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85-456: Until 2015, Oricon only released charts based on physical CD sales. In the 2010s, this chart was largely dominated by idol groups such as AKB48 , who had many customers purchasing their singles for bundled goods instead of the songs. The lack of accuracy in what songs received the most listens resulted in Oricon losing popularity to Billboard Japan 's multi-factored charts. Oricon established

170-682: A 24-year-old man with a handsaw. The suspect was arrested for attempted murder , and the three were treated at a hospital for fractures and cuts. AKB48 canceled its theater performances through the end of May, and handshake and photo-shoot fan events in May and June were postponed. In response to security concerns, the Manseibashi Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department asked AKS to conduct security checks of audience members at

255-732: A download-only albums chart called the Digital Albums Chart , separate from the main ranking, which was followed by the Digital Singles Chart the next year. Asahi reported in January 2018 that Oricon intended to launch their first combined chart. Alongside a streaming-only component chart, the Combined Albums and Singles Charts were officially announced on August 29, 2018, and were set to combine CD sales, digital downloads, and streams. The first issue of

340-423: A female group of 11,774,000. On January 22 (the final day of its "AKB48 Request Hour Set List Best 100 2012" concert series at Tokyo Dome City Hall ) AKB48 members performed the new " Give Me Five! " as Baby Blossom, playing guitars, keyboards, percussion and horns. The Baby Blossom members had spent five months learning to play musical instruments, and some had little (or no) previous experience. "Give Me Five!"

425-399: A leaked purikura photo of her with a boyfriend. Kikuchi returned to the group after a 2010 audition. On October 22, AKB48's tenth single, " Ōgoe Diamond ", was released on King Records' You Be Cool label. With 11-year-old SKE48 member Jurina Matsui as the single's center and cover girl, it was the first single featuring a member of AKB48's sister group and debuted at number three on

510-500: A music Blu-ray disc and total Blu-ray sales by an artist. The group set records for the most million-selling singles in a year, best-selling single by a female group and highest-earning female group. AKB48 won the Grand Prix in the 53rd Japan Record Awards for " Flying Get ". Oricon announced on January 6, 2012, that AKB48 had sold 11,787,000 copies of its CD singles, surpassing girl group Morning Musume 's Japanese record for

595-527: A possible three-month extension in February. After the end of the project, 11 of the former Baito AKB members entered the yearly Draft Kaigi event aiming to become full members, while others expressed their desire to take part in the auditions for the newly planned NGT48 group. On December 8, long-time member and general manager Minami Takahashi announced she will leave the group in December 2015 for

680-672: A show at Webster Hall in New York City on September 27. In October, three AKB48 singles ("10nen Sakura", "Namida Surprise!" and "Iiwake Maybe") were certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan . Its 14th single, " River " released on October 21, debuted atop the Oricon Top 10 weekly chart and was the group's first number one. AKB48 released its 15th major-label single, " Sakura no Shiori ", on February 17, 2010. In its first week,

765-768: A single itself; or 300 streams. Downloads of songs included on a single are added together; the result after dividing this number by 2.5 are added as points. As of August 2024, numbers for digital downloads are taken from iTunes , Amazon Music , the official Oricon store, RecoChoku-owned services, Avex 's Mu-mo, Music.jp, and Mora . Streaming statistics are adapted from Apple Music , Amazon, AWA, Au Smartpass, KKBox , Spotify , Tower Records Music , YouTube and YouTube Music , Line Music , and Rakuten Music . CD sales are reported from various record stores , rental stores, electronics stores, convenience stores, and online shopping sites. a. ^ Double A-sided single AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced A.K.B. Forty-Eight )

850-677: A special audition. The group's second audition was held in cooperation with telecommunications company NTT DoCoMo in February 2006, with applicants submitting audition videos on mobile phones. Of 11,892 applicants, 19 were selected, and 18 joined AKB48 as Team K in April. Team K performed Party ga Hajimaru yo and Team A moved to a new stage program, Aitakatta . AKB48 released its first independent-label single, " Sakura no Hanabiratachi ", in February 2006. It entered Oricon 's weekly Top 10 chart, with first-week sales of 22,011 (a rarity for an indie-label group). On March 31, Yuki Usami became

