Singles: 01 Last Christmas EXILE 200,255 02 Everyday/Can't Get Back w-inds. 48,303 03 Jigsaw Acid Black Cherry 42,896 04 Hakanaku mo Towa no GALAXY UVERworld 27,275 05 FOREVER LOVE C-ute 26,603 06 Sunao ni Naretara JUJU feat. Spontania / I can be free JUJU 25,736 07 24 Xmas time Kuraki Mai 21,002 08 Hurry Xmas L'Arc~en~Ciel 20,381 09 Aino Mamade Akimoto Junko 17,420 10 Bouken Suisei Kurumi Enomoto 13,697
Albums: 01 VOICE Nakashima Mika 155,502 02 Umbrella Shumizu Shota 56,442 03 ai no Uta 2 Various Artists 51,498 04 Unreal flumpool 45,203 05 Chinese Democracy Guns N' Roses 39,095
ORICON ROUNDUP: SMAP and EXILE head the Oricon charts this week with both male groups pulling HUGE numbers to easily take the top spots.
EXILEhad their best single sales in a long time with their new hit The Birthday ~Ti Amo~ which sold a whopping 171,435 copies to take top spot on the Singles Chart. The Birthday ~Ti Amo~ is the group's first single top make #1 since early last year and follows the enormous success of their trio of BEST albums released this year. Ayaka's collaboration with Kobukuro failed to live up to expectations selling with just under 82K sales, a nice amound yet almost 60K under their previous collaborative effort back in early 07. Morning Musume's new single also charted in the top 5 along with previous releases from Mr.Children and Angela Aki. New releases from BREAKERZ, Kato Miliyah and Miki Shin'ichiro also made the top 10 while Gake no Ue no Ponyo and V6 continue their strong sales.
SMAP's super.modern.artistic.performance marks a landmark achievement for the Johnny's Group, pushing their career sales past the 10 million mark for album sales. Congratulations to the boys! With 214K the album knocked B'z from the top of the charts. B'z The Best "ULTRA Treasure"'s sales dropped dramatically from last week's 400K+ to just 76.6K - still great numbers but yeah, big drop. Hamasaki Ayumi's A COMPLETE ~ALL SINGLES~ continues to sell well, 60K in her third week on the charts pushing the total sales to over 720K surpassing the individual sales for her A BEST 2 albums. New releases from Dohzi-T and D.Gray-man COMPLETE BEST also charted in the top 5 while Amuro Namie's BEST FICTION dropped to 7th on the charts.
CHARTS:
Singles: 01 The Birthday ~Ti Amo~ EXILE 171,435 02 Anata to ayaka x Kobukuro 81,943 03 Pepper Keibu Morning Musume 38,596 04 HANABI Mr.Children 32,757 05 Tegami ~Haikei Juugo no Kimi e~ Angela Aki 22,267 06 Sekai wa Odoru / Shukunetsu BREAKERZ 19,559 07 LIGHT IN YOUR HEART / Swing! V6 13,789 08 Gake no Ue no Ponyo Fuijioka Fujimaki & Oohashi Nozomi 12,301 09 SAYONARA BABY / Koi Shiteru Kato Miliyah 11,862 10 Towa no Rasen / Answer Miki Shin'ichiro comes across Lockon Stratos 8,164
Albums: 01 super.modern.artistic.performance SMAP 214,104 02 B'z The Best "ULTRA Treasure" B'z 76,623 03 12 Love Stories Dohzi-T 63,414 04 A COMPLETE ~ALL SINGLES~ Hamasaki Ayumi 59,729 05 D.Gray-man COMPLETE BEST (Various Artists) 31,762
REVIEWS: I'm back to reviewing after missing out on last week's new releases. I didn't really have the time last week, and none of the releases sparked much of an interest in me so I just didn't bother ... sorry!
Anyway - onto this week's new releases:
Anata to ayaka X KOBUKURO
This ballad is the second collaboration between ayaka and KOBUKORO. It is a beautiful song and ayaka's vocals mix well with the KOBUKURO boys. Unfortunately, the song suffers from not being totally memorable and though pretty it just doesn't have that lasting appeal for me. I'm very particular on my ballads, so others may like this and I'm not disputing that it is a good song, but just not a favorite of mine. Also, while a different style, I don't think it's as good as last year's collaborative effort.
Rating: 7/10
The Birthday ~Ti Amo~ EXILE
EXILE's new track, is the birth of something called Chapter 1. I'm not certain what that means but I can only assume Chapter 2 is sure to follow (2 comes after 1, right?) The PV for this song is pretty incredible (check it out if you can find it - Nazi Avex have pretty much removed it from existance on the net), but the song itself isn't as great unfortunately. It suffers from a very laid back style which makes it sound like elevator music or something. There is no real variation or growth in the song. It's nice and could have been really good but it's a bit bland.
Rating: 6.5/10
Can't Stop The Disco Suzuki Ami
Suzuki Ami's new track is a techno/pop dance song with synth vocals. I'm not a fan of the genre and this song doesn't change my opinion. I'm not certain if Suzuki usually synthesizes her vocals (the few tracks of her's I've heard in the past haven't had synth vocals) but I personally feel the song would have been better with normal vocals. Apart from this, the chorus is OK and the beat is pretty decent.
Rating: 6.5/10
POLARIS no Namida Onsoku LINE
POLARIS no Namida is a new ballad from Onsoku LINE and though I do somewhat enjoy it, it's bland with a capital B. It's almost like they toned down what could have been an amazing chorus just so that it would be very laid back and I think that ruins the song. Bland chorus = bland song. Nice backround music, though.
