Quaoar

This is the new Japanese album Top 10 Oricon will be posting tomorrow for week ending 2007-04-09. http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/AVCD-23271-B.jpg 01　350,045　大塚愛 (Ai Otsuka) - Ai am Best　(350,045) 02　*93,946　Mr.Children - Home (967,827) 03　*76,680　m-flo - Cosmicolor　(76,680) 04　*40,191　中島美嘉 (Mika Nakashima) - Yes　(244,501) 05　*39,661　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　(109,418) 06　*32,261　倖田來未 (Koda Kumi) - Best ~Bounce & Lovers~　(241,077) 07　*30,950　EXILE - Exile Evolution　(468,461) 08　*23,992　コブクロ (KobuKuro) - All Singles Best　(2,076,344) 09　*22,400　ロードオブメジャー (Road of Major) - Golden Road -Best-　(22,400) 10　*18,648　マキシマム ザ ホルモン (Maximum the Hormone) - Buiikikaesu　(117,531) Ai Otsuka's newly released 'best of' album manages a fairly respectable 350K to depose Mr. Children from the No 1 spot.

Since Fresh hasn't posted details of the Japanese charts for a few weeks I decided I would do it this week since there are some items of interest which deserve a comment or two. ~Singles~ http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/TOCT-40095.jpg 01　*79,727　(490,811)　宇多田ヒカル (Utada Hikaru) - Flavour of Life 02　*63,692　(*63,692)　倖田來未 (Koda Kumi) - BUT　 03　*47,128　(*47,128)　レミオロメン (Remioromen) - Akanezora 04　*37,160　(231,615)　絢香×コブクロ (Ayaka & KobuKuro) - Winding Road 05　*35,041　(702,265)　秋川雅史 (Masafumi Akikawa) - Sen no Kaze ni Natte 06　*29,517　(110,890)　YUI - CHE.R.RY 07　*26,847　(368,183)　嵐 (Arashi) - Love So Sweet 08　*19,956　(*61,229)　DREAMS COME TRUE - Osaka Lover 09　*17,461　(*17,461)　tetsu - Can't Stop Believing 10　*17,309　(*92,892)　ゆず (Yuzu) - Harukaze ~Albums~ http://www.oricon.co.jp/cdimg/TFCC-86221.jpg 01　693,038　(693,038)　Mr.Children - Home 02　161,458　(161,458)　倖田來未 (Koda Kumi) - Best ~Bounce & Lovers~ 03　153,261　(153,261)　中島美嘉 (Mika Nakashima) - Yes 04　*89,085　(389,408)　EXILE - Exile Evolution 05　*70,702　(*70,702)　マキシマム ザ ホルモン (Maximum the Hormone) - Buiikikaesu 06　*46,634　(623,812)　浜崎あゆみ (Ayumi Hamasaki) - A Best 2 (White) 07　*44,239　(611,650)　浜崎あゆみ (Ayumi Hamasaki) - A Best 2 (Black) 08　*30,473　(*30,473)　HOME MADE 家族 (Home Made Kazoku) - Familia 09　*27,318　(*80,572)　いきものがかり (Ikimonogakari) - Sakura Saku Monogatari 10　*26,686　(*26,686)　동방신기 (DongBangSinKi) - Five in the Black These Top 10's will be published by Oricon tomorrow and be tagged as the charts for week ending 2007-03-26. Singles Utada Hikaru hangs on to the top spot for a third week. "Flavour of Life" has become her biggest hit since "Colors" (January 2003). In addition to the 490,811 physical CD singles sold during the last three weeks, total downloads (all formats) now stand at well over 3 million (however, please note that figure includes ringtones). This is the first time since October 2002 that a female singer has held the top spot for three consecutive weeks. The fact that Koda Kumi failed to dislodge Hikki from the top spot with her new single "BUT" will cause a few eyebrows to be raised. After finishing 2006 as Japan's biggest selling artist of the year, many thought Kumi was a shoo-in for this weeks No. 1. Masafumi Akikawa's classical crossover hit "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" hangs on to the No. 5 spot and in so doing completes 3 months in the top 5 including 2 weeks at No. 1. The cumulative sales total of 702,265 already guarentee it a good place in the Top 100 for 2007 and some chart watchers are suggesting that this single (released 24th May 2006) could yet develop into the third longest chart run in history. Albums The new album "Home" from Mr. Children easily takes the top spot in this weeks album chart with first week sales of 693,038. This increment carries Mr. Children's career sales total over the 50 million mark (singles and albums combined). The battle for second place between Mika Nakashima and Koda Kumi was narrowly won by Kumi and these three new releases push last weeks top album from male harmony group Exile down to number four. Ayumi Hamasaki's double greatest hits release takes the number 6 and 7 slots this week. Call it a typical Avex marketing trick if you will, but releasing this compilation as two separate albums gets Ayu double the number of sales. She has shifted 1,235,462 albums in three weeks and has increased her lead at the top of the league table for Japan's biggsest selling female singers: Ayumi Hamasaki 浜崎あゆみ (45 million)Yumi Matsutoya 松任谷由実 (38 million)Hikaru Utada 宇多田ヒカル (34 million)Seiko Matsuda 松田聖子 (29 million)Namie Amuro 安室奈美恵 (27 million).