935-453: A special event. The promotion was later canceled by DefStar Records amid concerns about possible violations of antitrust laws . In June 2008, AKB48 announced plans to launch a sister group, SKE48 , in Sakae, Nagoya . In August, the group moved from DefStar Records to King Records . That month Ayaka Kikuchi was the first member to be fired from the group, for "immature behavior" involving

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1020-595: A strong, powerful image. According to an early press release, the group was intended to have 16 members on each of three teams, for a total membership of 48; but its membership has varied over time, and has exceeded 120 people. New members are called trainees ( 研究生 , kenkyūsei ) who are understudies for the group, performing occasionally in the theater as a team. The group members' ages range from their early teens to over 30, and they are selected from regular auditions. Members are not allowed to date, and must be well-behaved; any violation of these restrictions

1105-409: A thirsty (eager for fame or notoriety) pop artist of note, you can theoretically game the system by packing as many as 20 tracks into an album, in the process rolling up more album-equivalent units—and thus album "sales"—as listeners check the album out." He also criticized Chris Brown 's album Heartbreak on a Full Moon , which contains over 40 songs. Rolling Stone columnist Tim Ingham observed

1190-542: Is sales plus streaming (SPS) unit, which was introduced by Hits magazine. Beginning with the December 13, 2014, issue, the Billboard 200 albums chart revised its ranking methodology with album-equivalent unit instead of pure album sales. With this overhaul, the Billboard 200 includes on-demand streaming and digital track sales (as measured by Nielsen SoundScan ) by way of a new algorithm, using data from all of

1275-817: Is a Japanese idol musical girl group named after the Akihabara area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48 has sold more records than any other female musical act in Japanese history. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto , wanted to form a girl group with its own theater and performing daily so fans could always see them live (which is not the case with usual pop groups giving occasional concerts and seen on television). This "Idols You Can Meet" concept includes teams which can rotate performances and perform simultaneously at several events and "handshake" events, where fans can meet group members. Akimoto has expanded

1360-481: Is in the Don Quijote store in Akihabara , Tokyo . The group is split into several teams, reducing its members' workload (since the theater's near-daily performance is by only one team at a time) and enabling AKB48 to perform simultaneously in several places. According to former member Misaki Iwasa , each team has its own theme. Team A represents freedom; Team B is idol-like, with cute costumes, and Team K has

1445-457: Is to be punished, possibly by expulsion from the group. AKB48 has a system that allows members to "graduate" from the group when they are older and are replaced by trainees who are promoted. Monica Hesse of The Washington Post described the AKB48 audition process as "rolling American Idol -esque". In July 2005, Yasushi Akimoto held an audition for a new theater-based idol girl group. Of

1530-480: The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami , the group stopped its AKB48 Theater performances and canceled some of its public events. AKB48 began the "Dareka no Tame ni" ( 誰かのために , lit. "For someone's sake" ) project, collecting donations for earthquake and tsunami relief. One of its concert venues, the Yokohama Arena , was used for a two-day charity event beginning on March 26 and 12 AKB48 members attended

1615-448: The Billboard 200 despite being the best-selling album of the week. Similarly the Recording Industry Association of America , which had previously certified albums based on units sold to retail stores, began factoring streaming for their certifications in February 2016. RIAA summary by format, in million copies per year. In July 2018, Billboard and Nielsen revised the ratios used for streaming equivalent album units to account for

1700-566: The Digital Singles Chart in 2016, which only counted digital downloads. Alongside a streaming-only and the Combined Albums Charts , the Combined Singles Chart was subsequently launched in 2018. Before 2015, Oricon only published singles and albums charts based on physical CD sales. Comparatively to other countries, Japan's physical music industry has dominated over digital sales even in the 2000s. In 2009,

1785-502: The Okinawa International Movie Festival that day for the same purpose. On March 15, AKB48 announced that ¥ 500 million would be donated by the group, its sister groups SKE48 , SDN48 and NMB48 and associates of AKS, its management company. Koko ni Ita Koto ' s release was postponed until June 8, with part of the album's proceeds donated to disaster victims. On April 1 the group released

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1870-554: The Oricon Top 10 weekly chart. The group released its 11th major-label single, " 10nen Sakura ", on March 4, 2009. Also reaching number three on the Oricon charts in its first week, it was the group's first single to sell over 100,000 copies. The group's 12th major-label single, " Namida Surprise! ", was released on June 24. Promotions included a handshaking-event ticket and a ballot for a member to headline its next single. "Namida Surprise!" sold 104,180 copies in its first week on

