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J-pop



Namie Amuro (middle) performs at MTV Asia Aid in Bangkok, Thailand. She ranks 53 on HMV's list of 100 top 100 Japanese pops.
Namie Amuro (middle) performs at MTV Asia Aid in Bangkok, Thailand. She ranks 53 on HMV's list of 100 top 100 Japanese pops.[2]

During the mid-2000s, Rhythm and blues and Hip hop music influences in Japanese music started to gain attention in popular mainstream music. J-Hiphop/rock bands such as Orange Range and Ketsumeishi have been at the top of the Oricon charts, with more established artists such as Spitz, Mr. Children, B'z, Southern All Stars, Glay and L'Arc~en~Ciel. There are production groups specialized for music talents as Johnny & Associates with female pop slowly declining since the 1990s, but artists such as Ayumi Hamasaki (Japan's highest selling female and solo artist), Utada Hikaru, and Every Little Thing during the late 90s and early 21st century able to reach the number 1 sales slots with most of their releases.[citation needed]

In 2005 the Oricon charts were briefly ruled by hip-hop group Orange Range, Ketsumeishi, and R&B solo male singer Ken Hirai, with the Orange Range's 'Musiq' album selling over 2.5 million copies, making it the number one album for the year followed by Ketsumeishi's 'Ketsunopolis 4' album, and Ken Hirai's 'Sentimental Lovers' album.[5] Shuji to Akira's 'Seishun Amigo' topped the annual singles release at 945,315 copies. The second and third best selling singles went to Ketsumeishi's 'Sakura' single at 942,675 copies, and Mr. Children's 'Yojiken -Four Dimensions-' at 924,379 million copies.[6].

For 2006, Ken Hirai managed to come out on top with the release of '10th Anniversary Complete Single Collection '95-'05 Utabaka' selling over 2,000,000 million copies and becoming the number one album for 2006[7] followed by new popular Japanese pop artist Kumi Koda's 'Best ~Second Session' album at 1,768,658 million copies,[8] and Kobukuro's 'All Singles Best' album selling 1,748,682 million copies.[8]

A shift took place in 2007 in regard to the music scene with the top 3 selling albums for the first half of the Oricon year going to Mr. Children's album 'Home' with 1,125,017 in sales,[9] Koda Kumi's 'Black Cherry' with 998,230 in sales,[9] and Ayumi Hamasaki's best of album A Best 2 -White- selling 720,120 copies.[9] The top 3 singles for the first half of the year went to Japanese tenor singer Masafumi Akikawa's 'Sen no kaze ni natte' single which became a smash hit, managing to eventually sell over one million copies[10], with Utada Hikaru's single 'Flavor of Life' selling 629,904 copies,[11] and Arashi's 'Love so sweet' single selling 420,894 copies.[11] Celebrating 15 years on the music scene, Japanese rock group Mr. Children passed 50 million sales in albums and singles sold, making them the second highest selling artist of all time in Japan,[12] and Japanese pop singer Utada Hikaru sold 10 million digital ringtones and songs, making her the first artist ever to have this many digital sales in one year.[13] In regard to concerts and tours, Mr. Children's 'Home' arena and stadium tour managed to have the most attended at 550,000 fans[14], with Jpop singer Namie Amuro having the longest lasting tour for the year at 65 dates.[15]

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Impact on popular culture

J-pop music is an integral part of Japanese popular culture. It is used everywhere: anime, stores, commercials, movies, radio shows, TV shows, and video games and other forms of J-ENT. Some television news programs even run a J-pop song during their end credits.

In anime and television shows, particularly dramas, opening and closing songs are changed up to four times per year. As most programs have both opening and closing songs it is possible for one show to use 8 tracks in a single season.

Over the past decade, J-pop has continually gained fans worldwide through video games and anime. Many videogame fans import games from Japan well before they are released in their respective countries. The theme songs and soundtracks from these games can be a gateway to further interest in J-pop and other genres of Japanese music. One example of this can be found in the games Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, in which popular J-pop singer Utada Hikaru performs the main theme songs. Her song "Easy Breezy" was also used to promote the Nintendo DS. In the case of anime, shows are normally sold in the West with their original soundtracks untouched, affording more direct exposure. Some shows aired on television in the United States, for example, have seen their themes go so far as to become commercially available as ringtones through mainstream vendors in that country.

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See also

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References

  1. ^ http://www.hmv.co.jp/news/newsdetail.asp?newsnum=611280059
  2. ^ a b c 音楽 情報ニュース/Top 100 Japanese pops Artists - No.5/HMV
  3. ^ a b トレンディドラマとともに訪れた90年代のミリオンセールス時代 (The million sale age of the 90s as well as trendy dramas) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
  4. ^ サザン、今夏52作目のニューシングル発売決定！ (Southern All Stars, new single sale decision this summer of the 52nd work!) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-06-30.
  5. ^ 2005年 年間アルバムチャート大発表！ (2005 annual album chart announcement!) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  6. ^ 2005年 年間シングルチャート (2005 annual single chart) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  7. ^ Yahoo!ミュージック - ミュージックマガジン - 平井堅- (Yahoo! music - music magazine - Ken Hirai-) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
  8. ^ a b 2006年 年間アルバムチャート大発表！ (2006 annual album chart announcement!) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  9. ^ a b c 2007年上半期ランキング大発表 (The first half rank big announcement in 2007) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
  10. ^ 秋川雅史、ミリオン達成表彰式 (Masafumi Akikawa, million selling achievement awards ceremony) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
  11. ^ a b 2007年上半期シングルランキング (The first half year single rank in 2007) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
  12. ^ ミスチル、シングル＆アルバム総売上枚数5,000万枚突破 (Mr.Children, single and an album break through 50,000,000 total sales!) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-06-30.
  13. ^ 宇多田ヒカル、07年度DL販売総数1,000万DL突破＆新曲タイアップも決定 (Utada Hikaru, breaks through 10 million sales for fiscal year 2007) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
  14. ^ ミスチル６万7000人と大合唱 (Misuchiru 67,000 person chorus) (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
  15. ^ Amuro Namie 'Play' Tour 2007 (Japanese). Retrieved on 2007-10-08.

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External links

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