The music business has always been an uneasy alliance between 'music' and 'business'. The charts often tell us more about the business than about the music. Records companies have been the primary consumers of charts because they give useful feedback that could be factored into business decisions. But the old business model that is now slipping into history gave the record companies tight control over what music was available to the public. They hated the new on-line technologies because their emergence broke that stranglehold. Chart rules have finally changed to reflect the new reality. We are getting a better picture of 'what people are prepared to buy' and less amplification of 'what record companies want to sell'. But if the charts are eventually seen by record companies as 'less useful' than before, who will then pay for them to be compiled?

The air-heads who post at the official forum don't have the slightest clue about anything. Shaz and Mel have demonstrated comprehensively that they are indeed 'determined ladies' and being willing to carry on via their own indie lable would be in keeping with that. The Appletons are just a couple of hangers-on in it for the fame and glory. That's always been part of the problem. It's never too late to change your ways, but Nic and Nat have left it very late in the day. S1 does not have 'great potential'. It's a comprehensive flop and is now past tense in all respects. However Shaz and Mel together may well still have the ability to produce great works of pop. It's just a 'watch this space' situation.

What is your source for this incredible statement?

Mel has already dabbled with this. She set up an indie lable called 'Swollen Ankel' in order to release the "See Me" single (which bombed every bit as spectacularly as "Chick Fit"). As for releasing more tracks from "Studio 1" - that suggestion makes no sense. Regardless of the rights issue (which is a big issue in itself) all those tracks are already available on i-tunes and nobody is interested. The "Studio 1" project is dead, dead, dead. But if they really are interested in carrying on with new material released via their own indie lable it would be an interesting experiment that quite a few people might watch it with a mixture of interest and apprehension. Mel still has an unreleased solo album in the can. They can start with that.

I suppose it's only fair to pop at least one joke into this kind of statement. I almost managed a snigger.

You might like to check out the statistics for the "Jupiter" single by Ayaka Hirahara (catalogue number MUCD-5046). Released on 2003-12-17, it first appears in the Oricon chart dated 2004-01-12. To date it has had a total of 145 weeks in the charts (highest position of 2) including an initial chart run (if my week count is correct) of 122 weeks. This chart run is in respect of the Japanese Top 200. The CDTV website gives a Top 100 chart run of 82 weeks. Oricon Database notes 1. Oricon publish 51 singles charts per year. Each year there is a combined chart published for weeks 01 and 02 and any record listed in this chart is awarded two weeks towards its number of weeks on chart total. 2. CDTV do not use the official Oricon chart, but differences between the CDTV chart and the official Oricon chart are usually minimal.

I buy a lot of physical releases from CD Japan. They must laugh all the way to the bank every time they see me log-in. When I need to 'sample' stuff to see if it's any good, I get it mostly from Jpopsuki, share@dmhy and minglong. It's very difficult to make 'paid-for' downloads of j-pop if you live outside Japan. Most download services either won't accept non-Japanes IP addresses or require you to declare you are a resident of Japan and provide a Japanese postal address as part of the sign-up. So j-pop fans wind up either buying physicals or making 'unofficial' downloads because the middle route is effectively blocked. Having the CDs air-freighted from Japan helps me maintain my carbon-footprint. Environmentally friendly distribution methods are obviously a bad idea.

