Photo: YouTube/AKB48
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Idol group AKB48’s new song is 3rd-best-selling Japanese single CD of all time

16 Comments
By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24

There’s no denying that this is the golden age of idol music in Japan, which is actually sort of a double-edged sword for performers. While demand and enthusiasm for upbeat tunes from costumed vocal units is higher than ever, so is the amount of competition for fans’ hearts and wallets.

Staying on top of the idol game is particularly hard, since the genre prizes fresh-faced youthfulness above just about anything else. But while there’s definitely a “root-for-the-underdog” mentality that contributes to sales of certain up-and-coming groups, AKB48, the mega-group that kicked off the modern idol era, has once again demonstrated that it wears the sparkly crown of the idol industry, as its newest single, “Teacher Teacher,” has now sold three million copies.

This makes “Teacher Teacher” the best-selling AKB48 single ever, an impressive feat considering it’s the group’s 52nd single. What’s even more amazing, though, is that this is only the third time in history that a Japanese single CD has broken the three-million mark in sales. The most recent song to share that distinction was “Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana” by boy band Smap, released in 2003 with sales to date of roughly 3.12 million, and the remaining member of the three million CD single sales club is 1999’s “Dango San Kyodai” a song about three anthropomorphic rice dumpling brothers that originally appeared as part of a children’s television program.

▼ “Dango San Kyodai,” Japan’s best-selling CD single of all time.

In other words, “Teacher Teacher” is now the third-best-selling CD single ever released in Japan. However, it sits a few slots lower on the overall single sales chart, behind 1970s hits “Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun” and “Onna no Michi,” both of which have some of their sales from record and cassette tape releases.

Still, this is a major feather in the collective cap of AKB48’s many vocalists. How many copies of “Teacher Teacher” are still in the hands of the people who purchased them, however, is a different story,

Source: Music.jp News via Jin

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

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-- Higashi Ikebukuro 52: new Japanese idol unit made up of credit card company employees 【Video】

-- Japanese idols cut to the chase, charge fans 10,000 yen to talk to them for three minutes

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

16 Comments
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Well, no wonder. Each CD is bundled with an entry ballot for the most popular member election. So their otaku fans buy the CD in bulk to get more chance to vote.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

nice legs

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Anyone else find it hilarious that the number one selling CD is a song about odango?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Is that something to be proud of?

3 ( +6 / -3 )

-- Idol group AKB48 sells 2.5 million copies of new CD, bags full of them end up in trash days later

That was an article just lately!!!! A) This is not the "Golden Age" for Jpop! They are so completely crushed by the Kpop Monster just to the West! B) The the heck listens to or even buys CD's these days? C) That is how you vote on who it the cutest and most sexy girl. Selling CD's is the only statistical way the AKB48 can compete groups like Blackpink, Redvelvet, Twice, and I didn't even mention BTS. Ouch! They can't compete it talent either!

3 ( +6 / -3 )

JONNNYS company probably bought more than half of the CDS Followed closely by middle aged men living alone. And that creepy boy down the street.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Great marketing. Somebody is getting very rich off this and it’s not the performers. Sex sells! Especially underage sex!

1 ( +7 / -6 )

Btw, her accent is from which prefecture?

Dunno. I thought long and hard about it. Barnsley?

Akimoto has got some mileage out of this. I suppose you have to give him credit.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Its a catchy song

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Great for them!

0 ( +5 / -5 )

This kind of rubbish clogs the US media as well. I know Japan has some real musical talent. Loudness, Japan X, Shonen Knife. Cover them - not this teen crap.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

“Dango San Kyodai,” Japan’s best-selling CD single of all time.

I think this is an error. I believe it is "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun", a song about sweet red bean filled Japanese pancake, is the best-selling CD single of all time. "Dango San Kyodai" sold 2.9 million, but "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun" sold 4.5 million. They are both from TV programs for children.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oricon_Singles_Chart

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyoge!_Taiyaki-kun

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dango_3_Kyodai

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Cricky, I think thats actually the truth.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Ex member AKB48, now an actress Atsuko Maeda, her acting is quite unique, maybe due to her voice?after I watched 2015 Initiation Love. Btw, her accent is from which prefecture?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

K-pop reached the West already, the West doesn't need AKB48 as there's already enough pop crap on the ether, cable and the internet :)

Sex sells! Especially underage sex!

Underage?

The only 'underage' girl I like in Japan is Kozue Akimoto :)

https://goo.gl/images/xFoNRR

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

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