AKB48 5th Album [Tsugi no Ashiato] First Week Sales

AKB48 released their 5th album [Tsugi no Ashiato] on January 22nd. The album sold 961,531 copies in its first week and took the top of the Oricon Weekly Ranking. These are the best first week sales for an AKB48 album. The last one [1830m] which was released in 2012 sold 870,621 copies in its first week. A mark which the current album almost surpassed with its first day sales of 848,058 alone. But in terms of total sales, [1830m] is still the topselling album. ...

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AKB48 Unit Matsuri 2014 Setlist

AKB48 Unit Matsuri is an annual event held around their Setlist Best concerts. It started in 2012 because for the first time songs from sub-units and soloists were not allowed to be voted in for that years Setlist Best 100 song rankings. So the Unit Festival was to have a concert featuring those. In recent years the concert has been half sub-units and soloists and the other half generic AKB48 songs. This year they performed a lot of songs from their 5th album [Tsugi no Ashiato]. The big announcement at the end of this concert was that Oshima Yuko's graduation date was set for the concerts...

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AKB48 35th Single [Mae Shika Mukanee] Tracklist and Senbatsu

AKB48's 35th single was performed for the first time during Day 2 of AKB48's Request Hour event on January 24th. The single is called [Mae Shika Mukanee] (I only face/look forward) and will be released on February 26th. It is centered by Oshima Yuko who recently announced her graduation. This is the first time Yuko is the sole center for a non-election single. It will be her last single. The senbatsu line-up shows some changes compared to [Heart Ereki], the last non-janken single. Iriyama Anna and Ota Aika are out while Kojima Mako makes her senbatsu debut. SKE48's Suda Akari is in senbatsu...

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AKB48 Team 8 Announcement

On day one of the AKB48 Request Hour 2014 Setlist Best 200 concerts, Team 8 was announced. Auditions will start from the 24th January 2014 and one candidate will be chosen from each of Japan's 47 prefectures. This team will be sponsored by Toyota and the concept is "idols who come to meet you". Official audition blogpost. Official audition webs...

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AKB48 Request Hour 2014 Setlist Best 200 Ranking

AKB48 Request Hour Setlist Best 200 is currently being held at Tokyo Dome City Hall from 23-26 January 2014 with Unit Festival held the day after. The top 100 will be held on 6 April 2014 at Saitama Super Arena. Day one results are below. There were lots of ties, and the surprise announcement of Team 8. Day two results are also below. The 35th single [Maeshika Mukanee] was debuted, with Oshima Yuko as centre. Day three results are also updated, there were no announcements. Day four results are updated. The announcement was [AKB48 Group Dai Sokaku Matsuri] to be held at Zepp Tokyo...

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SKE48 Team S Sato Seira and Mukaida Manatsu Announce Graduation

On January 17th, two Team S members have announced their graduations: Sato Seira and Mukaida Manatsu. Sato Seira will leave in February but she will remain in the entertainment industry after her graduation from SKE48. Mukaida Manatsu instead will leave in March to focus on her studies. Exact graduation dates have yet to be announced. Both girls are among the earliest SKE48 members. As a 1st Generation member, Seira has been in SKE48 since it was formed in 2008. She was promoted to Team KII in 2009 and transferred to Team S during the big shuffle last year. Manatsu is a 2nd Generation member...

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Iwasa Misaki Tops Oricon Weekly Ranking

AKB48's Iwasa Misaki released her 3rd solo single [Tomonoura Bojou] on January 8th and managed a first in her career: she ranked number one on the Oricon Weekly Charts. 1st week sales are 11,928 copies. This is the first number one single by an enka singer in 4 years and 5 months and the first number one in 27 years and 7 months by an enka singer in her teens. Despite that, sales went down compared to her previous single [Moshimo Watashi ga Sora ni Sundeitara] which sold 18,929 copies in its first week. Sales aren't that high, but Number One is Number One. So congrats to Wasamin. Good...

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NMB48 Koyanagi Arisa to Graduate

NMB48 Team M member Koyanagi Arisa has announced that she will graduate from NMB48 because she wants to pursue a career in clothing. Details about final activities and her graduation show will be announced on a later date. Koyanagi Arisa joined NMB48 in 2010 as part of the 1st Generation but was neither chosen for the original Team N nor for Team M. After two years as a Kenkyuusei she was finally promoted to Team M in October 2012. Koyanagi Arisa's graduation announcement Original Message I, Koyanagi Arisa, will graduate from NMB48. Since my first year in high school, I began to aspire...

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HKT48 Kyushu 7 Prefectures Tour Setlist (Updated)

HKT48 started their first tour on January 11th with two concerts in Oita, Sashihara Rino's home prefecture. The tour leads HKT48 in all seven prefectures of the island of Kyushu, the home region of HKT48 and will end on March 21st with a show in HKT48's home base Fukuoka. Below you can find the setlists for all concerts already performed. This post will be updated as the tour goes on. For the tour dates, please see this post. ＨＫＴ４８ 九州７県ツアー～可愛い子には旅をさせよ～ HKT48 Kyushu 7 Prefectures Tour ~Kawaii Ko ni wa Tabi wo Saseyo~ Date: 11th January~ 21st March First and Second Concert, Oita iichiko...

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