1955-409: The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) reported that the production of CDs accounted to a total worth of 249 billion yen, in comparison to 91 billion from digital distribution; however, the digital figures were gradually growing. Though CD singles were still more popular, the rise of digital music downloads and chaku-uta (ringtones) spurred discussion at Oricon to create a chart combining

2040-522: The UK Albums Chart since March 2015. The change was decided after the massive growth of streaming; the number of tracks streamed in the UK in a year doubled from 7.5 billion in 2013 to just under 15 billion in 2014. Under the new methodology, Official Charts Company takes the 12 most-streamed tracks from an album, with the top two songs being given lesser weight so that the figure will reflect

2125-459: The 2012 Disney animated film, Wreck-It Ralph , and the group set a Guinness World Record for the most pop singers in a video game (its dating simulation game , AKB1/149 Ren'ai Sōsenkyo ). It won a second consecutive Japan Record Award , for " Manatsu no Sounds Good! ". The group was the number one artist by total sales revenue in Japan in 2012, with ¥19.098 billion. The AKB0048 anime series

2210-473: The 7,924 who auditioned, 24 were chosen as first-generation group members. On December 8, 20 members debuted as Team A in the AKB48 Theater performing "Party ga Hajimaru yo" ( PARTYが始まるよ ) to an audience of seven; attendance quickly increased. In January 2006, AKB48 cafe waitress Mariko Shinoda joined Team A as a "1.5 generation" member when her popularity with patrons prompted Akimoto to give her

2295-481: The AKB48 concept to several girl groups within Japan, and internationally in Mainland China, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines and Malaysia. AKB48 have been characterized as a social phenomenon. They are among the highest-earning musical acts in Japan, and are the fifth-best-selling girl group worldwide . For example, their 2012 sales from record and DVD/Blu-ray releases reached $ 226 million, earning

2380-505: The New Year's Eve TV program 58th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen as a part of the "Nihon ga Hokoru Saisentan! Special Medley". At 43 members, the group set a program record for the most people in one group onstage simultaneously. AKB48 made its first lineup change in December, transferring Kazumi Urano, Shiho Watanabe and Natsumi Hirajima from Team A to Team B as supporting members. AKB48's second major-label single, " Seifuku ga Jama o Suru ",

2465-507: The Oricon Combined Singles Chart was published on December 24, 2018; the inaugural number one was "Stand by You" by SKE48 , a sister group to AKB48. In March 2019, AKB48's " Jiwaru Days " became the first single to chart with over 100,000 points. Upon the entry of Kenshi Yonezu 's " M87 " in January 2024, one hundred singles have reached the milestone. In September 2021, " Yoru ni Kakeru " by the duo Yoasobi became

2550-545: The Oricon Singles Chart failing to fulfill its purpose. Back in 2015, CEO Koike reiterated that Oricon would not add digital factors into the Singles Chart. He argued that such a formula would not be of "societal interest" when artists like Johnny & Associates groups have policies to not release songs digitally, but said that they would continue to experiment. In 2016—the year after—Oricon launched

2635-673: The Oricon charts. AKB48's 13th single, " Iiwake Maybe ", was released on August 26. Outselling rival SMAP 's single, it reached number one on the Oricon Daily Singles Chart and number two on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. AKB48's Team A was a guest of honor at the Japan Expo in Paris from July 2–5, 2009, performing an English version of "Ōgoe Diamond". The group made its U.S. debut with

Oricon Combined Singles Chart - Misplaced Pages Continue

2720-483: The UK, according to British Phonographic Industry (BPI). In Germany, streaming began to be included on the albums chart since February 2016. Nevertheless, the German Albums Chart is used to rank the albums based on weekly revenue , instead of units. Hence, only paid streaming is counted and must be played at least 30 seconds. At least 6 tracks of one album have to be streamed to make streams count for

2805-429: The accepted measure of album success." Physical albums have mostly turned into collectors' items as noted by a 2016 poll by ICM Research , which found that nearly half of the surveyed people did not listen to the record they bought. In Forbes , Hugh McIntyre noted that the usage of album equivalent units has resulted in artists releasing albums with excessive track lists. Brian Josephs from Spin said: "If you're

