Single AKB48 50th [11-gatsu no Anklet] (17/11/22)

yeah it's time for me to accept that current era is when there is good sales doesn't mean good quality music.. haha suddenly having this thought of why the heck did i listen to idol anyway

Spoiler

kinda missed the era when million sales really means good music.. like when Utada Hikaru suddenly sold millions.. & heck I even missed the time when Love Machine became huge.. even when I'm not a fan of them at that time (I was young at that time but even I knew Utada's music was a real deal). nowadays, when I want to listen to new music, I cant even rely on chart anymore, unlike 15 years ago when I just got into japanese music.. truth but sad..

 

AKB48's 50th Single (11-Gatsu no Anklet) (6th Day Sales)
Day 6: 5,275 (1,094,472) (1st)

Past Day Sales

Spoiler

Day 1: 1,048,400 (1st)
Day 2: 18,813 (1,067,213) (2nd)
Day 3: 9,650 (1,076,863) (2nd)
Day 4: 7,757 (1,084,620) (1st)
Day 5: 4,577 (1,089,197) (1st)

Soundscan Japan (Via Billboard Japan) has 1,506,108 Units sold for it's 1st week.
http://www.billboard-japan.com/d_news/detail/57835/2

 

AKB didn't have a proper tour this year anyway?

Like, they did 11 concerts in January (3000 people each), two for the Kojimatsuri (13k people?), the Thanksgiving ones (god knwos the capacity of that) and Mayu's grad (15k?).

They obviously won't appear in any list when they just get out of the theatre to perform in the Tokyo Dome City Hall (again, 3000 people).

And as @ForrestFuller said, if you're going to become another bitter fan who just comes in here to try and bring down the group, maybe do something more productive with your time. Just saying.

 

Can we just be reminded that "quality music" is highly subjective?

Looking at the A sides for the past two years, most were at par with the group's golden age, quality wise, IMO of course. Kimi wa Melody, Love Trip, High Tension, NegaMochi, #SukiNanda, and 11-gatsu are songs that could have might as well been the songs released from 2010 to 2011 and AKB would have probably achieved the same success.

Point is, its only natural for the public to grow tired of the group after years of being on top. As what the others have said, while a lot more effort is needed, the fact that the group is still reaching the million mark is amazing.

TRUE IN ALL ASPECTS.

 

lol I'm not a butthurt netizen, I love AKB and honestly i prefer the current members like Renacchi, Mion, Okada, Annin, Sakura to some of the most famous members like Maeda or Tomochin who I never liked. And I think some of their recent singles are better than some of the ones of their golden era. It's just that people talked about the fact that is surprising that AKB singls fall so much after enormous first day, or comparing to other groups of idols (males and females) are doing so bad in concert revenues. The answer is only that the public is no more interested in AKB, so their sales are "fake", if "11 gatsu no anklet" sells more than "fukyowaon" for example, is only due to these gimmicks, but not because the AKB song is more popular... nobody cares about 11 gatsu no anklet, instead fukyowaon was a hit even if it didn't sold as much as AKB's singles. Of course every idol group is using gimmicks.. but the difference is that others have the public recognition (hit songs, concert revenues etc.) while AKB is struggling nowadays, and their "archive" of million seller singles is only due to these tricks with hundred of girls used to get it...

 

Mmm, if I'm looking for singing technique with quality I will not listen to idols anyway. But I think AKB's background music is pretty good. Try listening to the off-vocal versions.

One factor I consider about a song "success" based on public recognition is which record actually promoting it. Sony music is a long time powerhouse in this game. And AKB is one of those slipped from their hands. Once the concept was proven to be sustainable and successful, I think they are more willing to invest heavily and approach Aki-P. Remember that the first ever selling point of Nogi is the official AKB rival, even riding some kami-7 popularity to get some recognition (Mayuzaka anyone?).

11-gatsu B sides also has some good off-vocals (obviously not that boys sound intro)

 

Nobody said you were wrong. The problem I think we all agree is that you are just hella annoying us with your term "fake" because no one would even use that word here even though we might have different opinions on things. There are other wording alternatives of the "pheonomena" you are pointing out to us (which shouldn't be a big secret by now unless you are a new fan who stumble in this thread) such as illusion, inaccurate or like some Chinese sites users like to say "smokescreen". Because there is way too many problems created when you start using that word. If you still insist then it's really your problem.

Plus it's always the fans who care. So idk why some people always need to fuss about how akb needs to be more popular in general public either. They never cared about it for their songs since day 1. And those "idol you can meet" concept is obviously catered to wotas. I mean it would be cool if general public recognize AKB as their national idol group but as recent general public opinion tells us they are pretty sick and tired of us, and that's fine. AKB is still doing great as sales numbers don't lie, fan base might be switching as old fans do leave when their oshi is gone but at the same time new fans are born from new girls as well. And things are only normal to drop when something spikes, nothing stays top forever. What matters is if AKB wants to go for another 10 years is that if they got the momentum and potential to do so. It's certainly not now, but I see great future ahead with the young generations we have.

Lastly people have different measurements for counting and it is okay and in fact better too imo because guess what AKB are still the only consistent group in Japan to dish out "Million" singles for years since Beginner for crying out loud no matter you are using the oricon or billboard standards. Well except maybe for Kuchibiru be my baby but you know what I mean. Maybe it will matter for sister groups and 46G but to me if AKB is selling 1mill then that's all I would care for a passing grade.

