Weekly Oricon Chart Roundup – Week 34

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.

I am a HERO – 福山雅治
At number one on the singles chart, we have “I am a HERO” by Masaharu Fukuyama. He’s one of the biggest artists in Japan, the 29th best-selling artist in fact. He started his career as an actor and continues to do so (his latest role was in the 2014 live-action Rurouni Kenshin film), but he also started his music career in 1990 after his first movie role. His breakout single, “Good night”, was released in 1992, and it all went upwards from there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbIu6FERMdQ

RHINOCEROS – ポルノグラフィティ
Over on the album chart, we find Porno Graffiti at number one, with their latest album RHINOCEROS. These guys should be fairly well-known to our anime-watching audience, as they have done several opening themes, including one for Fullmetal Alchemist and Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic. Their latest single was used for the new Detective Conan film.

Oh my wish!/スカッとMy Heart/今すぐ飛び込む勇気 – モーニング娘。’15
Back on the singles chart, Morning Musume stands tall at number two. The lead group of Hello! Project, Morning Musume is a force to be reckoned with, having the second highest overall single sales in the female group category. The group started life as runners-up in a reality talent show, which was created to find the new singer for the rock group Sharam Q. The frontman for Sharam Q decided to make the five runners-up into a group, and they were given the challenge of selling 50,000 copies of their demo single in five days. The girls managed to do so in four, and Morning Musume was born.

24karats GOLD SOUL – EXILE
Number three is taken by EXILE’s new single, 24karats GOLD SOUL. EXILE is the main group of the Exile tribe supergroup, and most of their members also star in other exile groups. They were formed in 1999 as J Soul Brothers, but changed their name to Exile in 2001 (the J Soul Brothers name was revived in 2007, which is why you might have seen that on previous roundups). They also sang “Taiyō no Kuni”, a special single release which was made for the 20th anniversary of Emperor Akihito’s enthronement.

Burning Bridges – Bon Jovi
Yup, you read that right, Bon Jovi. The Oricon Chart includes foreign artists, but as you might expect it takes a lot to make it to the top. They come in at number three on the album chart, which could be due to slow album sales for other artists, but in the end, they’re still there, and, as this roundup is a highlight of what is popular in Japan, they deserve to be mentioned.

夏色 MY GIRL – BTOB
This week at number four on the singles chart we have 夏色 MY GIRL (Summer Color MY GIRL) by BtoB. BtoB (or Born to Beat) is a seven member Korean boy band formed in 2012. They made their first appearance on the sitcom I Live in Cheongdam-dong as, what else, an aspiring boy band. After a small casting change BtoB debuted in a showcase on March 21, 2012. The song 夏色 MY GIRL is BtoB’s third Japanese single release. Both of their other singles also entered the top ten of the charts, with WOW (JPN ver.) topping at number nine and 未来(あした) topping at number two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8BEPY1KhqI

イッチャって♪ ヤッチャって♪ – SUPER☆GiRLS
At number five is SUPER☆GiRLS and their latest single. The ladies of SUPER☆GiRLS had a bit of a rocky start back in 2011, when their debut single was delayed due to the horrendous Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that Japan has yet to fully recover from. But they, just as the rest of the country, have made efforts to move forward, and they released two more singles in the same year, whilst also being nominated for the Japan Record Award for Best New Artist.

君がくれた夏 – 家入レオ
Leo Ieiri is at number six on the singles chart this week with her song “Kimi ga Kureta Natsu” (“The Summer You Gave Me”). Her stage name has two sources: the first is from the film Léon: The Professional, and the second is from the character Leo of Kimba the White Lion. She chose the second one because her eyes resemble those of the wild feline. Her debut single “Sabrina” was used as the third ending song of the anime Toriko.

That’s it for this week! Thanks to Zeke and Softly_Raining for writing up the text for BtoB and Leo leiri respectively, I have been feeling a bit under the weather this week so time for me to work on the roundup was a bit more limited. 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