[KarenPang]

Arashi tops "Total Sales" & "DVD Sales" categories in Oricon's first half of 2013 ranking

Popular group Arashi dominated the "Total Sales by artist" and "DVD sales" categories of Oricon's "first half of 2013 ranking."

This "Total Sales by artist" is the ranking of artists who have the highest amount of the total sales in CDs (both singles and albums), DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs.

This is the first time in 3 years for Arashi to top this category since they last topped it back in 2010 with a total sales figure of 8.43 billion yen (approximately $86,213,610 USD). In the first half of 2013, Arashi has already exceeded a sales figure of 10 billion (approximately $102,227,000 USD) yen on the strength of the hits of their singles as well as the music DVDs.

Behind Arashi was AKB48 who ranked in 2nd place with sales figure of 6.86 billion yen (approximately $70,157,220 USD). Momoiro Clover Z who was ranked in 3rd place, is worthy of special mention, as they made a big leap from 18th place during the same period last year.

Momoiro Clover Z's total sales for the first half of this year reached 3.92 billion yen (approximately $40,089,840 USD) which is 3.6 times more than in 2012, and it allowed them to grab a spot in the top 3 ranking for the very first time.

For the "DVD Sales" category, Arashi dominated first and second place with "ARASHI ARAFES" (released in December 2012, sold 786,000 copies) and "ARASHI LIVE TOUR Popcorn" (released in April, sold 681,000 copies) respectively.

Moreover, the total number of copies sold for the "ARASHI ARAFES" set an all-time record for the first half of a year, breaking their own record of 785,000 copies which they achieved with "ARASHI 10-11 TOUR 'Scene' ~Kimi to Boku no Miteiru Fuukei~ STADIUM" back in 2011. Also, their total number of copies sold for music DVD for the first half of a year of 1,523,000 copies, is also a new all-time record which once again broke their own record of 1,015,000 copies.

http://www.tokyohive.com/article/201...f-2013-ranking