Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 12-01)

The top single for the past week was Nogizaka46’s “Barrette” (バレッタ ) which scored an impressive 395,127 copies sold. They’re actually catching up to SKE48!

Tohoshinki took number two with “Very Merry Xmas”, selling 116,655 copies of this seasonal offering.

Perfume’s “Sweet Refrain” took #3 with 57,702 sold.

At #4, GLAY’s “Diamond Skin/Niji no Pocket/Crazy Dance” sold 37,517 copies officially, but they also have significant sales from their site not counted by Oricon.

In its second week, SKE48’s “Sansei Kawaii!” saw 34,475 additional copies sold at #6, bringing its total to 483,478.

I can’t resist mentioning mascot Funasshi’s Official Theme Song, which took #8 by selling 23,501. For now it looks like it won’t sell more than 50k, but who knows?

“Snow Dome no Yakusoku/Luv Sick” from Kis-My-Ft2 got #14 in its third week. It has now passed the 300k mark with 301,192 copies sold.

Taking #19 in its second week, Acid Black Cherry’s “Kuroneko ~Adult Black Cat~” sold 9,085 to push its total to 68,799.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 11-24)

SKE48’s “Sansei Kawaii!” (賛成カワイイ！) was the top single for the past week, selling 449,003 copies. That’s less than any of their singles since the start of 2012 and significantly less than what they sold in the first week on their past three singles. I’m sure there’s probably a reason for this, though I’m not sure what it might be.

On the flip side, E-girls came close to matching the phenomenal result they had on their previous single, which was released only a month and a half ago. Taking #2, “Kurukuru” sold 69,087 copies compared to 73k for “Gomennasai no Kissing You”, and that’s still around double what they tended to sell before their breakthrouth.

Also having a very good first week, Acid Black Cherry’s “Kuroneko ~Adult Black Cat~” saw 59,714 copies sold at #3.

At #4, Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku’s “Mikakunin Chugakusei X” looks quite strong with 46,045 sold.

“Pinky Santa” from BOYFRIEND took #5 by selling 35,198 copies.

Taking #6, 9nine’s “Re:” sold 30,934.

Kis-My-Ft2’s “Snow Dome no Yakusoku/Luv Sick” sold 21,921 copies to take #8, bringing its total to 290,303. That’s an average second week for them.

Upcoming J-Pop Releases – November 2013

The October line-up was a fairly strong one. Will November keep up the pace, or will artists hold off until we get closer to the holiday season? Actually, it looks like even though November lacks some of the marquee names like AKB48 and Arashi, the month boasts an even more impressive and diverse line-up than October, especially when it comes to acts with decades-long careers.

This list has selected single and album releases for the month, not all of them (i.e. releases from groups that I’m interested in tracking or at least recognize). My apologies if I missed a significant release  – please mention the artist and title in a comment and I’ll update the list.

More complete listings are available on merchant websites (I use CD Japan’s list).

November 6th

Ieiri Leo – Taiyo no Megami

Momoiro Clover Z – GOUNN

Akanishi Jin – #JUSTJIN (album)

Hottake Band – Sayonara Arigatou

Cute – Tokai no Hitori Gurashi/Aitte Motto Zanshin

SID – Anniversary

Kalafina – Kimi no Gin no Niwa

An Cafe – Hikagyaku Ziprock (album)

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu – Mottai Night Land

November 13th

Kis-My-Ft2 – SNOW DOME no Yakusoku/Luv Sick

Generations from EXILE TRIBE – Generations (album)

Yuzu – Ame Nochi Hallelujah / Mamotte Agetai

IDOLING!!! – SHOUT!!!

Koda Kumi – Dreaming Now!

THE ALFEE – GLORIOUS

LUNA SEA – Ran

Kimura Kaela – Rock (album)

RIP SLYME – SLY

Becky# – New Single (Title TBA)

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 01-13)

The story of this week was new releases washing out most of the old singles that bounced up in the vacuum last week, and in the clear lead of all the new singles was “Mystery Virgin” from Yamada Ryosuke-kun, selling a whopping 188,862 – around double my original estimate. That made Yamada-kun the first male teen solo artist to top the chart in 32 years – since his dai-senpai Kondo Masahiko-san did it. There’s a chance we’ll see it break platinum before it departs the top 30, especially if the extraordinary promotion effort keeps up for a couple of weeks.

ONE OK ROCK‘s “Deeper Deeper/Nothing Helps” took the number two spot with 43,812 in sales.

“REASON” from Yuzu was right behind with 41,912.

In its second week, “Dance My Generation” from Golden Bombers added 14,625 at #7 to bring its total to 139,452.

Nogizaka46‘s “Seifuku no Mannequin” was at #8 with 12,606 for a total of 276,155.

AKB48‘s “Eien Pressure” took #16 in its sixth week, with a grand total of 1,181,736 copies sold.

In a sudden resurgence back into the top 20, Nakayama Yuma-kun’s “Missing Piece” took #17 adding 5,212 to its sales. Unfortunately, I’ve lost track of its total.

AKB48’s “UZA” was at #19 in its eleventh week, bringing its total to 1,237,293. I wonder if we’ll get a singles crossover, with the older “UZA” overtaking “Eien Pressure” next week.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 01-06)

The number one single for the past week was “Dance My Generation” from Golden Bombers, capitalizing on their Kouhaku performance to get a strong 124,827 in sales.

Otherwise, it was a deliberately slow week for sales, which let a lot of singles that had left the top 30 to creep back in. In general, it doesn’t look like people went out to buy singles this week, though they certainly went for the albums.

AKB48’s “Eien Pressure” was at #2, but only sold 10,156 in its fifth week to get there, showing how lackluster a week it was on the singles side. The total for “Eien Pressure” is now at 1,175,683. “UZA” was at #8 with a ten-week total of 1,233,051.

Nogizaka46’s “Seifuku no Mannequin” added 10,039 at #3, bringing its total to 263,549.

“REVERSI” took #5 for UVERworld with a two-week total of 48,163.

Momoiro Clover Z climbed back to #6 in the midst of the release vacuum, as “Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimi tachi yo” has held in the rankings for seven weeks, selling 115,286 in that time. Its sales this week were roughly equal to those last week, so any Kouhaku-related bounce was moderate.

At #9 was “Rock Your Soul” from V6, adding 4,571 in its second week for a total of 59,726. That’s a somewhat weak follow-through, but somewhat expected considering the limited promotion backing up the single.

NMB48’s “Kitagawa Kenji” joined in the New Year bounce, taking #10 and passing the 400k mark for a total of 402,370 after nine weeks.

“Ai no Beat” from Kis-My-Ft2 was at #12, selling 305,595 after eight weeks.

EXILE ATSUSHI was right behind with “MELROSE” now totaling 123,643.