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it's not fake sales, or rigged sales because the people are indeed buying the singles, regardless the actual reasons why they actually buy the single.

it'd be called "fake sales" / "rigged sales" if and only if the management manipulate the sales data (which is impossible to do (?) ), or if the CDs are bought by the management themselves ( to save face, for example). this would mean rigging the sales.

 

But wait... why did AKB go with the "easy-to-dance-along" songs/dances for like 3 years then? all those Pv's with 987998 random people dancing along? I'm pretty sure that was a big (and long) attempt at being popular with the public again, let's be real. Being popular with the public means more invitations on big shows, more jobs, more commercials, more concerts, in other words, everything that brings money. I don't think just selling singles bring that much money, definitely not more than concerts and commercials. anyway it didn't work for them and they go back to making normal songs now (thankfully) their popularity with the public is not coming back. it's just management doesn't want to let go of the "best selling / biggest" girl group title, so they rather not have concerts than have little ones, that would mean that they admit they are below other girl groups. But honestly everyone knows AKB is not the top girl group anymore.

Let's see for how much longer management can keep this illusion that AKB is the top rather than let it go, move on, and give the girls jobs (like concerts etc.) that are on their level of popularity. Like how Morning Musume does.

 

on the contrary holding concert (even at a regular venue) usually will incur quite a huge loss amount of money, esp with the state akb is in now. it's usually the dvd and the concert goods that cover the amt lost in concert.. but i dun think they sell well enough in concert dvd.

 

I think because of the group's size and status as a big singles/album seller, they are expected to have big/grand concerts all the time (unless it's a sub-group or solo concert). And so if it's a big concert, it's not unlikely that they actually lose money whenever they do one of these. I think they can still nearly-sell out since it's still relatively hard to get tickets. And if they small-scale, it could send the wrong perception to sponsors.

 

Sorry to interrupt your conversations, but I need to put up the Oricon article regarding the weekly sales numbers:

https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2101326/full/

Sold around 1.095 million (subject to rounding) in the first week as reported by Oricon. This is AKB48's 37th #1 single, which surpasses Ayumi Hamasaki once again, this time for the amount of #1 singles. (Also 32nd million-selling single, 31 consecutive. Oricon article also has Mayuyu comment as well.)

 

Which is why they can do concerts and label them as Team X.
Isn’t Team 8 doing just that?
Wasn’t the National tour just that?
Why not do it again?

They can have all the groups touring around Japan and then do a big concert together in a big venue to end it... you know, like normal groups.

This reticence from them to not do anything new is just... ugg.

It’s almost as if they’re just releasing singles to pass the time while they wait for the next election, because there’s barely any meaning behind anything at this point.
No more Sakura no Ki PVs with dead girls, or Beginner being censored, or...

 

From a fundamental view.

It's not the main thing. As I am stressing here. Akb started out as a theater based group, and they will always be. Its nice and all if they have all those cool side jobs and goodies. But never forget where they came from.

Theater girls! As long the theaters aren't empty seats and have audiences they are fine as they are too. The more they try to make these normal neighborhood girls into super stars the more they will find it hard to. Because lets face it, most of them are not good at dancing/singing or good at anything at the first place.

AKB had their glory days but at the effort of all the girls at that time who made it happen and the good stuff came in their favor as a reward. The good stuff we still have now are tbh half as enjoyable as you said because not only management is running out of ideas to keep public interest but also it's not really what most of the new gen girls from 10th to 16th have earned for themselves and hence no ownership to their identity in this group. Super star group with no super stars. Drop the superstar group status for all that I care. It's not like AKB will actually die from public interest.

Stop pretending or imagining what they should be, I know not every girl is like this but at the very bottom they might as well be idol wotas like me and you. Only difference is they have a dream to be an idol and willing to work hard to achieve it. And here they are. There can only be 1 acchan, 1 yuko, 1 mayo, 1 sasshi etc. We need to start appreciating the girls of who they are, instead of demanding who they should become.

And this is already off topic, quote me if you want to discuss more in general thread.

Edit: Oops, sorry forgot you were banned from the thread XD PM me if you want to continue I guess lol

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AKB48's 50th Single (11-Gatsu no Anklet) (1st Week Sales)
Week 1: 1,095,240 (1st)

 

Haha I wonder what this feeling is.. AKB48 sold million again & I was like.. 'hmm ok...' type of feeling
Anyway, I'm still happy Mayuyu's last single sold million..
Now the real battle began now.. now that all original kami7 had graduated..

 

Fake sales??
I see what some people mean by that... but
1) That's not fair. Everyone has "fake" sales nowadays, not only AKB
2) GP not interested in AKB singles? Not true. You only have to take a look at Billboard Japan Hot 100. I think it's the most reliable chart in Japan in terms of general interest, because it combines physical sales, digital sales, streaming and airplay. It measures REAL popularity of songs.
And AKB songs are not 1-out. They have long chart-runs. Most of their singles spend 15 to 20 weeks charting. That's because people are listening to the song, not only buying the handshake CDs and then throwing them out.

 

What I find funny about the sales discussion is that it’s now entering the western market and people are like WTF IS THIS.

Taylor Swift has gone a couple of steps beyond tho.
She sold her latest album in a normal edition and then two different magazines (album included).
Aaaaaaand the more you buy, the beter your chances are to get good seats for the tour!
So yeah, people have gone bananas with it.

At least AKB is a bit more honest in the sense of “you buy a cd, you get a hs” and everything else goes by lottery.