Single AKB48 62nd single [Idol Nanka Janakattara] - 2023/09/27

Wasn't Kururun subbed for Erichan and Mizumin subbed for Sorara like yesterday Utacon?
https://ameblo.jp/akihabara48/entry-12822050621.html
I'm pretty sure Mizumin is under for Sorara.

 

nice sales, the downsizing was successful

 

Impressing numbers considering the current state of the group after a mass graduation wave and with a terrible management. 30k more with these circumstances is a miracle

 

EDIT: My mistake, I read the blog post too quickly, it refers to tomorrow's Theater performance.

 

there is another meeting scheduled for sat 9/30 and sun 10/1
tickets are pre-sold on Thursday 10/28 at the stores
https://www.universal-music.co.jp/akb48/news/2023-09-25-2/

the tower records kinshicho store required pre-registration online. i am number three hundred something and note i got said there were only 83 slots remaining after 15 minutes.

the saturday event on the shibuya tower rooftop sounds really cool.

the sunday event has senbatsu + kokko

participants
★9月30日(土) タワーレコード渋谷店
shibuya rooftop event (9th floor)

第一部：徳永羚海・佐藤美波・山口結愛
remi . satomina, yuichi
第二部：山﨑 空・布袋百椛・成田香姫奈
sorara (back from the dead) , hotei, narita
第三部：橋本恵理子・秋山由奈・八木愛月
hashimoto (likely a scratch) akiyama yuna, azuki
第四部：平田侑希・正鋳真優・鈴木くるみ
lonely hirata, masai, kururun
第五部：水島美結・長友彩海・太田有紀
mizujima, nagatomo, ota yuki
第六部：佐藤綺星・新井彩永・工藤華純
sato airi star, arai sai, kudo


★10月1日(日)HMVエソラ池袋

第一部：村山彩希・田口愛佳・吉橋柚花
yuringo, taguchi, yoshihisa
第二部：岡部 麟・山根涼羽・武藤小麟
berin, yamane, orin-chan. (i would love to meet her, but i will likely be at the kinshicho store below)
第三部：山内瑞葵・大盛真歩・久保姫菜乃
zucky, maho (scratch?) kubo hinano


★タワーレコード錦糸町パルコ店

第一部：倉野尾成美・下尾みう・迫 由芽実
kuranoo, shimoo (shitao) , sako
第二部：本田仁美・千葉恵里・畠山希美
hong da-hee, chiba eri, hakateyama
第三部：向井地美音・小田えりな・小濱心音
mukai chi-sound, odaeri, koko-TIME

 

Congrats on the sales increase! I had a feeling that this would happen after seeing the HS results. Despite having around 20 less members doing HS compared to the previous single, the members did overall better, and there are also much less members with 0 sold out slots (I count 4, for the previous single, it was like more than 30. That's because most of the members who were in that situation are the ones who graduated). So overall, the HS sales are looking much better and the decrease of members maybe benefit some girls to get more noticed (to have more people deciding to buy their tickets). The group is looking more successful like this. I think we can already consider this single as a success!

I'm wondering for the next single, it's still far away but we're going to lose some good HS sellers this time (Hiichan, Mogi). I think it's possible to cover for their losses if the 18th gen get more popular and sells more, which I'm sure they will. They're still very new and are already selling better now. 17th gen can also get better although they've been here for a while now. Well, there's like 6 months until then and that's enough time to continue the good promo of the KKS (and other members) which will make them all sell better ^^

I have to say, good job to management about the b-sides because I never thought we would have two b-sides MVs o_o and both with a lot of new gens, and KKS especially. I always said that I wanted them to give KKS their own MVs but I really didn't think they would, now they did, and some KKS even got to be in two MVs (+ some of them are even in senbatsu lol). I'm glad that they're treating these girls well. They get really good promo since debut. We had Aichan in senbatsu right away and then other 17th gens (no 18th gens yet though). They have their own KKS stage soon after debut. Performances at festivals, variety shows... 17th gen concert. Also KKS songs every single! and now even all of them in a MV! and the non-senbatsu KKS get to be in music shows every now and then, a lot of members got to be under. and that time when AKB did the 50+ members Heavy Rotation, they were all there so all KKS got to appear in a music show at least once. it's nice to know they're not neglected and can have a normal career that you would expect from being idol in a group as known as AKB.