2890-480: The album, with 12 tracks being the maximum counted. Similar to the UK chart rule, the actual streams of the top-two songs are not counted, but instead the average of the following tracks. The Australian Recording Industry Association , which issues the ARIA Charts , began incorporating streaming into its singles chart beginning on November 24, 2014, and its albums chart beginning on May 13, 2017. ARIA changes

2975-630: The album-equivalent units revolutionized the charts from the "best-selling albums" ranking into the "most popular albums" ranking. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) have used album-equivalent unit to measure their Global Recording Artist of the Year since 2013. The term album-equivalent unit had been used by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) long before

3060-440: The box office, and grossed $ 2.2 million by February 17. During a meet-and-greet event for the film, first-generation member Tomomi Itano announced that she was leaving the group. On April 28, after a Nippon Budokan concert, AKB48's general manager announced another reorganization of the teams (including the girls who were also members of its sister groups). Nito Moeno and Tomomi Kasai also made their final appearances with

3145-473: The centerpiece of a Glico Papico commercial. On April 16, AKB48 announced the Otona member: Mariko Tsukamoto, a 37-year-old housewife and mother of two. On May 21 the group released its 36th single, " Labrador Retriever ", which sold over 1,462,000 copies on its first day. On June 7, AKB48 and its related groups announced the results of the annual election to determine the lineup for its 37th single. The winner

3230-591: The charity single "Dareka no Tame ni (What can I do for someone?)" ( 誰かのために -What can I do for someone?- ) on the Recochoku website as a digital download, with all proceeds earmarked for earthquake and tsunami relief. On May 1, AKB48 announced a new sister group: HKT48 , based in Fukuoka , Kyushu , with its theater in the Hawks Town Mall of Fukuoka's Chuo ward. On May 3, The Straits Times reported

3315-413: The conversion rate regularly, and as of July 2023 , one sale is equivalent to 170 streams on a paid subscription service, or 420 streams on an ad-supported service. According to Silvio Pietroluongo, vice president of charts and data development at Billboard , album equivalent units methodology "reflects album popularity in today's world, where music is accessible on so many platforms [and] has become

3400-745: The creation of Team 4. The 16-member team would be captained by Mina Ōba, and the word "team" was dropped from "Team Kenkyūsei" for the group's alternates. Four days later the group announced at a handshake event that Aimi Eguchi , who supposedly auditioned for NMB48, would join AKB48 as a trainee. It later became known that Eguchi was not a real person, but a composite of AKB48 members' facial features created to promote Glico 's Ice no Mi. On June 28, AKB48 producer Yasushi Akimoto announced plans to create another group as AKB48's "official rival". Nogizaka46 ( 乃木坂46 ) would debut with about 20 members, and Akimoto would join Sony Music Japan to produce

3485-528: The creation of its third overseas sister group, SNH48 , based in Shanghai. It was announced on June 17 that Rino Sashihara would be transferred to HKT48 in July as a "restart" because of an alleged scandal involving her ex-boyfriend. On June 24 AKB48 announced the promotion of six trainees from the 10th and 11th generations and its third rock-paper-scissors tournament (scheduled for September 18) to determine

Oricon Combined Singles Chart - Misplaced Pages Continue

3570-445: The different sales methods, which proved unfruitful. Oricon CEO Sōkō Koike told Asahi : "For distributions charts, we have no choice but to rely on announcements from the labels. Since we can't set up measures for independent verification like we do at records stores, its difficult to create a combined chart". In the latter half of the 2010s, the relevance for multi-factors charts rose when idol group AKB48 began to consistently hold

3655-415: The figures of Drake 's Scorpion and found that 63% of the album's streams on Spotify came from just three songs off the 25-track album. Additionally, only six songs accounted for 82% of the album's total stream, meaning that only a quarter of the songs determined the overall success of the album in terms of album-equivalent units. Cherie Hu from NPR felt that album equivalent units often do not reflect

3740-564: The first member to "graduate" from the group. On June 7 AKB48 released its second independent single, " Skirt, Hirari ", which sold 13,349 copies on its first day. The group made its first television appearance two days later, and signed a contract with DefStar Records (a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment ) in August. In October 2006 AKB48 announced auditions for Team B, and 13 girls were chosen out of 12,828 applicants in December. The group's first DefStar Records single, " Aitakatta ",

