[Charts & Rankings] AKB48 surpass Ayu as best selling female Japanese artist

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Trinu

Blame the game, not the player.

Artists have tricked their way intosales for a while.

Nowhere near or close to what AKB does. Multiple album covers don't really increase sales; it just allows fans to choose which they like best. Very few fans of non-idol artists will purchase more than one copy of any release.

And sure, it's true from a business standpoint a sale is a sale is a sale and the record companies don't give a damn if half those sales either end up in the trash or overflowing the shelves of used cd stores.

But that's why now, you simply have to view the oricon ranking as a ranking of physical sales and that's it. It no longer represents an actual ranking of popularity or impact.

In short, Oricon has delegitimized themselves through this. Well, this and counting Exile's "million seller" single, because those sales were BS as well.

[Didz-19]

I don't really care if someone outsold Ayu. Ayu had her peak, i think someone else will eventually took her place. Last time, it was Seiko Matsuda had the most #1 singles in the charts. Then Ayu took that place with her "L" single. So like I said, doesn't matter if someone outsold Ayu, whether group or soloist, Ayu is still #1 in all of us. She will, now&4EVER.

[melissalove]

Originally Posted by Didz-19

I don't really care if someone outsold Ayu. Ayu had her peak, i think someone else will eventually took her place. Last time, it was Seiko Matsuda had the most #1 singles in the charts. Then Ayu took that place with her "L" single. So like I said, doesn't matter if someone outsold Ayu, whether group or soloist, Ayu is still #1 in all of us. She will, now&4EVER.

This..

[Amakura]

I don't listen to AKB48 (the only idol group I like is Fairies). I may be very prejudiced against those girls. I only see them as dolls singing what people write for them, dancing and being the prettiest they can. It doesn't interest me at all.

But I agree with Didz-19. Ayu had her peak. She showed how talented she can be (remember when CREA was there ?). It's all about fashion, somebody will also outsold AKB someday... The most important is that we love Ayu, no matter the sales o/

[Trinu]

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

Well, they simply are. I'm very sorry for those girls and I won't blame them. If I would have been asked as a twelve year old if I would like to become an idol, I sure as hell would have "agreed". But everyone who is "supporting" them who isn't a teenager anymore should really ask themselves if it's ok to support the abuse of little girls. When those girls become idols they are just children who are then trained to perform in a way so that older men will get a hard on and masturbate to pictures of them. We all know that's true. That's abuse and it's sad that they already have the impact they have.
The whole idol business, Johnny's included, is (sexual) abuse of children and teens and it's well known that those children are also abused by men in the industry on a regular basis.
When I thought it couldn't get any more disgusting, AKB and its sub groups entered the stage and topped everything we have seen before.
Those children are used by one man in order to earn money for him. And as soon as they get too "old" and aren't interesting for pedos anymore, they get thrown away like garbage. They all deserve better.

Just... wow.
What a mind.

If those abuse are so well known, do you have receipts? Cause if not, you're just talking bs.

As for their age, Kojima Haruna graduated this year being 29.
Had it not been for AKB, she wouldn't be the model she is today where she's flown around the world just to rub shoulders with other models and designers.

Shinoda Mariko came into the group when she was 20.
She was working in the AKBcafe and the fans reques6ted for her to be into the group.
Yeah, those fans that you just bagged under the same label got a 20year old girl to be part of the group she moved to Tokyo for. So sick.

If you're not their fan, fine, but this lashing out is worse than stan twitter "oh my fav isnt doin so well I'm gonna bash the next girl".
Sad.

By the waym , AKB's 50th comes on November 22th. You can count another million.

[melissalove]

Originally Posted by Trinu

If you're not their fan, fine, but this lashing out is worse than stan twitter "oh my fav isnt doin so well I'm gonna bash the next girl".
Sad.

it happened to namie too. With the threat, why is namie so famous??. I mean really, namie also wasn't "culturally relevant" or an "artist". According to some who can't just stand the fact that some artists are "it" right now. Who's next utada??.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by melissalove

it happened to namie too. With the threat, why is namie so famous??. I mean really, namie also wasn't "culturally relevant" or an "artist". According to some who can't just stand the fact that some artists are "it" right now. Who's next utada??.

