numbers are right, this is their best result on a Japanese single to date.

In at #3 was “Always with you” from Generations from EXILE TRIBE, which sold 44,777. Seems like a certain other single and album might have taken some sales away from this one, as this is lower than I would have expected from them.

Porno Graffiti’s “”Oretachi no Celebration” took #4 with 24,697 in sales.

At #5, “Kokoro no Placard” from AKB48 sold 21,546 copies to bring its two-week total to 1,027,320. That’s at the low end of second week expectations for a -48 family unit at 2%, which is already far below the normal 8-12 % I would look for.

In its sixth week, SKE48’s “Bukiyou Taiyou” popped from #21 to #8 by selling 14,896. Its new total is 435,645.

Nogizaka46 got a smaller bump-up in week nine of sales for “Natsu no Free & Easy”, going from #26 to #15, adding 6,477 for a grand total of 497,639.

The second week of sales for “Namida no Ato ga Kieru Koro” from V6 saw solid results at #16 – 6,355 more copies sold and 67,438 in total.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 08-31)

The top single for the past week was AKB48’s “Kokoro no Placard” (心のプラカード), which sold 1,005,774 copies. That’s the lowest first week sales figure for the group since “Sakura no Ki ni Narō” in 2011, which was the last single where they didn’t break into seven digits, but it’s still above a million. Can’t really muster much concern when the number’s that big.

V6 got the second slot with “Namida no Ato ga Kieru Koro”, which sold 61,083. That seems fairly strong, but I don’t have prior numbers for the group with me (and in this case, no numbers on Wikipedia).

At #4, “Eiyuu no Uta” from The ALFEE sold 32,493.

Taking #5 was Kuraki Mai-san’s “Muteki na Heart”, selling 25,990 copies.

Right behind, “Mamma Mia” from KARA sold 25,702, but the gap between #6 and #7 was an even closer shave, as SID’s “Enamel” saw 25,638 copies sold.

The second week of sales for Golden Bomber’s “Roller no Kizudarake” got it to #12 with an additional 14,785 in sales, pushing its total to 57,630. That’s a very strong second week after a lackluster first week.

“Another Future” from Kis-My-Ft2 sold 8,794 at #15 in week three, and now has a total of 250,473 – breaking platinum.

Week five for “Bukiyou Taiyou” saw the SKE48 single at #21, as it sold 6,594 to bring its total to 420,749.

Nogizaka46 is still in there with “Natsu no Free & Easy” at #26 in its eighth week. Its running total is 491,162, with a chance to break double platinum in three weeks.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 08-24)

The top single for the past week was EXILE TRIBE’s “The Revolution” which sold 321,879 copies. Now, I hate to be suspicious or anything, but that’s around three times what the group normally manages on a single, so either this is a whopper of a song (I haven’t heard it), or I have to suspect something fishy is going on. I probably wouldn’t be as suspicious if not for that blatantly manipulated single from EXILE last year. If you know the story behind this single, please provide details in the comments.

Facing the opposite situation, Golden Bomber did worse than they normally do on their New Year’s singles, though we haven’t seen a single from them released on a date other than January 1st since November 2011. “Roller no Kizudarake” (ローラの傷だらけ) sold 42,845 copies to take #2.

At #3, “Get Away/The Jolly Roger” from VAMPS sold 35,777.

Tackey & Tsubasa got #4 with “Dakinatsu” (抱夏－ダキナツ－) seeing 29,246 sold.

S/mileage was at #5 with their new single “Aa Susukino/Chikyu wa Kyo mo Ai o Hagukumu” (嗚呼 すすきの/地球は今日も愛を育む) selling 28,051.

The second week of sales for Kis-My-Ft2’s “Another Future” brought it to #6 with a very strong 26,997 copies sold for a total of 241,679.

“A-ha-ha! ~Chouzetsu Bakushou Ondo~” from Super Girls took #18, tacking on 6,984 to bring its two-week total to 48,369.

Taking #23 in its third week, “ER2” from Eight Ranger – the alter-ego of Kanjani8 – sold an additional 5,084 and now has a total of 231,889.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 08-17)

The top single for the past week was “Another Future” from Kis-My-Ft2, which sold 214,682 copies. This comes as the new single from Kis-My-Ft2 subunit Busaiku, “Ti-Ti-Ti-Terette Teretititi ~Dare no Ketsu”, is still in the standings at #20 and boasting a four-week total of 116,466. Having the two singles this close together probably skewed the numbers down a bit, but it’s hard to say how much.

L’Arc~en~Ciel took #2 with their single “Everlasting”, which saw 54,627 copies sold.

SKE48’s “Bukiyou Taiyou” held onto #3 by selling 46,145 to bring its three-week total to 409,535. That’s a pretty strong third week, so maybe the SKE48 fans are finally getting mobilized, or were otherwise holding out until now for reasons I can’t understand.

At #4, “A-ha-ha! ~Chouzetsu Bakushou Ondo~” from Super Girls sold 41,385.

“Odoru Ponpokorin” from E-girls got #5 with 31,777 sold.

The second week for sales of “ER2” from Eight Ranger – the Kanjani8 alter ego – saw 18,523 copies sold to boost its total to 226,805.

Week six for Nogizaka46’s “Natsu no Free & Easy” found it at #15, selling an additional 7,497 to get it to 481,533 in total.

ONE OK ROCK took #16 as their “Mighty Long Fall/Decision” sold 7,151 copies in its third week for a running total of 68,571.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 08-10)

The top single for the past week was “ER2” from the Kanjani8 alter-ego Eight Ranger, which sold 208,282 copies. Tough to judge this novelty act in the context of Kanjani8’s other releases.

Akanishi Jin-kun’s “Good Time” took #2, selling 39,746.

In its second week, SKE48’s “Bukiyou Taiyou” had a very strong second week for a -48 family group – selling 39,314, which was more than 11% of first week sales for a total of 363,390. If the goal among fans was to take the top spot for two consecutive weeks though (as has been mentioned, but I can’t verify), they badly miscalculated. Also, the combined first two weeks of sales for SKE48 did not match first week sales for their previous single, which initially sold 397k (which was already very weak). So, this looks like a dire situation for SKE48.

“Skeleton” from Super Junior Donghae & Eunhyuk was right behind at #4, selling 36,575.

At #5, STYLE FIVE’s “Future Fish” sold 32,460.

In some special coverage, Koda Kumi-san’s “HOTEL was at #7, selling 19,196 and T.M. Revolution’s “Tsuki Yabureru -Time to SMASH!” saw 13,588 copies sold at #8.

Week two for ONE OK ROCK’s “Mighty Long Fall/Decision” was very good, as it sold 10,750 copies at #12 to boost its total to 61,420.

Momoiro Clover Z’s “Moon Pride” also did relatively well in its second week, seeing 6,373 copies sold and taking #17. It now has a total of 56,713.