It’s that time of year again… winter! The J-music industry always seemingly likes to pick up early in the autumn to late winter, but it seems things moved a little slowly this year. That is, up until this month. What catches my attention the most is the week of 11/29 – 12/13. All these new releases going head-to-head, this is proving to be most interesting. As a part of my expected 3 week series, I will write a report and state my predictions and reasoning. Please keep in mind that these are my own predictions, whether or not they agree with NINKI is another story. They are not the official rankings for any of these three weeks. See the “Official Ranking” at the end of the report for figures and ranking order.
This is going to be more of an experiment than anything else, and if I’m not being consistent, that’s probably because exams have started. I’ll hopefully write a report as the NINKI predictions on ORICON are released.
Singles
The showdown this week seems to be the ever popular Kinki Kids vs. the NANA craze headed by Nakashima Mika. NINKI predicts that Kinki Kids will get the upperhand in that competition, with NANA starring MIKA NAKASHIMA expecting to nab the second position. Let’s look into this in a bit more detail. Kinki Kids has had every one of their singles go to No. 1 starting from their debut back in ‘97. Not only that, most of their singles tend to debut with more than 200 000 copies sold. Mika has had only one No. 1 single, that being GLAMOROUS SKY from last year’s NANA movie, and even with NANA, it only managed to sell approximately 120 000 copies in its first week. Clearly, there is no competition here. From 3-5, NINKI predicts that Yuzuoda, Ajikan and Dreams Come True will take those spots respectively. There may be possibility of movement amongst the three of them, but it’s unlikely any of them will be able to overtake the first two powerhouses.
Albums
Another interesting week for album sales. Hamasaki Ayumi, though her popularity has been dwindling in the past year slightly, she is still a strong artist and not one to be taken lightly. She is expected to take the No. 1 spot by NINKI (I agree). Sukima Switch is expected to take the second spot by NINKI, and with their growing popularity within the last year or two, it seems very likely they’ll take the spot behind Hamasaki. They have proved to be competition, but how much can they hold on their own going up against Hamasaki? That we will need to wait and see. From 3-5, NINKI predicts in this order: RIP SLYME, Hitoto Yo and Tamaki Nami. Once again, it seems the competition will be for that third spot. Both Hitoto Yo and Tamaki Nami are releasing a singles collection/best album, and we all know how popular those things can be in Japan. This is the reason why I doubt RIP SLYME will get that third spot, despite that they may have an upperhand in general single and album sales over the two ladies. Hitoto Yo is well-received and respected in the J-music community and Tamaki Nami has been known to pull the wool over the public’s eyes when it comes to album releases. Tough predictions to make here.
Official Ranking
Available 12/06
Source: ORICON STYLE
– Written by Tsuki
