Quaoar

Tsunku riding shotgun for two hurriedly arranged weddings ... :lol: I've never been a big fan of the full-blown momusu, but both Mini Moni and W were adoreable. Not sure I share your optimism. Ai's second week sales. Up against a brand new bunch of dancing Johnnies in tight trousers ... I don't know the full story. あみん (Aming) are Haruko Kato and Takako Okamura. They won a high profile talent contest in the autumn 1981 and then released several singles and 2 albums during 1982/3. Takako Okamura has been in the music business the whole time (30 singles and 23 albums as a solo artist) but she seems to have coaxed her former partner out of retirement to celbrate their 25th anniveasary. They have a small tour planned for late August and early September. Their debut single was "Matsuwa" (written by Takako Okamura) which was later covered by TsujiKago as a track for the first W album.

Mainly because of the unstructured departure of Miki Fujimoto from the group just 17 days after she had been appointed as the new leader of Morning Musume. Add to that the knock-on effects of not wholly positive publicity following the sacking of Ai Kago, and the unplanned exit of Nozomi Tsuji, from the Hello! Project. That said, no real harm has been done. First week sales of "Onna ni Sachi Are" are higher than those for "Aruiteru" (their most recent No.1) and my hunch is that Ai Takahashi will prove to be a better leader than Fujimoto would have been.

These are the Top 10's for singles and albums that Oricon will publish tomorrow, for week ending 2007-08-06. ~Singles~ http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/AVCD-31269-B.jpg 01　 68,346　 Ai Otsuka - PEACH / HEART　 (68,346) 02　 43,364　 Morning Musume - Onna ni Sachi Are　 (43,364) 03　 30,432　 RIP SLYME - Nettaiya　 (30,432) 04　 23,826　 Ayumi Hamasaki - Glitter / Fated　 (133,991) 05　 22,710　 ORANGE RANGE - Ikenai Taiyou　 (86,805) 06　 20,549　 Kazuya Yoshii - Shine and Eternity　 (20,549) 07　 13,450　 Porno Graffitti - Link　 (103,840) 08　 11,879　 SEAMO - Fly Away　 (11,879) 09　 11,691　 Kazuki Kato - Instinctive Love　 (11,691) 10　 11,426　 Akira Kogami & Minoru Shiraishi - Aimai Net Darling　 (11,426) Ai Otsuka made her debut in 2003. Her second single "Sakuranbo" was a major hit which spent a total of 103 weeks on the chart. The slighty quirky singer has continued to maintain a high profile ever since. "Peach / Heart" is her 16th single and now provides her with a third No.1 hit. After a slightly awkward first-half to 2007, girl group Morning Musume make a return to the charts. Their 34th single "Onna ni sachi are" takes this week's runner-up spot. In terms of singles sales, Oricon reported in May this year that Morning Musume had become Japan's highest selling girl group, beating the 11,037,000 cumulative figure for singles previously set by Pink Lady. ~Albums~ http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/SRCL-6603.jpg 01　 214,149　 ORANGE RANGE - RANGE　 (214,149) 02　 210,804　 ORANGE RANGE - ORANGE　 (210,804) 03　 *82,308　 MONKEY MAJIK - Sora wa Marude　 (82,308) 04　 *72,160　 KinKi Kids - 39　 (373,232) 05　 *53,605　 BONNIE PINK - Thinking Out Loud　 (53,605) 06　 *47,427　 Cocco - Kira Kira　 (47,427) 07　 *33,379　 FIRE BALL - THE BEST OF FB　 (33,379) 08　 *32,038　 GReeeeN - A, Domo. Hajimema$h!te.　 (360,710) 09　 *31,048　 SUM 41 - Underclass Hero　 (93,656) 10　 *21,519　 Namie Amuro - PLAY　 (459,590) Orange Range take the top two positions with their double 'greatest hits' release. After 4 studio albums and 18 singles, this 5 piece band (was originally 6) from Okinawa felt they had enough recyclable material to justify two CDs. Their four studio albums have already booked an impressive total of 9.5 million sales and it remains to be seen just how many fans will want to buy the tracks all over again. Canadian/Japanese 4-piece band Monkey Majik take what is effectively this week's runner-up spot. Lead singer Maynard Plant moved from Ottawa to Sendai to take a job as an English teacher, but soon discovered being a pop-star was more fun. The band started out modestly in 2002, recording for a small independent label, but eventually signed to Avex Trax at the begining of 2006. Their major label debut album "Thank You" reached No.5 in May 2006 and new release "Sora wa Marude" has now gone two places better. A curiosity from further down the chart. Female duo Aming make an appearance at No.24 this week with their third album "In The Prime". Their second album "Memorial" was released 1983-12-20 ... a gap of 23 years 5 months between successive albums releases. New Releases - Singles Hey! Say! - Hey! Say! 7 Spitz - Gunjyou Aqua Times - Alones FLOW - Answer A slightly indistinguished slate of singles releases with new boy-band Hey! Say! 7 thought to have a small but insecure lead over the rest of the pack. New Releases - Albums Sukima Switch - Greatest Hits A first greatest hits offering from male duo Sukima Switch looks certain to take top honours on next weeks album chart. 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.