Rating: 5.5/10
Sayonara Baby/Koi Shiteru Kato Miliyah
Kato's new double A-side features the upbeat Sayonara Baby and the happy-go-lucky Koi Shiteru. Sayonara Baby is a mid tempo dance track. This song is actually pretty good; better than I had expected it to be. It's not hugely memorable but it's a good dance track with a catchy chorus and good vocals. Koishiteru on the other hand is a fun, poppy song but I have to admit, I find the chorus REALLY annoying. It repeats throughout (obviously) which makes me unable to like this track. Even if I did like the chorus, the whole thing is still nothing special... at all.
Walk Over the Rainbow is a funky, pop/rock track with some strange vocals. The vocalist's voice is really odd and will probably put some people off but I do think she provides the interest in this song- without the vocals it would be a mess. Hmm... Despite this, it doesn't leave much of an impression on me at all.
Rating: 5.5/10
Single of the Week
Sekai wa Odoru/Shakunetsu BREAKERZ
DAIGO's group BREAKERZ have begun branching out into singles territory after a couple of albums last year and had moderate success (top 10) with their first single SUMMER PARTY/LAST EMOTION. Their second single Sekai wa Odoru/Shakunetsu offers more of the cool, rocky edge that is seeing them continue to grow in popularity.
Sekai wa Odoru
Sekai wa Odoru opens with some really beautiful strings and bursts straight into the chorus which is the highlight of this track for me. The chorus is quite catchy and DAIGO's vocals are pretty awesome. While the verses lack the punch of the chorus, they provide a nice contrast of energy and allow that all important growth that I'm always harping on about. The instrumental is really great with the inclusion of strings in the rock track. There isn't a bridge in this track, the group instead opting for a guitar solo which was a good choice (though both could have been accommodated I suppose). The solo leads on to a really soft chorus, beautifully sung over a nice simple piano instrumental which then launches back into the rocky chorus. I really love how the rock song slowly fades out as the strings are reintroduced to close out the song; It's a really lovely ending.
Shakunetsu
Shakunetsu is a bit more hard and rough compared to Sekai wa Odoru, which is a great contrast of rock styles for this single. It is the Japanese theme song for Wanted (starring Angelina Jolie, among others). Interestingly, compared with the previous track, I find the verses in this song to be the strongest factor. They're really catchy, with a dark moodiness and DAIGO's vocals are once again, very good. The pre-chorus builds really well to the high-energy chorus which is great but short. I really like how DAIGO sings this song, he puts everything into his vocals and the final note of the chorus is great! Once again, there is a rock instrumental section of the song which leads onto the final choruses.
I think the thing I enjoy most about BREAKERZ is that their songs really do feel like they are done by a group, rather than a DAIGO solo song. This is difficult to accomplish with such a popular frontman, but the rock instrumentals and guitar solos allow the other two members their time to shine. The more intricate style of Sekai wa Oduru matches well with the uninhibited Shakunetsu and the single makes a lot of sense as a double a-side.
ORICON ROUNDUP: Avex's EXILE has totally obliterated the album charts selling 400K of their EXILE ENTERTAINMENT BEST album to rocket to #1. This is their 10th no.1 album, with only their debut album not reaching the top of the charts, and their second BEST album this year, with their third EXILE BALLAD BEST to be released in December.
GReeeeN's A, Domo. Ohisashiburi Desu sold another 40K this week to place 2nd and bring their total sales closer to the 650K mark, while last week's no.1 ZUSHI dropped to 3rd selling 33K. Koi no Uta continues to sell, the love song compilation charting at no.4 on their 3rd week, while Ayaka's Sing to the Sky is no.6 on its 6th week.
On the singles' chart, Hey! Say! JUMP scores a predictable 3rd #1 single, though their sales seem to be slowly declining, selling 20K less than their previous single. 160K is nothing to scoff at and they easily took the top spot. Aiko's new single KissHug is at no.2 selling 75K and FUNKY MONKEY BABYS are in 4th spot.
My single of the week, Hayashibara Megumi's Plenty of grit / Revolution charted at a delightfully surprising 6th with 15K sales, better than expected. Last week's top single Tohoshinki's Doushite Kimi wo Suki ni Natte Shimattandarou? dropped out of the top 10 to no.18, while GReeeeN's Kiseki returned to the top 10 in its 9th week.
CHARTS:
Singles:
01: Your Seed / Bouken Rider Hey! Say! JUMP 160,032 02: KissHug aiko 75,086 03: Gake no Ue no Ponyo Fuijioka Fujimaki & Oohashi Nozomi 36,973 04: Kokuhaku FUNKY MONKEY BABYS 16,551 05: Make my day Aragaki Yui 15,223 06: Plenty of grit / Revolution Hayashibara Megumi 14,940 07: Behind love ~ Kataomoi Park Yong Ha 13,149 08: Kiseki GReeeeN 13,027 09: Tsume, Tsume, Tsume/[F] Maximum The Hormone 12,794 10: One Love ARASHI 12,317
18: Doushite Kimi wo Suki ni Natte Shimattandarou? Tohoshinki 6,367
Albums:
01: EXILE ENTERTAINMENT BEST EXILE 400,038 02: A, Domo. Ohisashiburi Desu GReeeeN 39,878 03: ZUSHI Kimaguren 33,502 04: Koi no Uta (Various Artists) 23,736 05: Persona 4 Original Soundtrack Meguro Shouji 21,083
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