Masafumi Akikawa's unexpected hit single "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" continues to makes headlines. Oricon revealed its rankings for the first half of 2007, and the popular song is in first place by a vast margin. At 916,000 copies sold between last Christmas and June 18, it is close to becoming a million-seller.

When the single was released last May, it debuted in 168th place, and soon fell off the charts. But after Akikawa's appearance at the Kohaku Uta Gassen, the CD skyrocketed to the top and has been constantly reaching new milestones.

Reaching the #1 spot in Oricon's first-half rankings is no easy feat. Akikawa is the first male solo artist to do so since Shogo Hamada in 1992, and is the first enka/kayokyoku artist since Eisaku Okawa in 1983. In addition, the last time it was achieved with a single older than a year was by Jiro Atsumi in 1979.

The #2 single for the first half of 2007 is Hikaru Utada's "Flavor of Life," which only sold a measly 630,000 by comparison. Meanwhile, the top two albums are Mr.Children's "HOME" (almost 1.13 million copies) and Kumi Koda's "Black Cherry" (998,000 copies).