Arashi did 190,870 for their first week. [last week] Yes, there is some sort of preview of "Beautiful World" out on the net. You shouldn't have too much trouble finding it. The Orange Range albums will easily take No.1 & 2 next week, but extrapolating on first day figures only (which tends to be inaccurate) we might be looking at 130K sales for each album at week's end. Bonnie Pink will get a Top 5 slot. Given the current state of singles sales I'm inclined to view anything over 100k for the first week as 'good'. Did "A BEST 2" really under-perform? Ayu had already sold 44 million CDs, and this latest re-packaging exercise looks like adding another 1.5 million to that total.

From the "Globe&Mail": http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ertainment/home

These are the Top 10's for singles and albums that Oricon will publish tomorrow, for week ending 2007-07-30. ~Singles~ http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/AVCD-31274-B.jpg 01　110,165　浜崎あゆみ (Ayumi Hamasaki) - Glitter / Fated　(110,165) 02　*90,390　ポルノグラフィティ (Porno Grafitti) - Link　(90,390) 03　*64,095　ORANGE RANGE - Ikenai Taiyo　(64,095) 04　*32,003　Acid Black Cherry - Spell Magic　(32,003) 05　*24,892　AAA - Natsu Mono　(24,892) 06　*21,830　AKB48 - Bingo!　(21,830) 07　*18,811　ERIKA - Free　(97,166) 08　*18,180　木村カエラ (Kaela Kimura) - Samantha　(18,180) 09　*13,366　清木場俊介 (Shunsuke Kiyokiba) - Saigo no Yoru　(13,366) 10　*13,166　清木場俊介 (Shunsuke Kiyokiba) - Itsukakan Bakkureyo　(13,166) ~Albums~ http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/5496/kinkicn0138vv9.jpg 01　301,072　KinKi Kids - 39　(301,072) 02　*62,608　SUM 41- Underclass Hero　(62,608) 03　*52,184　GReeeeN - A, Domo. Hajimema$h!te.　(328,762) 04　*39,070　安室奈美恵 (Namie Amuro) - Play　(438,071) 05　*30,930　嵐 (Arashi) - Time　(221,800) 06　*23,750　Various Artists - R35 Sweet J-Ballads　(313.933) 07　*20,110　RYO the SKYWALKER - One-Der Land　(20,110) 08　*19,432　MEGARYU - Jet Kiryu　(48,958) 09　*16,867　高見沢俊彦 (Toshihiko Takamizawa) - Kaleidoscope　(16,867) 10　*16,577　中孝介 (Kosuke Atari) - Yurai Bana　 (36,654) Nine new singles in the Top 10. Ayumi Hamasaki's 41st single provides her with her 28th No.1 hit. KinKi Kids greatest hits album "39" tops the album chart with first week sales of just over 300k. "Underclass Hero" from Sum 41 matches the performance of "Chuck" which also reached the No.2 spot in October 2004. http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2176/kinkikidsguinness25ls9.jpg Last week the boss of Guinness World Records, Alistair Richards, flew to Tokyo and presented to KinKi Kids in person the certificate for 25 consecutive No1 hits at a ceremony held 21st July. KinKi Kids debut single "Glass no Syonen" was released 21 July 1997 and booked total sales of 1,786,270. [Oricon] http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/594/kinkikids01le4.jpg KinKi Kids are Tsuyoshi Domoto and Koichi Domoto. Despite having the same family name they are not related, but have jokingly named their TV show "The Domoto Brothers". New Releases - Singles Ai Otsuka - Peach / Heart Morning Musume - Onna ni Sachi Are SEAMO - Fly Away RIP SLYME - Nettaiya New Releases - Albums Orange Range - Orange Orange Range - Range Cocco - Kira Kira Bonnie Pink - Thinking out loud Monkey Majik - Sora wa Marude Orange Range are favourites to head next weeks album chart, but it is unclear which of the two greatest hits albums they are releasing is likely to pevail. The race for the singles chart is open. All of the singles releases listed above are possible No.1 contenders. 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.

