Oricon: Kinki Kids makes it 25, Morning Musume makes it 11 million

Found this news. A bit late, but here;

Posted at http://www.jpop.com

Written by Jason Chin
Tuesday, 01 May 2007

There were two more for the record books yesterday, as Kinki Kids and Morning Musume hit the top of the Oricon charts.

Heading straight at no.1 was Kinki Kid's latest single 'Brand new song', selling over 180,000 copies, more than three times as much as the no.2 spot. This marks the 25th consecutive single since they debuted that has entered straight at the no.1 spot on the Oricon Charts. It was this record for which in 2005 got them in the Guinness Book of Records (for the then record of 19 consecutive No.1 singles).

They are also coming up to their 10th anniversary of their first single back in July in 1997, so unless they have another single up their sleeves before then, it seems likely that it's also 10 years at the top for them.

Breaking a new record is Morning Musume, who despite their ups and downs over the past few years, have had another single break the top 5. 'Kanashimi Twilight' entered in at no.2 selling over 50,000 copies. This tallies up their total single sales to over 11.08 million, beating the Pink Lady's previous record of 11.03 million, in 'Most No.1 singles by a Female Group in Japan'. They now have 5 records for a female group in Japan; Most total singles sold, Most No.1's, Most consecutive years with a Top 10, Most consecutive years with a No.1 and Most Top 10 hits. The group's leader, Yoshizawa Hitomi had this to say, "I honestly couldn't be happier. Morning Musume is in full feelings to congratulate all our fans. Thank you very much. We want the group to be loved by the entire world". 'Kanashimi Twilight' is the final single to come from Morning Musume with Yoshizawa as a member, as she graduates from the group in May.

Every other chart topper in the top 10 this week is a new entry, except for SEAMO's 'Cry Baby' which was released last week:

1. KinKi Kids - BRAND NEW SONG
2. Morning Musume - Kanashimi Twilight
3. ORANGE RANGE - Ika SUMMER
4. Wentz Eiji - Awaking Emotion 8/5/my brand new way (eh, is this Koike Teppei's new song?)
5. BoA - Sweet Impact
6. Oda Kazumasa - Daijoubu
7. The Cro-Magnons - Kami Hikouki
8. SEAMO - Cry Baby
9. CHEMISTRY - Sora no Kiseki
10. Akikawa Masafumi - Sen no Kaze ni Natte