Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 07-21)

The top single for the past week was SKE48’s “Utsukushii Inazuma” (美しい稲妻 – Lovely Lightning), which is another double platinum for the group, selling 510,673 copies. That’s a little lighter than their previous single, “Choco no Dorei”, but well within the expected range.

At #2, aiko-san’s “Loveletter/Shigatsu no Ame” (Ｌｏｖｅｌｅｔｔｅｒ/４月の雨) sold 43,682.

Linked Horizon’s “Jiyuu e no Shingeki” continued to go very strong, adding 29,747 – more than 20% of first week sales – to score a two-week total of 158,857 at #3.

Bouncing up from #9 to #5, Nogizaka46’s “Girl’s Rule” tacked on 15,894 to bring its three-week total to 370,688.

After a striking first week, “Burning Up” from EXILE TRIBE (Sandaime J Soul Brothers vs GENERATIONS) floated back down to a much more normal EXILE second week – selling 10,498 more for a total of 274,123 at #7. That has me wondering if there was something interesting going on with the first week sales – 4% on the second week raises some questions. Still, it could just be that everybody rushed to get it immediately.

Ikimonogakari had a very strong 20%+ second week with “Egao” at #9. The single’s total is now 39,836.

Also in its second week, Watanabe Mayu-san’s “Rappa Renshuchu” was at #10 and has a 75,379 copy sales total.

EXILE TAKAHIRO’s “Issen-ichi Byou” stayed in the standings in its fourth week, passing gold at #18. It now has a total of 102,087.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 07-14)

Last week’s top single was “Burning Up” from EXILE TRIBE (Sandaime J Soul Brothers vs GENERATIONS), which easily surpassed the platinum mark, selling 263,625. I trust this is a legit number and they didn’t play any of the tricks we saw with that EXILE single, in which case this is an amazing result.

Linked Horizon took #2 with “Jiyuu e no Shingeki” (自由への進撃), also getting a phenomenal result with 129,110 copies sold.

At #3, Watanabe Mayu-san’s “Rappa Renshuchu” (ラッパ練習中) had the worst showing of any of her singles so far – 67,329 copies sold.

On the other hand, “Kanashiki Amefuri / Adam to Eve no Dilemma” (悲しき雨降り／アダムとイブのジレンマ) from C-ute scored the group’s best first week in 21 major label releases, selling 60,592.

In special coverage, Ikimonogakari’s “Egao” sold 31,324 at #5, Dreams Come True’s “Saa Kane wo Narase/Made of Gold” got #6 with 21,487 copies sold, and Gouriki Ayame-san’s debut, “Tomodachi Yori Daiji na Hito” didn’t get quite the support that I thought it would, selling 20,429 at #7.

Nogizaka46’s “Girl’s Rule” only managed a 5% second week, adding 17,656 to its total at #9 to bring its total to 354,794.

“Ahead/Replay” from VAMPS got a solid second week at #17 with 11% of first week sales. It’s new total is 55,946.

In its third week, “Issen-ichi Byou” from EXILE TAKAHIRO took #21 and is now within spitting distance of gold – a total of 98,922 copies sold.

Hey! Say! JUMP‘s “Come On A My House” was at #24, and its three-week total is 233,462.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 12-09)

Last week’s number one singles was AKB48’s “Eien Pressure” (永遠プレッシャー), selling 1,073,499. It had  a weak day two, which suggested that they would barely scrape past 1 million, but recovered to come close to the top of the adjusted range (975k to 1075k). This represents underperformance compared to the numbers they have previously set (which would have suggested 1225k to 1375k ), but is within the pattern set by the last two singles. They’ll need to recover in their next two singles, though, or the trend is going to look pretty grim. They’ll be less juggernaut and more behemoth.

EXILE ATSUSHI’s “Melrose ~Aisanai Yakusoku~” took #2 selling 92,168, which is a good showing for a solo effort.

GLAY took the third and fourth spots with “Justice [from] Guilty” and “Unmeiron” (運命論 – fatalism) posting 46,031 and 45,718 respectively.

The fifth spot went to “MONSTERS” from The MONSTERS – the temporary unit of Katori Shingo-san and Yamashita Tomohisa-kun, adding a respectable 22,624 for a two-week total of 182,763.

“Brave It Out” from Generations moved closer to gold, adding 9,093 at #11 in its third week for a total of 88,230.

Kobukuro’s “Kami Hikouki” tacked on a very good 7,629 at #13 for a total of 47,697 after two weeks.

Momoiro Clover Z are inches away from their second gold single, as “Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimitachi yo” took #15, bringing its three-week total to 94,636.

AKB48’s “UZA” continued at #20 even as their new single topped the charts. It’s total is now at 1,215,079.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 12-02)

The number one single last week was “MONSTERS” from The MONSTERS – a temporary team of SMAP‘s Katori Shingo-san and solo Johnny’s member Yamashita Tomohisa-kun put together for their drama of the same name. The single sold 160,139 in its first week, which was certainly stronger than I expected (looking for 120k-150k), and also above what you’d expect given the weakness in the drama’s ratings.

Kobukuro‘s “Kami Hikouki” (紙飛行機 – paper airplane) took the number two spot, selling 40,068. Kobukuro’s fans are strongly tilted towards album-buying, so the sales figures for their singles don’t really reflect much.

Boyfriend was at #3 with “Kimi to Dance Dance Dance” selling 37,800. FTISLAND was right behind, with 35,260 copies of “Polar Star” sold.

Watanabe Mayu-san’s “Hikaru monotachi” broke gold in its second week, adding a strong 16,498 at #8 for a total of 108,405.

Momoiro Clover Z was right behind at #9, as “Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimi yo” sold 14,038 in its second week, bring its total to 87,783.

Kis-My-Ft2 took #15 with “Ai no Beat” adding 7,743 in its third week, making the running total 287,105.

Weekly Oricon Rankings (Ending 11-25)

The number one single last week was “Hikaru monotachi” (ヒカルものたち) from Watanabe Mayu-san, which sold an impressive 91,907 – very good for a solo release. If she manages to get a 10% second week, she’ll break gold in the coming week.

Momoiro Clover Z‘s “Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimi yo” (サラバ、爱しき悲しみたちよ) also had a good first week at #2 with 73,745 copies sold.

“Brave It Out” from Generations took #3, selling 71,932.

Shoujo Jidai’s “Flower Power” scored what can only be described as a grave disappointment, selling only 29,065 copies at #5 in its first week. Perhaps some potential buyers held off, waiting for the release of their album today to purchase both at the same time, but even then it’s going to be a significant drop-off.

Kis-My-Ft2 was at #7 in the second week of “Ai no Beat” sales, adding 20,453 for a total of 279,362. That’s a mildly disappointing second week.

2PM’s “Masquerade” was right behind at #8, with its two-week total 149,723.

An event gave Nakayama Yuma-kun’s “Missing Piece” a boost, bringing in 12,340 sales in its fourth week to pull it up from #30 to #13. It’s total now stands at 64,540. That surge was good enough to temporarily put it ahead of AKB48‘s “UZA”, which was released in the same week.

“UZA” from AKB48 held #15, cracking 1.2 million with 1,202,890 copies sold after four weeks.