Monthly Download Chart (June) http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/UPCH-80019.jpg 01　GReeeeN - Aiuta 02　Keisuke Kuwata - A$h!ta Harerukana 03　KobuKuro - eien ni tomo ni 04　Ayaka - Jewelry Day 05　Funky Monkey Babys - Chippoke na Yuki 06　Dreams Come True - Kimi ni shika Kikoenai 07　Namie Amuro - Hide & Seek 08　Koda Kumi - Freaky 09　Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend 10　Leah Dizon - Koi Shiyo RIAJ have today published the monthly download chart for June. This chart is a summation of three types of download: 45 second ringtonesfull songs to mobile phonefull songs to PCJune Download chart: 1 - 50 | 51 - 100 PC downloads account for about 10% of the total. Full songs to mobile phone are a further 30% and 45 second ringtones account for the remaining 60%. EMI have also seen fit to make this press release about the download sales of Utada Hikaru's "Flavor of Life" single.

Oricon counts physical CD sales, so you have just compared UK physicals+downloads with Japanese physicals-only. All being well, RIAJ will publish the monthly download rankings for June later this week - but the monthly download chart comes without any sales numbers.

These are the Top 10's for Japanese singles and albums that Oricon will publish tomorrow for week ending 2007-07-23. Singles http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/TFCC-89216.jpg 01　45,085　Golden Circle - Music (45,085) 02　36,914　Tokyo Jihen - OSCA (36,914) 03　34,029　Sukima Switch - Marine Snow (34,029) 04　28,068　ERIKA - FREE (78,355) 05　23,810　ºC-ute - Meguru Koi no Kisetsu (23,810) 06　17,759　Micro of Def Tech - HANA Uta (17,759) 07　17,011　Koda Kumi - FREAKY (160,388) 08　15,655　Ayaka - Jewelry Day (54,290) 09　15,372　Ketsumeishi - Mata Kimi ni Aeru (120,677) 10　13,875　SID - Natsukoi (13,875) Albums http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/9477/20070723albumdy2.jpg 01　190,870　Arashi - Time (190,870) 02　*60,361　GReeeeN - A, Domo. Hajimema$h!te. (276,488) 03　*57,876　Namie Amuro - PLAY (399,001) 04　*29,526　MEGARYU - Jet Kiryu (29,526) 05　*28,216　VA - Lucky Star Ending Theme Collection ~Aru Hi no Karaoke Box~ (28,216) 06　*24,606　VA - R35 Sweet J-Ballads (290,183) 07　*20,077　Kosuke Atari - Yurai Bana (20,077) 08　*19,804　ZARD - Golden Best ~15th Anniversary~ (786,065) 09　*16,896　KobuKuro - ALL SINGLES BEST (2,381,263) 10　*16,511　Bon Jovi - Lost Highway (161,734) "Music" by 'Golden Circle' takes the singles chart No.1 spot this week. A colaboration between Yohito Teraoka, Yumi Matsutoya and male duo Yuzu, this single is a spin-off from the annual 'Golden Circle' live event which is currently celebrating it's 10th aniversary. Boy-band Arashi take top honours in the album chart with their 7th album "Time". Yumi Matsutoya is something of a legend in the world of Japanese pop. Second only to Ayumi Hamasaki in terms of total career sales, she is one of the original j-pop artists and helped establish the genre as a regular component of the Japanese music industry. She has been topping the charts, off and on, ever since her debut in 1972 and is currently busy with her 2007 nationwide tour. New Releases - Singles Ayumi Hamasaki - Glitter / Fated After fuelling the gossip columns this week with news of her split from boy-friend of 7 years, Tomoya Nagase (lead singer of pop group TOKIO), it's back to business next week for Ayumi Hamasaki with her first single release for 13 months. So far this year Koda Kumi is leading Ayu in terms of total sales and double A-side "Glitter/Fated" will need to sell better than 200k to put the two of them on level terms. Porno Graffiti - Link Rock duo Porno Graffiti are probably the only people with an outside chance of raining on Ayu's parade. "Link" will be their 22nd single and is follow-up to No.1 hit "Winding Road". New Releases - Albums KinKi Kids - 39 "39" is a greatest hits album from KinKi Kids and is part of their 10th anniversary celebrations. Exactly how do you select your 'greatest hits' when you have had 25 consecutive No.1 singles? Well, the answer was to allow the fans to choose their favourite songs. This release is a three CD set and 39 is the total number of songs included in the package. It ought not to require too much mental effort to realise that this album is likely to flatten the opposition in the quest for next week's album chart No.1. 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.

