Weekly Oricon Chart Roundup – Week 33

Heya, and welcome to our nommy roundup of the Oricon Chart! We’ll be showing you some of the most popular new songs in Japan this week.

前のめり – SKE48
At number one on the singles chart this week, SKE48. We’ve talked about SKE48 before, the sister act of well known AKB48. They were founded upon the concept of “idols you can meet”, and they perform regularly in their own theatre. More recently, they surpassed AKB48 in ranking members in the annual Single Senbatsu Sousenkyo, which is the internal top 80 ranking for all of the 48 groups members. Fans vote for their favourite idol, and as it turns out, having over a third of the idols from all groups combined in AKB48 still doesn’t put you at the top of the ranks; no wonder SKE48 top the charts.

Hard Knock Days – GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE
Number two on the singles chart is taken by GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE (Generations for short), a 7 man boy band part of the Exile Tribe Collective. We’ve seen several Exile Tribe boy bands float by, and this one is no different. They are one of the newest groups in the collective, and as such they don’t get the sweet collabs with artists like Slash or Afrojack. Their only number one single was a collab with the other Exile groups, so they can’t even boast about that. But, they do have a very well done steampunk style video this time around, which is nice.

エビバディ – Da-iCE
At number three in the singles chart, we find Da-iCE and their latest single. One of the winners of the 2015 Japan Gold Disc Award for Best 5 New Artist, they sure have impressed the public. Their name is actually pronounced as “dice”, the concept being that the five sides of a dice represent the five members, two vocalists and 3 dancers, whilst the last side represents the fans. Also the “a-i” is intentionally lower-case, as “ai” means love in Japanese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXRg11r2SS4

もうすっかりあれなんだよね – クレイジーケンバンド
Over on the album chart, we find Crazy Ken Band at number three. This is the second iteration of the band, who started in 1991 under the name CK’s, with four members led by Ken Yokoyama. Then when the fifth member, Keiichi Nakanasi joined, the name was changed and this iteration was born. A bit of an underdog, they were ranked #98 in the HMV Japan top 100 Japanese pop artists of 2003. Of course that doesn’t mean much, and their mixing of funk and rock has won me over completely.

手紙 – back number
Back on the singles chart we find Back Number on number four, and their new single Letter. Back Number has been together since 2004, when they formed in high-school, but have only made their major debut in 2011. Yet they have managed to release 13 singles, including this one, and 5 albums in four years.

終わらない歌 – ゆず
At number five, there’s Yuzu, and their never-ending album. The two members met in high-school, but went their own way afterwards. However, some musical setbacks they came back together to form Yuzu. After getting their major break they quickly shot up in popularity, with their third single, released only 4 months after their first one, reaching #4 in the charts. From their second album onwards, Yuzu has never placed lower than third. This video is an odd one, with a lot of strange apparatuses on display, some more disturbing than others.

ねぇバーディア – Negicco
Number seven on the singles chart contains Negicco, or “the green onion girls”, and their latest single. The group was originally created to promote local green onions from Niigata, and as such the name uses the word Negi, which means green onion. They are still produced by the Negi-pro Agency, so the green onion’s musical ambassadors should not forget their original mission for a while.

It’s Our Time – moumoon
And finally, at number eight on the album chart, there’s moumoon’s new album, It’s Our Time. The two members met at a summer rock festival 10 years ago, and they decided to form a group only weeks later. After they were formed, their songs were power-played on many a radio station and used in plenty of TV commercials, earning them name recognition quickly. They even do unique live shows called “FULLMOON LIVE” every full moon night.

That’s it for this week! I hope you had your fill of nommy songs, and I’ll see you next week for another roundup of the Oricon Chart!

The full charts can be found at oricon.co.jp