[News] AKB48’s single [桜の木になろう] sells 942,000 copies in first week

[LacusClyne]

AKB48 [桜の木になろう] single, first week sales: 942,000!!!!!!!!!!!

It is expected that this single should be able to hit a million sales easily. YAY!!!!

AKB48′s “Sakura no Ki ni Narou” achieves 6th highest first-week sales in history
Oricon has announced the official weekly sales total for AKB48’s 20th single, “Sakura no Ki ni Narou.” After starting off with a record-setting first day, the single has sold approximately 942,000 copies to achieve the 6th highest first-week sales in history.

The last single to sell more than 900,000 copies in the first week was Utada Hikaru’s “Addicted to You” in 1999, which sold 1.068 million copies. This means that AKB48 is the only artist to reach that level since the turn of the century. Among female artists, the next closest single is Amuro Namie’s “Can You Celebrate?” (1997), which moved 828,000 copies in its first week, though AKB48′s “Beginner” came close last year at 827,000.

Oricon began tracking weekly sales data for singles in January 1968. The only singles that have performed better than “Sakura no Ki ni Narou” are:

1.“Namonaki Uta” – Mr.Children – 1,208,000
2.“Addicted to You” – Utada Hikaru – 1,068,000
3.“Dango 3 Kyoudai” – Hayami Kentaro, Shigemori Ayumi, Himawari Kids & Dango Gasshoudan – 1,026,000
4.“Winter, again” – GLAY – 956,000
5.“LOVE PHANTOM” – B'z – 951,000
With “Sakura no Ki ni Narou,” AKB48 has achieved a streak of seven #1 singles. They are only the second female group to do so, after Pink Lady in 1978.

Source:
Oriconhttp://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/85019/full/

http://www.tokyograph.com/news/akb48...ory#more-18439

[Yumsushi]

Thats quite an achievment and I wish I could be happy for them...

[brener]

Originally Posted by Yumsushi

Thats quite an achievment and I wish I could be happy for them...

me too. i dont like them even a bit... tho im happy cuz it means too much for the japanese music

[love in music]

Originally Posted by Yumsushi

Thats quite an achievment and I wish I could be happy for them...

same here.

[NintendoHTF1242]

They just keep breaking 'em records. Congrats to them!

[sanzo2011]

So crazy ! congratz them!

[Aditmi Krisnasaki ~II~]

wow... they really are reviving music industry...

[dreamland2.0]

My girls are so amazing~~~

[dreamland2.0]

I think perhaps we should not make threads like this anymore because they will just lead to hating like the above comment.
There aren't enough AKB fans here to appreciate such threads.

[ストロボ・EdGE]

HOLY ****ING ****. If this were released in 1999 would it have sold 10 million copies or something?! O____O

[Bigtop]

I'm telling you - AKB48 could become Japan's next big music thing joining the likes of Southern All Stars/Keisuke Kuwata, early Johnny's groups, Seiko Matsuda, Utada, Ayu, and most recently Arashi.

[ストロボ・EdGE]

^They already are "the next thing" after they made (and keep making) history several times over.

I wish I could be happy for them, lol.

[DA1SUK1DAY01691]

My brother said (which I knew from before) most articles fail to mention how Amuro Namie ended up selling over 2 million copies of "CAN YOU CELEBRATE?". Just thought I'd put that out there.

But I'm really happy for them—they've literally gone from total obscurity to (probably) the biggest thing in Japan.

[Zemus]

^ These are for first week sales. "CAN YOU CELEBRATE?" sold 828,480 copies on its first week.

[TeamAyu2004]

Originally Posted by Yumsushi

Thats quite an achievment and I wish I could be happy for them...

Lol, I thought the same thing... i rewally cant stand there music, but I have to say I do like this single more then the others..

Originally Posted by DA1SUK1DAY01691

My brother said (which I knew from before) most articles fail to mention how Amuro Namie ended up selling over 2 million copies of "CAN YOU CELEBRATE?". Just thought I'd put that out there.

But I'm really happy for them—they've literally gone from total obscurity to (probably) the biggest thing in Japan.

I was going to say it but....

Originally Posted by Zemus

^ These are for first week sales. "CAN YOU CELEBRATE?" sold 828,480 copies on its first week.

You beat me to it ! lol

[Zemus]

"Sakura no Ki ni Narou" has now sold 1,005,052+ copies. Been awhile since we had a million-seller in the year-end charts.

"Beginner" passed the million mark, but 2010 total sales were 954,283 copies.

[TeamAyu2004]

^ good for them. Maybe it will pump up the music industry a bit. Although its not that bad... but it did take like 10 months or so to get a million seller with Arasis or whatever they are called.. lol

[DA1SUK1DAY01691]

Originally Posted by Zemus

^ These are for first week sales. "CAN YOU CELEBRATE?" sold 828,480 copies on its first week.

I understand that, but we were just talking about staying power and the ability to sell consistently high numbers in a shorter amount of time.

I'm not trying to knock AKB48's achievements because I love them too, but I think the final sales count should matter in these articles, too (especially since they mentioned Amuro's single in the article to begin with). I mean, even though Hikki sold over 1 million copies of "Addicted to You" that first week, she ended up with 1.78 million compared to Amuro's 2 million.

(I'm not trying to start a fight or a debate, I just think it's important for Amuro's final sales figure to be known if they're gonna mention her in the article.)

[Picaflor 7/4]

oh. these are highest selling first week singles. I was gonna say "where's ayu's A single?" haha. Congrats to them.

[TeamAyu2004]

^ yeah.. i don't think she has ever sold any close to those numbers in first week.. M or evolution maybe?