The Media Traffic figure is wrong. Those are correct Oricon figures posted at Livedoor. And even though Japanese albums don't sell big outside Japan, they do sell in other SE-Asian markets, especially in Taiwan, so the worldwide sales for an album like "Home" are higher than the Japan-only figure.

The "Home" album from rock group Mr. Children, released 14th March 2007, had a 14 week run in the Japanese Top 40 and finished that run with total sales of 1,129,555. It's dropped out of the Top 40 now but is still currently selling about 3000 copies per week. The chart for the week "Home" last appeared in the Top 40 is here.

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.

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.

Worldwide: physicals down 11%, downloads up 85%. IFPI: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1047912007

I confess my delight at seeing Namie at No.1 was one of the things that prompted me to make a post this week - and with quater of a million first week sales as well. Last week was a low selling week for albums. Crystal's first week sales were 51k, so the drop to 33k this week is about what you would expect. Despite it's No.1 position, "All Yours" may not quite match the sales total booked by "Call Me Miss". Oricon have posted a special report for ZARD, including sales figures as they stood at the end of May. The "Golden Best" compilation has sold an additional 245,000 copies in the five weeks since. ~edit~ Erika Sawajiri has got the No.1 on the new daily rankings. Ayaka is down at 4. That must put a nose or two out of joint. Suddenly this week's singles look more interesting than I expected ...

These are the singles and albums Top 10's that Oricon will publish tommorrow for week ending 2007-07-09. Singles http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/RZCD-45616-B.jpg 01　108,349　Koda Kumi - FREAKY (108,349) 02　*78,274　Ketsumeishi - Mata Kimi ni Aeru (78,274) 03　*30,517　Shoko Nakagawa - Sorairo Days (30,517) 04　*22,442　Berryz Kobo - Kokuhaku no Funsui Hiroba (22,442) 05　*19,754　Yuna Ito with Micro of Def Tech - Mahaloha (19,754) 06　*18,406　GReeeN - Aiuta (134,175) 07　*13,888　YUI - My Generation/Understand (115,523) 08　*13,048　Keisuke Kuwata - A$h!ta Harerukana (326,278) 09　*11,257　Gackt - Returner ~Yami no Shuen~ (54,532) 10　*11,159　Masafumi Akikawa - Sen no Kaze ni Natte (953,273) Albums http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/AVCD-23342-B.jpg 01　250,619　Namie Amuro - PLAY (250,619) 02　130,361　GReeeeN - A, Domo. Hajimema$h!te (130,361) 03　*53,880　Quruli - Tanz Walzer (53,880) 04　*52,653　ZARD - Golden Best ~15th Anniversary (734,058) 05　*48,027　LOVE PSYCHEDELICO - Golden Grapefruit (48,027) 06　*39,210　Teppei Koike - pieces (39,210) 07　*37,451　Crystal Kay - ALL YOURS (88,662) 08　*33,237　Nobuteru Maeda - Single Collection (33,237) 09　*31,517　Various Artists - R35 Sweet J-Ballads (243,723) 10　*29,402　Akina Nakamori - Enka (29,402) Avex girls Koda Kumi and Namie Amuro bring a smile to Max Matsuura's face by taking top honours this week. GReeeeN continue their current run of success. "Aiuta" is turning into a sizeable hit and has helped bootstrap their debut album to a respectable second place. Last week's No.1 album "All Yours" from Crystal Kay slips to 7. Oricon: Singles | daily rankings | weekly top 30 Albums | daily rankings | weekly top 30 New weekly charts come on-line at noon on Wednesdays (european time).

