Things I do at work when there is no work to do:
Predictable rankings are predictable
The above graph shows the “most talked about AKB48 members online,” according to an informal study by Japanese entertainment portal BARKS. The search totals are based on the number of times each member has been mentioned in blogs and social media since January 1st of this year.
In other words, “How many times did someone say Atsuko Maeda’s name on the internet?”
A mix-and-match crew of flight attendants launched a devastating airstrike in Japan’s Idol Wars when their major-label debut landed at No. 1 on the Weekly Oricon.
Ten-member group Passpo (PASSPO☆, ぱすぽ☆) shocked the music world, their fans, and even themselves when their new single, “Shoujo Hikou,” came screaming out of the gate with 42,706 units sold, good for first place on the J-pop charts. The impact could be felt as far away as Libya, where a very rattled Moammar Qaddafi admitted that the power of KAWAII and ROCK’N'ROLL scared him more shitless than NATO ever did.
In more factual news, this is the first No. 1 opening for a female ensemble’s debut single since Kiroro’s “Nagai Aida” in 1998. This also means that a certain miniskirted army in Akihabara should be quaking in their knee-high stockings right about now, because even THEY never did it when they started out.
TABLE: Major-label debuts for some basic bitches you’ve never heard of.
| Artist | Debut Single | Year | Peak Oricon Rank (Weekly) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seiko Matsuda | Hadashi no Kisetsu | 1980 | 12th | |
| Onyanko Club | Sailor Fuku wo Nugasanaide | 1985 | 5th | |
| SPEED | Body & Soul | 1996 | 4th | |
| Morning Musume. | Morning Coffee | 1998 | 6th | Preceded by indies single “Ai no Tane” |
| AKB48 | Aitakatta | 2006 | 12th | Preceded by indies singles “Sakura no Hanabiratachi” “Skirt, Hirari” |
| Shoujo Jidai [SNSD] | Genie [JP ver.] | 2010 | 4th | Preceded by Korean career |
| PASSPO☆ | Shoujo Hikou | 2011 | 1st | Preceded by indies singles “Let It Go!!” “Hallelujah” “GPP” “Go On A Highway” “Pretty Lie” “DEPARTURE” + indies album “TAKE☆OFF” |