I don't think anyone ever claimed that Namie was culturally irrelevant . In the 90s, Namie was the best thing since sliced bread for young women and started many trends.

The artist thing could certainly be argued though.

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

Well, they simply are. I'm very sorry for those girls and I won't blame them. If I would have been asked as a twelve year old if I would like to become an idol, I sure as hell would have "agreed". But everyone who is "supporting" them who isn't a teenager anymore should really ask themselves if it's ok to support the abuse of little girls. When those girls become idols they are just children who are then trained to perform in a way so that older men will get a hard on and masturbate to pictures of them. We all know that's true. That's abuse and it's sad that they already have the impact they have.
The whole idol business, Johnny's included, is (sexual) abuse of children and teens and it's well known that those children are also abused by men in the industry on a regular basis.
When I thought it couldn't get any more disgusting, AKB and its sub groups entered the stage and topped everything we have seen before.
Those children are used by one man in order to earn money for him. And as soon as they get too "old" and aren't interesting for pedos anymore, they get thrown away like garbage. They all deserve better.

While I don't agree with categorizing everything as extremely pedophiliac, although there is certainly that element (I've been to idol concerts and you can tell), there are also fans who are simply just fans. Believe it or not, I'm a fan of idol music, just not particularly AKB. I can appreciate Morning Musume because they at least sing live and have complicated dance routines and their songs were written by Tsunku, so particularly with their older material, there was a lot of musicianship to those songs that you didn't really typically find with idol groups; and I'm a fan of several Johnny's groups (but my faves tend to be the older group like SMAP, TOKIO, Arashi etc., not a fan of the super young groups).

So it's not quite fair to lump everyone as being pedophiles, Johnny's particularly, in general, have a far more general audience than the female idol groups do. BUT in particular with the female idols, they are indeed extremely exploited by the companies that they work for, and if their fans truly cared about them, you would think they would be standing up for them to be receiving better treatment. This isn't something that is just specific to the idol industry unfortunately though; it's something that is ingrained into the culture itself, so there is still quite a long way to go before women, especially in the entertainment industry, are seen as more than just puppets on strings.

[EndOfTheWorld]

Originally Posted by Chibi-Chan

Well, they simply are. I'm very sorry for those girls and I won't blame them. If I would have been asked as a twelve year old if I would like to become an idol, I sure as hell would have "agreed". But everyone who is "supporting" them who isn't a teenager anymore should really ask themselves if it's ok to support the abuse of little girls. When those girls become idols they are just children who are then trained to perform in a way so that older men will get a hard on and masturbate to pictures of them. We all know that's true. That's abuse and it's sad that they already have the impact they have.
The whole idol business, Johnny's included, is (sexual) abuse of children and teens and it's well known that those children are also abused by men in the industry on a regular basis.
When I thought it couldn't get any more disgusting, AKB and its sub groups entered the stage and topped everything we have seen before.
Those children are used by one man in order to earn money for him. And as soon as they get too "old" and aren't interesting for pedos anymore, they get thrown away like garbage. They all deserve better.

I am glad that someone had the guts to say this because I was too afraid to.
This absolutely is true. While yes there are idol groups that consist of people in their 20s, many groups, especially AKB have very young girls in them. I don't think anyone is saying that ALL idol fans are perverted men. But that absolutely is a significant aspect of the idol business and culture in Japan and around the world, especially for girl idols.