Oricon's Top 100 albums for 2006 For the record, here is a romanised Top 50 with sales figures: 01. Ken Hirai - Ken Hirai Complete Single Collection '95-'05 "Utabaka" (2,070,766) 02. Koda Kumi - BEST ~second session~ (1,768,628) 03. Kobukuro - ALL SINGLES BEST (1,748,682) 04. Def Tech - Catch The Wave (1,225,757) 05. B'z - B'z The Best "Pleasure II" (1,191,725) 06. Mika Nakashima - BEST (1,109,420) 07. Utada Hikaru - ULTRA BLUE (882,343) 08. Ayumi Hamasaki - (miss)understood (877,433) 09. Kobukuro - NAMELESS WORLD (866,948) 10. Ai Otsuka - LOVE COOK (831,633) 11. KAT-TUN - Best of KAT-TUN (743,359) 12. Various artists - Beautiful Songs~Kokoro de Kiku Uta~ (712,678) 13. ayaka - First Message (711,299) 14. Spitz - CYCLE HIT 1991-1997 Spitz Complete Single Collection (684,217) 15. Aqua Timez - Sora Ippai ni Kanaderu Inori (647,604) 16. Remioromen - HORIZON (645,760) 17. Koda Kumi - Best ~first things~ (642,842) 18. Daniel Powter - Daniel Powter (583,611) 19. Spitz - CYCLE HIT 1997-2005 Spitz Complete Single Collection (543,666) 20. B'z - MONSTER (537,091) 21. EXILE - ASIA (503,201) 22. Ayumi Hamasaki - Secret (494,399) 23. BONNIE PINK - Every Single Day -Complete BONNIE PINK (1995-2006)- (486,642) 24. DREAMS COME TRUE - THE LOVE ROCKS (464,545) 25. HY - Confidence (463,986) 26. ZARD - Golden Best ~15th Anniversary~ (453,763) 27. Angela Aki - Home (451,810) 28. Aiko - Kanojo (444,938) 29. Shounnanokaze - Shounannokaze ~Riders High~ (443,919) 30. SMAP - Pop Up! SMAP (438,470) 31. BoA - OUTGROW (427,871) 32. Eminem - Curtain Call: The Hits (425,938) 33. CHEMISTRY - ALL THE BEST (395,731) 34. Enya - Amarantine (390,407) 35. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium (388,114) 36. Sarah Brightman - Diva: The Singles Collection (361,529) 37. Madonna - Confessions on a Dance Floor (359,683) 38. YUKI - Wave (354,005) 39. ELLEGARDEN - ELEVEN FIRE CRACKERS (340,633) 40. James Blunt - Back to Bedlam (334,234) 41. Hitoto Yo - BESTYO (322,747) 42. Def Tech - Def Tech (295,302) 43. SEAMO - Live Goes On (293,689) 44. Tokyo Jihen - Adult (293,604) 45. Fergie - The Dutchess (259,753) 46. mihimaru GT - mihimagic (259,091) 47. Yuzu - Ribbon (255,734) 48. ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION - Fan Club (253,137) 49. Tokunaga Hideaki - VOCALIST 2 (253,088) 50. Crystal Kay - Call me Miss… (250,698)

She's at 35 this week.

Classical tenor Masafumi Akikawa tops the singles chart this week. "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" was released on 24th May 2006. It's one of three singles in this week's top 30 that have been around for five months or more. The song has managed to enter and drop out of the top 200 on four occassions before starting the current chart run [167, 83, 73, 55, 31, 4, 1] that has finally devliered it to the top spot. 29094 copies were enough to do the trick during a week that may yet prove to be the lowest selling of 2007. TOKIO hang on to this week's No. 6 spot. Released on 23rd August 2006, "Sorafune" is a former No 1. After a No. 15 placing in the Top 100 for 2006, this week's installment brings the cumulative sales total for "Sorafune" to 413,735. The longest running single in this weeks Top 30 is from SEAMO. "Mata ai masho" was released on 5th April 2006 and has been up and down the charts like a yo-yo ever since. During it's 41 week chart run the single has amassed cumulative sales of 190,848. However, with 8 new entries in today's daily rankings Top 10, we are now set for a return to 'business as normal' after the new-year break.