3825-445: The first song to chart with over 200,000 points; only two months after, " Pretender " by Official Hige Dandism became the second single to reach the milestone. The Oricon Combined Singles Chart weekly compiles the top fifty albums in Japan based on Monday-to-Sunday CD single sales, digital downloads, and streams. It uses an album-equivalent unit system, where to earn one point a single must receive: one CD single sale; one download of

3910-485: The first time, its membership numbered 48. The group's fourth single, " Bingo! ", was released on July 18. AKB48's sixth single, " Yūhi o Miteiru ka? ", was released on Halloween 2007 and sold 18,429 copies (the least of all the group's singles). On New Year's Day 2008, AKB48 released its first album, Set List: Greatest Songs 2006–2007 , a collection of the group's singles and live song lists. The group's seventh major-label single (its ninth overall), " Romance, Irane ",

3995-436: The group announced a team reorganization. This included a captain and co-captain of each team, promotion of AKB48 trainees to regular membership (with assignment to the four teams) and the transfer of members between AKB48 and its sister groups. On April 3 AKB48 introduced its 47-member Team 8 as "the idols who come to you". Akimoto announced auditions for an Otona adult member over 30 years old, to participate in events and be

4080-724: The group performed at the Japanese Pop Culture Festival in Moscow. AKB48 performed at the Cool Japan forum in Singapore as part of Anime Festival Asia X, and at the Singapore Toy, Games and Comics Convention. Group graduates in 2010 included second-generation member Erena Ono , who left on September 27 to pursue an acting career overseas. The group's first 2011 single, " Sakura no Ki ni Narō ",

4165-490: The group released its 18th single, " Beginner ". It sold 826,989 copies in its first week, the highest first-week sales for a female idol group single. AKB48 member Mayu Watanabe appeared on the cover of the December issue of the idol magazine UP to boy with Airi Suzuki from the Japanese girl group Cute , the first gravure collaboration between Hello! Project and AKB48. In November 2010, AKB48 participated in several events outside Japan. On November 20, 12 members of

4250-422: The group released its 32nd single, " Koisuru Fortune Cookie ". Its music video had 3,800 extras, the most for any AKB48- and sister group-related video. On August 24 the group announced the restoration of Team 4, with Minami Minegishi as captain and members promoted from the 13th and 14th generation of trainees. On September 18, AKB48 held its annual rock-paper-scissors tournament at Nippon Budokan to determine

4335-500: The group released its 34th single, " Suzukake no Ki no Michi de 'Kimi no Hohoemi o Yume ni Miru' to Itte Shimattara Bokutachi no Kankei wa Dō Kawatte Shimau no ka, Bokunari ni Nan-nichi ka Kangaeta Ue de no Yaya Kihazukashii Ketsuron no Yō na Mono ", and on December 31 longtime member Yuko Oshima announced on Kōhaku Uta Gassen that she was leaving the group. The group was the 2nd artist by total sales revenue in Japan in 2013, with ¥13.254 billion. On January 22, 2014, AKB48 released

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4420-554: The group resumed theater performances with security measures similar to those of its sister groups. Security and bag checks were added at the general-election-results event and Yuko Oshima's graduation concert. Album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit , or album equivalent , is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditional album sales . The album-equivalent unit

4505-662: The group the top spot in the 2012 artist ranking. As of April 2019 , the group has sold over 60 million records, including over 6 million albums. At least 35 of AKB48's singles have topped the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart , with at least 30 singles selling over a million copies each, making the group the highest selling musical act in Japan in terms of singles sold. Their highest selling single, " Teacher Teacher ", sold over 3 million in 2018 according to Billboard / Soundscan . Between 2010 and 2020, AKB48's singles have occupied at least

4590-560: The group would perform at the Tokyo Dome stadium, one of AKB48's main goals since it was founded. On March 25, longtime headliner Atsuko Maeda announced her graduation from the group. AKB48 announced that Maeda would graduate after the Tokyo Dome concerts; her final performance (and graduation ceremony) took place in the AKB48 theater on August 27, and was streamed live on YouTube. On March 26 AKB48 announced an election for