Japan: http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/5180/bcvk4.th.jpg Koda Kumi's "Black Cherry" album, released 2006-12-20, sold 1,105 copies last week. That figure gives the album position 145 in this week's album chart, but more importantly means that "Black Cherry" has now passed the million mark. Total sales currently stand at 1,000,310. Kumi's new single "Freaky" is currently No. 1 on the Oricon daily rankings and looks set to book 100k+ first week sales. [web site]

Japan: Oricon have published their half-year report. This covers the 26 week period from week 2006-51 to week 2007-24. http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/images/070620_rank/photo_single_02.jpg http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/images/070620_rank/photo_album_04.jpg Singles | Albums Biggest selling single is Masafumi Akikawa's "sen no kaze ni natte" (915,884), with Utada Hikaru's "Flavor of Life" in the runner-up spot (629,904). Biggest selling album is Mr. Children's "Home" (1,125,017), with Koda Kumi's "Black Cherry" in the runner-up position (998,230). Avril Lavigne is highest placed overseas artist with "Best Damn Thing" in 5th place (656,601).

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/face/news/images/20070601p2g00m0dm024000p_size3.jpg The wave of emotion triggerd by the death of Izumi Sakai, lead singer of ZARD, has pushed several of their CDs back up the album chart. In addition to their "15th anniversary" compilation CD bouncing back to No 3 in this weeks album chart, their "Singles Collection ~Kiseki~", originally released 1999-05-28, has returned to the Top 20 at No 18. Total sales of this album now stand at 3,016,442. Izumi Sakai died on 27th May following a fall in the grounds of Keio Hospital, Tokyo, where she was being treated for cancer.

a small 'heads-up' http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/2439/mlo205rl5.th.jpg

RIANZ announced today that as of next week, the New Zealand Top 40 will include downloads: http://www.rianz.org.nz/rianz/story.asp?id=222

Those of you who love the facts and figures of pop music will find plenty to read here: http://www.riaj.or.jp/release/2007/pr070521.html You can download an English version of the RIAJ yearbook in PDF format.

Well, you have a consolation prize: http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/44224/ It seems the 53k that Kanashimi Twilight sold last week took Morning Musume's career singles sales to 11,085,000 - and that beats the career singles total of Pink Lady (11,037,000), giving momusu the record for top selling girl group.

These are the Top 10's Oricon will publish tomorrow (Wednesday) for week ending 2007-05-07. ~Singles~ http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/1637/buzzjackkinkikidsbrandncs0.jpg 01　180,534　KinKi Kids - Brand New Song (180,534) 02　*53,551　モーニング娘。 (Morning Musume) - Kanashimi Twilight (53,551) 03　*38,913　ORANGE RANGE - Ika Summer (38,913) 04　*36,681　ウエンツ瑛士 / 小池徹平 (Eiji Wentz, Teppei Koike) - Awaking Emotion 8-5 / My Brand New Way (36,681) 05　*26,215　BoA - Sweet Impact (26,215) 06　*22,112　小田和正 (Kazumasa Oda) - Daijobu (22,112) 07　*21,153　ザ・クロマニヨンズ (The Cro-Magnons) - Kami Hikoki (21,153) 08　*20,971　SEAMO - Cry Baby (45,041) 09　*18,279　CHEMISTRY - Sora No Kiseki (18,279) 10　*17,444　秋川雅史 (Masafumi Akikawa) - Sen no Kaze ni Natte (843,920) In the end, it was a push-over. KinKi Kids handsomely outsold the oposition to score their 25th consecutive No 1 hit. A fitting way to celebrate their 10th anniversary in the music business. For the second week running we have eight new entries in the Top 10. ~Albums~ http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/BVCP-24110.jpg 01　121,076　Avril Lavigne - Best Damn Thing (344,734) 02　*76,083　Ne-Yo - Because of You (76,083) 03　*56,101　柴咲コウ (Kou Shibasaki) - Kiki (56,101) 04　*38,358　YUI - Can't Buy My Love (485,180) 05　*38,089　KAT-TUN - Cartoon KAT-TUN II you (309,065) 06　*27,210　大塚 愛 (Ai Otsuka) - Ai am BEST (592,490) 07　*19,589　Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare (60,062) 08　*17,826　VA - R35 Sweet J-Ballads (17,826) 09　*17,620　Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion Sound Episode 1 (17,620) 10　*17,471　松たか子 (Matsu Takako) - Cherish You (17,471) The run-up to the 'Golden Week' holiday saw a rather modest slate of domestic album releases. Sales were correspondingly low and this created an opportunity overseas acts have been able to exploit. First week sales of 223,658 were not enough to give Avril Lavigne's "Best Damn Thing" the top spot, but second week sales of 121,076 did the trick. For several days the battle between Avril and second placed Ne-Yo was close. Avril started with an advantage on Monday, but the two of them were level-pegging by Wednesday. On Thursday Ne-Yo opend up a small lead only to see it disappear again a day later. Weekend sales were decisive. Stimulated by her appearance on Friday evening's edition of TV pop show 'Music Station', Avril comprehensively outsold Mr. Smith on both Saturday and Sunday to clinch the premiere position. Entertainment all-rounder Kou Shibasaki adds a little gloss to what has on occassions been a somewhat patchy singing career by grabbing the weeks top domestic honours with her 3rd album "Kiki". Matsu Takako is one of Japan's most popular and successful actresses. As a sideline, she turns out the occasional hit single (the most recent "Minna Hitori" was her 20th). "Cherish You", at No. 10 in this week's chart, is her 8th studio album. ~New Releases~ Tomorrow sees the release of "We can make it", the 19th single from boy-band Arashi. They are probably a shoo-in for next weeks No 1 spot, which will leave Keita Tashibana - FriendYui Horie - Days / Say cheese!Koharu Kusumi - Happy to fight it out for the minor medals. On the albums front, a 'greatest hits' release from male/female duo mihimaru GT may well end Avril's tenure of the top spot.