I just took a look - chart run of 17, 10, 22, 25 with sales to date of 40573. I suppose you wouldn't be impressed if I said "Losin'" is by far my favourite of her singles. I wish Halcali had done better. Highest chart position of 82 wasn't what they needed.

A fairly quiet singles chart, dominated by some of the most successful singles of 2006 being given a second lease of life following the usual series of end-of-year TV spectaculars, including the 57th Kohaku. Of the three new enties, Rina Aiuchi's 23rd single, which makes it's appearance at No. 15, is probably the most interesting. On the album chart, Koda Kumi's "Black Cherry" stays put at No. 1, clocking up another 300,032 sales. That means anyone planning on depriving Kumi of her 2006 title of 'best selling artist' is already looking to make up a 802,458 deficit.

Yes, if that chart had been accurately compiled Kobukuro would easily qualify. Ken Hirai and Koda Kumi would be hovering around the 40 mark, maybe in, maybe just ouitside.

YouTube: Hitomi Shimatani - Destiny ~Tayio no Hana~

Certainly with you there - it's awful. But it's now sold 617,951 copies. :cry:

This is the latest Japanese album chart: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ea/w/ You will see various international acts listed including The Beatles, Oasis and U2. It's rare for singles by international acts to be released in Japan and even rarer for such singles to make the charts. Off-hand, the last international single I can remember seeing in the Japanese singles Top 40 was RHCP's "Dani California" which made No 38 back in May (18 weeks in the Top 200). By the way, when was the last time you saw a Japanese single in the UK Top 40? I can only remember one Japanese single being released in the UK during 2006 - Polysics "I my me mine" and I don't think it charted.

Oricon have also posted the Top 100 best selling singles for 2006: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/js/y/ milestones The No. 3 single, KAT-TUN's "bokura no machi de" passes the half-million mark. Cumulative sales now stand at 506,979, and at No. 8 Utada Hikaru's "boku wa kuma" passes 100,000 - which is quite a lot for a song that is basicly a nursery rhyme. Cumulative sales stand at 100,964. album chart Entering at No. 1 is the new "Black Cherry" album from Koda Kumi with first week sales of 502,426. This rounds off a very successful year for Kumi who is this year's biggest selling Japanese artist. Oricon give the total monetary value of her 2006 sales as 12.7 billion yen. (UKP 54 million) http://www.rhythmzone.net/koda/index.html

From the midweek positions I thought JYONGRI might have been a little higher - still I guess 16 is a respectable starting point for a debut single. zjnO1vVwBDM She still seems to be on track for becoming the first significant new artist of 2007. The CD single contains both Japanese and English versions of "Possession". http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/es/w/

As Fresh noted above, it is extremely rare for a non-Japanese artist to make No 1 in the singles chart. In the last couple of years, BoA has has held the top spot on the daily ranking a couple of times, though on each occassion she has had to settle for second place on the weekly chart. English is commonly use in Japanes pop lyrics. Many Japanese pop songs have english titles. English words and phrases are regularly sprinkled into Japanese lyrics and occassionally you will hear an entire english verse. Once in a while a song sung entirely in english will come along. I'm not talking about covers, I'm talking about original songs composed, written and sung by Japanese artists with lyrics entirely in english. I can't think off-hand on such a song getting all the way to the top of the charts, but there are quite a number of Top 40 hits that fit into this category. One of the best known 'entirely in english' Japanese songs of recent years is Maaya Sakamoto's "Gravity" which, for the record, was a No. 23 hit in Japan. There are quite a few high profile Japanese pop starts who a fully bi-lingual. Of the people currently enjoying chart success, the names Utada Hikaru, Crystal Kay, Melody (Ishikawa), Angela Aki and Rie fu spring to mind. One of Crystal Kay's most recent hits only contained two Japanese words. Utada Hikaru has confessed that when songwriting, she often writes the first draft her lyrics in english and then translates to Japanese.

As far as I can make out Boredoms have a very low profile in Japan. I can find no record of them ever having released a single. Some, but not all, of their albums have had Japanese releases. Cibo Matto have done a little better. They have actually managed to release two singles in Japan. Here, from the CDTV database is the glorious tale of the chart runs scored by "Doo-Bee" and "Hot Love".