4675-454: The group's next single and set Japanese records for first-day (942,475 copies) and first-week sales (1,333,969 copies). On June 22, Oricon reported that for the first half of 2011 AKB48 topped the album sales charts and had the best- and second-best-selling singles (" Everyday, Kachūsha " and " Sakura no Ki ni Narō "). The group amassed ¥ 6.66 billion in merchandise sales. On June 7, before its nationwide concert tour, AKB48 announced

4760-601: The group's tenth anniversary. She recommended that Team K captain Yui Yokoyama be her successor. The group ranked second overall in Oricon's Artist Total Sales Revenue for the 2014 year, with ¥ 13.075 billion. At a May 25, 2014 handshake event at the Iwate Industry Culture and Convention Center in Takizawa, Iwate , group members Rina Kawaei , Anna Iriyama and a staff member were attacked by

4845-424: The group. AKB48 released its 31st single, " Sayonara Crawl " (an election single), on May 22. It sold more than 1.9 million copies in its first month, breaking Speed 's White Love 1997 record for the highest single sales by a female group. The election candidates were 246 girls from AKB48, its sister groups and former members. On June 8 the results were broadcast on Fuji TV and streamed live on YouTube,

4930-562: The latter with Japanese and English commentary. The winner was HKT48 member Rino Sashihara , a former member of AKB48. During the event, Team A captain Mariko Shinoda (who placed fifth) announced that she would leave the group in July. On July 31, during AKB48's summer concert series at the Sapporo Dome, guest and former group headliner Atsuko Maeda sang her new solo single (" Time Machine Nante Iranai "). On August 21

5015-540: The lineup for its 34th single, with Jurina Matsui the winner. After the event the group announced the lineup and performed its 33rd single, " Heart Electric ", which was released in October. Its music video was directed by Shusuke Kaneko , known for the Heisei Gamera trilogy Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack and the live-action film version of Death Note . On December 11

5100-418: The lineup for the group's 27th major-label single, " Gingham Check ". The candidates were 243 members of AKB48, SKE48, NMB48 and HKT48, and ballots were included with the group's 26th single (" Manatsu no Sounds Good! "). The election was held June 6 at Nippon Budokan , with the results telecast live. Yuko Oshima finished first, followed by Mayu Watanabe and Yuki Kashiwagi . On April 23 AKB48 announced

5185-685: The lineup for the group's 29th single, " Eien Pressure ". On August 15 the group released its second studio album, 1830m , and on August 24 (the first day of its Tokyo Dome concert series) AKB48 announced a reorganization of its teams. Team 4 was dissolved, with its members transferred to the other three teams. Aika Ōta was transferred to HKT48 , Aki Takajō and Haruka Nakagawa to Jakarta-based JKT48 and Sae Miyazawa and Mariya Suzuki to SNH48. Minami Takahashi became general manager of AKB48, with Mariko Shinoda replacing her as Team A captain. Yuko Oshima became Team K captain, and Ayaka Umeda captain of Team B. AKB48 recorded " Sugar Rush " for

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5270-400: The main characters, singing its opening and closing themes as No Name. After photographs with their boyfriends surfaced, Natsumi Hirajima and Rumi Yonezawa resigned from the group and were replaced by Jurina Matsui of SKE48 and Miyuki Watanabe of NMB48 . On March 24 AKB48 announced that five trainees would be promoted to Team 4, expanding its roster to 16. It was also announced that

5355-444: The major on-demand audio subscription services including Spotify , Apple Music , Google Play , YouTube and formerly Xbox Music . Known as TEA (track equivalent album) and SEA (streaming equivalent album) when originally implemented, 10 song sales or 1,500 song streams from an album were treated as equivalent to one purchase of the album. Billboard continues to publish a pure album sales chart, called Top Album Sales , that maintains

5440-419: The most listens caused a downfall in their popularity among media outlets, who began to prefer the multi-factored reports of Billboard Japan and their Hot 100 chart. Fellow journalist Tomonori Shiba wrote that customers who purchase CD singles for bundled bonuses had become an obvious part of the Japanese music market, and found that hit songs were not synonymous with selling the most copies, culminating in

5525-441: The new group. AKB48 released its 22nd single, " Flying Get " ( フライングゲット , Furaingugetto ) , on August 24. It sold 1,025,952 copies on its first day, and became the group's fourth single to sell over a million copies (1.354 million) in its first week. On September 20, AKB48 held its second rock-paper-scissors tournament to determine the lineup for the group's 24th single. The group's 23rd single, " Kaze wa Fuiteiru ",

5610-604: The opening of AKB48's first overseas theater in Singapore. The theater, in *scape Youth Park, would host 16 members from AKB48 and its sister groups for two shows a day two days a month. It had an adjacent AKB48 shop for merchandise and an AKB48 Cafe, serving Japanese fusion cuisine and desserts. In June, AKB48 was invited as a perform guest in 22nd Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan. AKB48 released its 21st major-label single, " Everyday, Kachūsha ", on May 25. An "election single", it contained ballots for determining who would headline

5695-494: The popularity of the album as a whole rather than of one or two successful singles . The adjusted total is divided by 1000 and added to the album sales figure. Sam Smith 's In the Lonely Hour was the first album to top the chart with this rule. Out of its 41,000 album-equivalent units, 2,900 units came from streaming and the rest were pure sales. By 2017, streaming had accounted more than half of album-equivalent units in

5780-675: The previous single, with over 400,000 copies sold on its first day and over 513,000 in its first week. On April 27, Anime Expo , the largest anime convention in the United States, announced that AKB48 would be a guest of honor, and the group performed on July 1 at the Nokia Theatre . On October 23, AKB48 represented Japan at the seventh Asia Song Festival , organized by the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange, at Seoul Olympic Stadium . Four days later

5865-557: The relative value of streams on paid music services like Apple Music or Amazon Music Unlimited versus ad-supported music and video platforms such as Spotify's free tier and YouTube. Under the updated album equivalent ratios, 1,250 premium audio streams, 3,750 ad-supported streams, or 3,750 video streams are equal to one album unit. In the United Kingdom, the Official Charts Company has included streaming into

5950-504: The single topped the Oricon chart with over 300,000 copies sold, the most by a Japanese female artist in seven years. This was the group's last single until the release of their first King Records album, Kamikyokutachi , which would top the Oricon album chart and be certified double platinum by the RIAJ for sales of over 500,000 copies. AKB48's 16th single, " Ponytail to Chouchou ", was released on May 26, 2010. Its sales exceeded those of

6035-534: The streaming era began. Between 1994 and 2005, the IFPI counted three physical singles as an equivalent of one album unit in their annual Recording Industry in Numbers (RIN) report. The term was reintroduced by the IFPI in 2013 to measure their Global Recording Artist of the Year . By this point, the album-equivalent units had already included music downloads and streams. An alternative term of album equivalent unit

6120-429: The theater entrance. The man eventually pleaded guilty to charges of bodily injury. Although sister groups SKE48, NMB48 and HKT48 did not suspend their theater performances, they introduced security measures: metal detectors , not using the theaters' front rows, suspending post-performance "high-five" events and increasing the number of security guards. On May 30, AKB48 resumed its television appearances, and on June 2,

6205-447: The third studio album Tsugi no Ashiato . It reached number one on the weekly Oricon Albums Chart , selling 962,000 copies. The group's 35th single, " Mae shika Mukanee ", was released on February 26 and sold 970,413 copies on its first day. AKB48 announced plans for a fifth team, Team 8, with one member from each of Japan's 47 prefectures. On February 24, during the group's Grand Reformation Festival event at Zepp DiverCity Tokyo,

6290-467: The top spots of Oricon's chart with singles that were sold as bundles with event tickets. The top four positions on Oricon's 2017 year-end chart were all taken by AKB48, something that was not reflected in other rankings such as that of the download site RecoChoku, which gave the top spots to " Koi " by Gen Hoshino and "Hanabi" by Mr. Children . According to music journalist Sōichirō Matsutani, Oricon's lack of accuracy in ranking what songs actually received

6375-636: The top two spots of the Oricon Yearly Singles Chart. AKB48 was founded as "idols you can meet". Japanese idols are entertainers/performers who appeal directly to fans for support. Close interactions between fans and idols allow idols to cultivate and maintain loyal fan followings. The group's chief producer, Yasushi Akimoto, said that his goal was to create a unique idol group which, unlike other idol groups which perform occasional concerts and appear primarily on television, would perform regularly in its own theater. The AKB48 Theater

6460-409: The traditional Billboard 200 methodology, based exclusively on Nielsen SoundScan's sales data. Taylor Swift's 1989 was the first album to top the chart with this methodology, generating 339,000 album-equivalent units (281,000 units came from pure album sales). In Billboard's February 8, 2015, issue, Now That's What I Call Music! 53 became the first album in history to miss the top position of

6545-474: Was Mayu Watanabe with 159,854 votes, and Rino Sashihara was runner-up with 141,954 votes. The top eighty candidates were ranked in five groups of sixteen. In August, AKB48 announced the Baito AKB project, which allows girls to join AKB48 part-time using the job search site Baitoru. 13,246 girls applied for Baito AKB, and after several screening rounds, 53 girls were selected to sign a five-month contract with

6630-502: Was introduced in the mid-2010s as an answer to the drop of album sales in the 21st century. Album sales more than halved from 1999 to 2009, declining from a $ 14.6 to $ 6.3 billion industry, partly due to cheap digitally downloaded singles . For instance, the only albums that went platinum in the United States in 2014 were the Frozen soundtrack and Taylor Swift 's 1989 , whereas several artists' works had in 2013. The usage of

6715-464: Was recorded by 20 members of Teams A and K and released on October 25. It debuted at number 12 on the Oricon weekly singles chart, selling 25,544 copies in its first six weeks, and remained on the chart for a total of 65 weeks. On November 3–4 AKB48 performed its first concert, "AKB48 First Concert: Aitakatta ~Hashira wa Nai ze!~" at Nippon Seinenkan in Shinjuku . The group performed "Aitakatta" on

6800-517: Was released on February 15. AKB48's second documentary film, Documentary of AKB48: Show Must Go On Shōjo-tachi wa Kizutsuki Nagara, Yume wo Miru , opened on January 27 in seventh place at the box office and grossed nearly $ 4 million by February 19. An anime series, AKB0048 , was developed by Satelight and aired from April 29 to July 22. It was directed by Yoshimasa Hiraike , with group producer Akimoto aiding with planning and supervision. Nine members of AKB48 and its sister groups voiced

6885-426: Was released on February 16. It sold 655,000 copies on its first day, surpassing " Beginner's " first-day sales of 568,000. By the end of its first week the single sold 942,479 copies, the group's best and the fastest sales in Japan since 2000. On February 21, AKB48 announced its first studio album, Koko ni Ita Koto ( ここにいたこと ) , which would include 11 new tracks and was scheduled for an April 6 release. Due to

6970-451: Was released on January 23 and reached number six on the Oricon Top 10 chart in its first week. On February 27, the group released its eighth major-label single, " Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008 ", a reprise of its Team A debut single. This version featured ten members from Team A, six from Team K and five from Team B. The single's CD included a poster, and a promotion was planned in which fans who collected all 44 posters would be invited to

7055-671: Was released on January 31, 2007 and debuted at number seven on the Oricon Top 10 chart. Its music video and lyrics hinted at the subject of enjo kōsai (compensated dating, remotely related to escort services outside Japan), triggering controversy and negative reviews. On March 18 AKB48 released " Keibetsu Shiteita Aijō "; debuting at number eight on the Oricon chart, it dropped to number 98 in its second week. The group's second concert, "AKB48 Haru no Chotto dake Zenkoku Tour ~Madamada daze AKB48!~" on March 10, had poor ticket sales. In April 2007 AKB48 posted its Team B roster on its website, with five fewer members than originally announced; for

7140-421: Was released on October 26 and sold 1,045,937 copies on its first day. The next single, " Ue kara Mariko " (released on December 7), sold 1.199 million copies in its first week. At the end of 2011, AKB48 topped seven of 16 Oricon rankings: total sales by an artist, copies sold for a single, total sales for a single, total sales by an artist (for singles), copies sold for a music Blu-ray disc, total sales for

7225-459: Was renewed for a second season, AKB0048 Next Stage , and aired from January 5 to March 30, 2013. In January 2013 AKB48 played its Request Hour Set List Best 100 concert at Tokyo Dome City Hall , announcing future shows at Nippon Budokan and Nissan Stadium (the first show by a female artist at the latter). On February 1, the film Documentary of AKB48: No Flower Without Rain: Shōjo Tachi wa Namida no Ato ni Nani o Miru? . opened in tenth place at

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