[Chibi-Chan]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

While I don't agree with categorizing everything as extremely pedophiliac, although there is certainly that element (I've been to idol concerts and you can tell), there are also fans who are simply just fans. Believe it or not, I'm a fan of idol music, just not particularly AKB. I can appreciate Morning Musume because they at least sing live and have complicated dance routines and their songs were written by Tsunku, so particularly with their older material, there was a lot of musicianship to those songs that you didn't really typically find with idol groups; and I'm a fan of several Johnny's groups (but my faves tend to be the older group like SMAP, TOKIO, Arashi etc., not a fan of the super young groups).

So it's not quite fair to lump everyone as being pedophiles, Johnny's particularly, in general, have a far more general audience than the female idol groups do. BUT in particular with the female idols, they are indeed extremely exploited by the companies that they work for, and if their fans truly cared about them, you would think they would be standing up for them to be receiving better treatment. This isn't something that is just specific to the idol industry unfortunately though; it's something that is ingrained into the culture itself, so there is still quite a long way to go before women, especially in the entertainment industry, are seen as more than just puppets on strings.

I have no problem with people liking idol music. I couldn't care less about which music people like or not.
My point was that with AKB and its subgroups, an idol group was created, that first and foremost is promoted and sold for adult men to masturbate to. If AKB would only be popular among teenagers, so be it. But the main marketing target are adult men, since they have the money to buy all those bikini shots and hundreds of CDs. The way AKB is marketed isn't compareable anymore to the way Momosu was at their high. Momosu's main marketing target were teenagers, especially girls with the same age as the members back then. There would also be a lot to criticise regarding Momosu, but looking back, the early Momosu (I don't know the current Momosu) was nowhere the level of objectifocation AKB is.
If normal people now support AKB and buy their CDs and go to their concerts, they actively support the abuse of children. Only because 5 out of 50 girls aren't minors anymore, doesn't make it any better. Not to mention that they were children, when they entered the industry. Those girls are forced to make "sexy" bikini shots, dance as if they are having sex on stage and so on. Making children do this, so that adult men gain sexual pleasure from it, before they even know what sex is and before they had a chance to explore their own sexuality, is sexual abuse of children.
So if people support AKB, they support the sexual abuse of girls.

And regarding Johnny's, I wasn't saying that their audience consists of pedohiles, which obviously isn't true, but that there were some more or less better known cases of men in the industry taking advantage of boys who are under Johnny's.

[AyuCanada]

Wasn't there already other bands who has sold more than her already? One more doesn't change a thing. her record is to be the first solo artist to archieve the 50 000 000 copies.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by AyuCanada

Wasn't there already other bands who has sold more than her already? One more doesn't change a thing. her record is to be the first solo artist to archieve the 50 000 000 copies.

B'z and Mr. Children are the only two. Ayu was number 3 of all time across all artists.

[KittyKathy]

She is still the best-selling solo artist in Japan.

[Bigtop]

Originally Posted by KittyKathy

She is still the best-selling solo artist in Japan.

Well, I think we said that already, but I don't know why Oricon officially separates out groups and soloists for record-keeping...

[~angel*ayumi~]

http://aramajapan.com/news/akb48-fan...585-cds/81566/

After reading this article (yeah it´s Arama Japan xD) I couldn´t care less about AKB surpassing Ayu in CD sales.

[Cahz-]

Yeah just came to post this. Truly embarassing.

[xLuna&1LOVE]

Someone had way too much money to spend...

[Aderianu]

In mid-June, a local walking on the mountain found several boxes of AKB48 CDs with the names and addresses of the sender and the recepitent, leading to the arrest.

what an idiot...

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

After Music Station aired around two weeks ago? (Last week? I can't remember) they were counting down the best selling artists per decade, and until 2010 Ayu was #1, and then they did it for this current decade where AKB had just edged Ayu out. And twitter was like "so... what you mean to say is, Ayu is still number one." Lol

Unsurprisingly Oricon hasn't reported that arrest, despite every other news source doing so.

[Andrenekoi]

AKB48 is probably the first music act in the world capable of being an enviromental issue on its own

[Aderianu]

Music Station ranking of best selling artists

Ayu - red line, AKB48 - pink