Starting on November 18th on the Enta371 channel at 10pm is AKB 1/48 (AKB Yonjuuhachi bun no ichi). Each episode will focus on one member doing something interesting for the cameras. The first episode will feature Rina Chikano and Reina Fujie. I guess having the girls on 4 TV shows already isn’t enough for their growing popularity so they churn another one out for the fans which reminds me that I’ve yet to catch SKE48’s show yet.
AKB48 achieved another fantastic milestone as River continues to break records for them. They finally smashed through the 200k barrier with total sales now standing at 205,005 for the single. It’s amazing what they’ve done this year and I’m hoping that 2010 sees their popularity grow even more. It’s also nice to hear that more young women are now attending their concerts than ever before which shows their appeal isn’t just for wotas anymore.
AKB48 did exceptionally well during 2nd week sales for River. They stay inside the Top 10 and drop down to no.5, just one place below Morning Musume. They sold 20,574 copies bringing their grand total up to 199,153. Looks good to breaking another milestone – 200k tomorrow. Morning Musume even though they beat AKB48 last week have crashed down to no.28 in the daily rankings at the start of the 2nd week for sales for Kimagure Princess. River manages to hold steady and is still selling reasonably well in it’s 3rd week.
So far AKB48 has 4 entries in the Top 50 of the Oricon Yearly Charts. River is presently at no.19 but with sales continuing who knows how high it could go. Other AKB48 songs are at no.32, no.41 and no.44.
I’ve been thinking to myself because of the success that AKB48 have achieved this year, if they don’t get invited to appear on the annual New Year’s Eve extravaganza Kohaku Uta Gassen it will be a big disgrace and a slap in the face for them so I hope the people that pick the artists for the show see sense and invite them.
This clip has AKB48 performing River on Music Station. It’s not the full song just the short version. It seems that Takamina’s skirt had a bit of a problem, lucky that they always wear black shorts underneath those skirts otherwise it could have been embarassing for her. It didn’t affect her performance at all, she just carried on like the trooper that she is.
With it being the 2nd week of sales for River, you would have thought that the new single by Morning Musume ‘Kimagure Princess’ would make them favorites to win the idol battle this week pretty easily but AKB48 haven’t done so badly against them. OK, so MoMusu got 16,666 on the first day which is poor anyway but since then AKB48 have battled back strongly to overtake them in the daily rankings on the 2nd day. It’s embarassing to say the least and now on some online forums MoMusu fans are starting to argue amongst themselves. If AKB48 manage to nudge ahead of Morning Musume when the weekly figures come out next week their humiliation will be complete. Besides what do they expect with a stinker of a song! You would have thought they’d have come up with something better for Koharu’s last ever single.
One of AKB48’s most popular member Atsuko Maeda raised 1.25 million yen for charity recently. She sold 3 autographed personal items – a bench coat that was only available to members of the idol group, a set containing a pyjama top with 2 scrunchies and a bag she used during high school. The items were auctioned off on Yahoo Japan. It was the bench coat that got the highest price out of the three going for 501,000 yen. The money raised goes to Green Cross International. Well done Acchan.
We all knew that they were going to get it but it’s official at last – AKB48 are at the top of the Oricon charts with River. The 1st week totals were 178,579 – very impressive numbers though sales have gradually gone worse as the week wore on. Today it seems they only sold around a 1,000 copies and stay at no.5 in the daily rankings. But now is not the time to dwell on poor figures – it’s a time to celebrate the fact that they’ve gotten their deserved no.1 slot. Congratulations to all the girls. Even better news is that AKB48 are the biggest selling female group in 7 years. Another accolade to add to their growing popularity. It’s a great time to be their fan.
Not a very good day at all for AKB48 as they finally lost the no.1 daily rankings for the 1st time since the single was released. They actually dropped way down to no.5. The sales figures are in the region of 3,000 or so. I really thought they’d be able to hang on to being at the top of the daily rankings but it was not to be. It doesn’t really matter as the weekly no.1 was theirs for the taking after the first 2 days of sales.
There was a slight increase today with sales of River and they managed to shift 7,085 to bring the total up to 167,895. They managed to hold on to the daily no.1 ranking. It doesn’t look like they’ll hit 200k this week. Still a quite magnificent achievement for them.
Yet another big drop today in sales for River but they still managed to retain the daily no.1 ranking. They sold an additional 4,707 copies today making the grand total 160,810. I think getting up to 200k is impossible now but we’ll see if their appearance on Music Station will make a difference.