These are the singles and albums Top 10's that Oricon will publish tomorrow for week ending 2007-04-16. ~Singles~ http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/TOCT-40096.jpg 01　67,408 　GLAY - Kodo (67,408) 02　50,161 　コブクロ (KobuKuro) - Tsubomi (302,635) 03　34,292 　安室奈美恵 (Namie Amuro) - Funky Town (34,292) 04　31,105 　THE ALFEE - Dear My Life (31,105) 05　26,194 　秋川雅史 (Masafumi Akikawa) (784,408) 06　17,908 　宇多田ヒカル (Utada Hikaru) - Flavor of life (583,118) 07　16,436 　mihimaru GT - Punkish (16,436) 08　16,119 　BRAHMAN - Handan's pillow (16,119) 09　15,280 　水森かおり (Kaori Mizumori) - Hitori Satsumaji (15,280) 10　14,441 　NEWS - Hoshi wo Meza$h!te (289,132) Pop-Rock band GLAY replace karaoke favourites KobuKuro at No. 1. Namie Amuro scores her second hit of the year with "Funky Town". Earlier this year Namie became the first Japanese female singer to score chart hits in 13 consecutive years. ~Albums~ http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/SRCL-6520-1.jpg 01　290,640 　YUI - Can't buy my love (290,640) 02　123,881 　大塚愛 (Ai Otsuka) - Ai am BEST (473,926) 03　*38,666 　Mr.Children - Home (1,006,493) 04　*33,306 　m-flo - COSMICOLOR (109,986) 05　*30,319 　ALI PROJECT - Soubikakei (30,319) 06　*22,930 　東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ (Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra) - Best of Tokyo Ska 1998-2007 (132,348) 07　*22,239 　コブクロ (KobuKoro) - All Singles Best (2,098,583) 08　*18,411 　EXILE - Exile Evolution (486,872) 09　*17,519 　Beyonce - B'Day Deluxe Edition (17,519) 10　*16,636 　VA (Arashi/SAKEROCK) - Kiiroi Namida OST (16,636) Singer-songwriter YUI tops the album chart this week with her second album "Can't buy my love". At No. 3, Mr Children's "Home" album passes the million mark. For those who get excited when western artists make it into the Japanese charts, Beyonce has the No. 9 album this week. Included in tomorrow's new releases: Singles 福山雅治 (Masaharu Fukuyama) - Tokyo ni mo Attanda Masaharu Fukuyama's new single is the theme song for Matsu Takako's latest movie ... and she has an album scheduled for release on April 25th. 愛内里菜＆三枝夕夏 (Rina Aiuchi & U-ka Saegusa) - Nanatsu no Umi wo Wataru Kaze no Youni GIZA lable mates Rina Aiuchi and U-ka Saegusa team up for a "Detective Conan" theme. AlbumsENDLICHERI☆ENDLICHERI - Neo Africa Rainbow Ax He topped the DVD charts three weeks ago and now has the album charts in his sights. ENDLICHERI☆ENDLICHERI is a solo project from Tsuyoshi Domoto who is half of male duo KinKi Kids. They have their 25th single scheduled for release in two weeks time ... but that's another story. Apparently the naughty words robot doesn't like the title of the NEWS single. :cry: