These are the Top 10's for Japanese singles and albums that Oricon will publish tomorrow for week ending 2007-07-16.

 

 

Singles

 

http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/SRCL-6588-9.jpg

 

01　50,287　ERIKA - FREE (50,287)

02　38,635　Ayaka - Jewelry day (38,635)

03　35,028　Koda Kumi - FREAKY (143,377)

04　28,703　w-inds. - LOVE IS THE GREATEST THING (28,703)

05　27,383　abingdon boys school - Nephilim (27,383)

06　27,031　Ketsumeishi - Mata Kimi ni Aeru (105,305)

07　17,082　Toshihiko Takamizawa - Sen nen Romance (17,082)

08　13,811　MISIA - Any Love (13,811)

09　13,573　GReeeeN - Aiuta (147,748)

10　13,093　GARNET CROW - Namida no Yesterday (13,093)

 

 

Albums

 

http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/AVCD-23342-B.jpg

 

01　90,506　Namie Amuro - PLAY (341,125)

02　85,766　GReeeeN - A, Domo. Hajimema$h!te. (216,127)

03　33,007　the GazettE - STACKED RUBBISH (33,007)

04　32,203　ZARD - Golden Best ~15th Anniversary~ (766,201)

05　22,515　LOVE PSYCHEDELICO - GOLDEN GRAPEFRUIT (70,542)

06　22,076　melody. - READY TO GO! (22,076)

07　21,854　Various Artists - R35 Sweet J-Ballads (265,577)

08　19,783　KobuKuro - ALL SINGLES BEST (2,364,367)

09　16,843　Quruli - Tanz Walzer (70,723)

10　16,662　FictionJunction YUUKA - circus (16,662)

 

 

Ayaka made her debut in February 2006. Her first single "I Believe" turned into one of the years big sellers, finishing in 34th place on Oricon's Top 100 singles list for 2006. Later in the year she followed this success with another high selling single "Mikazuki" (number 49 slot on the year-end chart) and then released an acclaimed debut album "First Message" which went on to to sell over a million copies. Having so established herself as a major new musical talent in the world of Japanese pop, any new release from Ayaka is now greeted with considerable interest.

 

Erika Sawajiri started out as a glamour model and then dabbled with TV presenting. Later she got the chance to act in a TV drama series. And then another. Her public profile was raised considerably when she played the central role in the hugely successful drama "One Litre of Tears". After this success, she was asked to sing the title song for her next drama series "Taiyou no Uta". The song was released under the name of Sawajiri's character 'Karou Amane'. It promptly turned into one of the biggest hits of 2006, selling a little short of half-a-million and holding the No.1 spot for two separate weeks within the space of a month.

 

Last wednesday Ayaka and Erika Sawajiri went head to head. Ayaka released her fifth single "Jewelry Day" while Sawajiri released what is being marketed as her debut single "Free". Despite the fact that Karou Amane and Erika Sawajiri share a record company and a single set of vocal chords, Sony have divorced the two, re-branded Sawajiri under the name ERIKA, and completely avoided any mention of her previous chart success. Even Oricon are in on the act and have given Karou Amane and ERIKA separate artist numbers. The pre-release predictions, based upon interviews with consumer panels, was that Ayaka would have the highest new entry this week and that ERIKA's "Free" would be the 7th highest new entry.

 

Now, the sales figures are in. ERIKA takes the bouquet of red roses and Ayaka has to settle for the potted plant. For Sawajiri, this is something of a coup. With two No.1 hits from two releases, the former gravure idol has staked a fairly firm claim to being taken seriously as a singer.

 

Oricon:

Singles | daily rankings | weekly top 30

Albums | daily rankings | weekly top 30

 

Daily rankings are updated at noon (european time), new weekly charts are plubished each Wednesday.

Edited July 10, 200718 yr by Quaoar

thanks :D

 

I really dont get the whole ERIKA thing, why are they so concerned about linking her with her last single? Anyway, im glad ayaka managed to get to #2, jewelry Day is such a good song. I loved 'First Message' especially the sings & Real voice.

 

Kind of disappointed with the albums this week tbh :( PLAY sold less than QOHP's second week [ didn't GReeeeN get the #1 for the last day?], and Melody. didn't manage to beat the peaks of her last two albums. Glad ZARDS still sticking around though :D

 

in the near future im looking forward to the week of the 25th, Ayu is releasing, but I have a suspicion she may be beaten to #1, and plus nakanomori BANDS new single is out :wub:

While I'm happy to see Namie at No.1 for a second week, in some respects it's a little sad to see GReeeeN come so close. Another 5000 sales really would have put the icing on the cake. They've almost certainly missed their chance now since we have Arashi waiting in the wings next week. We should appreciate Namie while we can. She is starting a 53 date national tour next month which runs through until December. I guess that effectively means we will see little or nothing of her until early 2008. Looks like she's already spring-cleaned the tour bus.

 

melody. can now claim three straight Top 10 albums, which is no cause for embarasssment. "Sincerely" entered the chart at 3, ran for 13 weeks and had first week sales of 30k. "Be As One" entered at 5, had a 10 week run, with first week sales of 36k. This time she's done 22k so, yes, "Ready To Go" looks set to book slightly more modest sales than the previous two. I bought a copy of the "Be As One" tour DVD and ... it was disappointing. Not melody's fault. But the way the material in the DVD was edited was somewhat bizarre and it rather spoilt things. So this time I took my revenge on Toys Factory and grabbed "Ready To Go" as a freebie download.

 

I was pleased to see Yuki and Yuuka take the No.10 spot ... and Chiaki Ishikawa has a solo album set for release 22nd August.

 

Some Ayu stuff Max has blogged: video shoot | asian tour.

Edited July 10, 200718 yr by Quaoar