Charts: AKB48, Koshi Inaba

As expected, idol group AKB48 was #1 on the sales charts this past week. Their new single “Heavy Rotation” sold a total of 527,000 copies, setting a personal record for first-week sales. Their last single, “Ponytail to Chouchou,” sold an initial 513,000 copies. With these two releases, AKB48 is now just the third female artist to sell half a million copies with consecutive singles, joining Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki.

It was also announced on Wednesday that “Heavy Rotation” topped the weekly Recochoku charts in five categories: chaku-uta, chaku-uta full, video clip, chakushin movie, and chakushin melody.

The rest of the top ten singles included new songs by Acid Black Cherry and AAA (#2 and #3, respectively), as well as Shoko Nakagawa, Choshinsung, and Kishida Kyoudan in the bottom three spots.

On the album rankings, B'z member Koshi Inaba took the top spot with “Hadou,” his first solo album in six years. It sold 127,000 copies in its first week.

Iron Maiden’s latest album was #5. A “Katekyo Hitman Reborn!” character album ranked #7, and Hanako Oku barely made the list at #10.

Source:
Oricon