Oh, does that make three of us? We'll be wanting out own forum next. ;) Casting an eye down Mikey's "UK Single Release Schedule" yesterday I came across the familiar name of Polysics. Apparently "I My Me Mine" is to get a UK release on April 17th. It's so rare to see anything by a Japanese artist getting a UK release that I thought I would mention it. This song is track 03 from their Now is the time album which got it's original Japanese release 19th October last year. This eccentric formation have been working the international market for a while and have built up quite a cult following. Here are links to an alternative version of the song and a couple of classic Polysics videos from way back when: I My Me Mine (strong machine 2 version) | Black Out Fall Out | Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto I count "Black Out Fall Out" as one of my personal favourites.

Oricon Charts - 22nd March 2006 Top 30 singlesTop 30 albumsSingles: Two items you will not find in this week's charts are the 7th single and 3rd album from W. Both releases were cancelled. So perhaps it comes as a slight relief to the folks at the Hello! Project to see that the slimmed down, ten girls is quite enough version of Morning Musume are still capable of scoring a Top 10 hit. "Sexy Boy" comes into the charts at 4 this week. http://image.excite.co.jp/jp/entertainment/onpu01.gif A good week for Angela Aki who's 3rd single "Kiss me goodbye" debuts at 6. The song is featured in the Final Fantasy XII video game. Hitomi Yaida brings her distinctive vocal style back to the charts. "Go my way" is a new entry at 13 and gives Yaiko a 15th hit since her chart debut in May 2000. http://image.excite.co.jp/jp/entertainment/onpu01.gif Anime show "Fate / Stay night" scores a second chart success. Sachi Tainaka's opening theme "Disillusion" grabbed the number 12 spot in the singles chart three weeks ago (1st March). Now it is the turn of the closing theme. Jukai's "Anata ga Ita Mori" takes it's turn in the spotlight at number 16 this week. http://image.excite.co.jp/jp/entertainment/onpu01.gif Hitomi Shimatani is one of the more gifted vocalists on planet pop. Her latest single is a double A side. "Haru Machibito / Camellia" enters the chart at number 19 this week and gives Hitomi a 20th consecutive Top 30 hit. DVD music: In addition to a her new Top 20 singles placing, Hitomi Shimatani also scores two new entries in the DVD chart. It's a clue to the wide demographic spread of her fan base. While the teenage fans are scraping together Yen 1000 for the single, a small army of 30+ and 40+ fans are calmly spending ten times that amount on the new DVDs. "Visual Works 2004-2006" is collection of video clips. To be precise, it's the videos for her 14th to 21st singles, plus a number of other tracks. The "Premium Live 2005" DVD cotains footage from last November's "Heart & Symphony" concert tour. These DVDs take the numbers 9 and 11 respectively in the DVD music chart. Here are links to a few of the videos on the Visual Works DVD: Garnet Moon | Viola | Mahiru no Tsuki | Mermaid | Falco

Emiko Shiratori started her career as a singer in 1969 and released her fist solo album in 1973. There have been a large number of albums (I counted 28) and relatively few singles. During the last 10 years, two of her singles have had chart listings. One that can comfortably be tagged as a "hit" was a single called "Melodies of Life" which made number 10 in August 2000. This song was from the "Final Fantasy IX" soundtrack and logged a chart run of 11 weeks in the Top 100 [10. 21, 18, 27, 33, 49, 45, 70, 91, 99, 100]. Another single, "Mou Ichido", released in July 2004 made number 64 and was listed for two weeks [64, 78]. It was the closing theme to TV drama series "Onna to Ai to Mystery". [CD Japan] It's comforting to know I'm not the only Hikki fan here. Everything Utada can be discussed in detail at the Utada On-line forums. Perhaps you are already a member? As far as I can see, the Utada family business is still intact and Hikki is likely to carry on writing and recording brilliant music for some time to come. Perhaps the tour and the next (Japanese) album will give us an accurate assessment of how much popular support she still has. There was a 17 month break between the "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" and "Be my last" singles and the fact that "Be my last" took the Number 1 spot in the charts so effortlessly (there really wasn't any promotion from Hikki herself prior to release) implies there are still a lot of people who count themselves as fans of Utada Hikaru.