Btw I enjoyed the two b-sides MVs ^^ Both songs and MVs are very different, they did a good job with this. As a song, I prefer the U-22 song, but for MVs, both are good. I have to say, Yuna did really great in "Do the dance!". She really stands out! I also saw that she's the best HS seller for 18th gen. I really hope she can get in senbatsu for the next single

 

@Mana , I was expecting more. It sold around 33k more on its first day than the previous single. But 'little' ≠ME grew 45k. Sure, they have more room to grow, but still.

As time goes by since the corona years the number of events where fans can meet them for real have been growing, so it's only natural that they will gradually sell more and more. Probably not in the millions tho. The large majority of the ones who left AKB were mostly poor sellers so the impact would never be that big. Yet, whatever sales would be lost with their departing were compensated with a huge increase in the number of slots for each member. Only a few didn't sell out a slot but imagine the number of sales included in the extra 12 slots that the most popular members, like Yuiyui, had. Not to mention that this time Okabe has full slots and Onishi only 6 less.

For all those reasons I'm surprised it wasn't a bigger growth, for now we can only compare first days. We'll see how it goes henceforth.

 

@Aka I wouldn't call ≠ME as "little", the Sasshi groups have been (in the past 2 years or so) in their peak in terms of popularity and interest. ≠ME has a big fandom especially among the anime fans, it's not surprising that their sales would grow, and I don't know the details, but it's possible that they also did things like more events, or more versions, etc. it's not just AKB. Maybe you meant "little" as in, little amount of members, if so then this just proves the point, because AKB also increased sales after having less members. Less members = all members stand out more = more fans for each member = each member can be a big contributor. I'm not saying AKB should go down to 10 members of course but it's not surprising that ≠ME with their amount of members, with the current success of Sasshi groups, their promo, and with them being on the rise (rather than past their peak like AKB) would have an increase of sales.

Maybe AKB had to add more slots/events to make the single sell better but what matters is that it worked. I mean, I knew they wouldn't lose a lot of sales because most of the girls who graduated weren't selling. But a lot of people have been talking about AKB being "over" because of the graduations and expecting them to fail in the next single, instead they sold more... and it's logical because they didn't lose the strong HS sellers. yes, they probably gave more slots to those girls so that the sales numbers get better but it isn't just that, this time the KKS are also selling better, and even some girls who were among the 0's in the previous single, have been selling a bit now. if management does things right, their sales could get even better. Now that the group doesn't have as many members, it should be possible to give better promotion to each girl. and better promo = more popularity = sales.

Of course they won't go back to million sales ever, but I think the group is doing good right now, they seem on the right path imo (unless some big change happens soon). I consider this single a success already, not just because of the increase for day 1 but generally. The a-side, b-sides, the 3 MVs, the general opinions, sales... I hope next single is as good and better.

 

If they would eliminate breaks meals and sleep for the popular girls that could easily increase sales. 72 hours nonstop stream of greetings / sarcasm.

Yuiyui would do it without question. Im pretty sure yuringo would whine about it.

 

I was actually surprised the sales increased cause even though the poor sellers left, these girls still had individual fans who would buy their slots. The reason why I find talk sessions an unreliable metric to gauge sales in advance is cause you don't know how many slots have been bought by one person and I'm sure you're aware Oricon only counts a certain number of shipments (20? 30?) per person.

Top members are harder to win, so their slots are indeed spread out more, but I'm not sure it made a difference for anyone besides Yuiyui, Hii, Yuiri and Yukirin.

Also, as Mana said, I don't think we can consider IkoNoiJoy as 'little' anymore. Especially ≠ME, whose latest single sold more than =LOVE's latest single (they're also my favourite of those groups, personally). =LOVE is performing in Saitama Super Arena next month, two days before AKB's MX Matsuri concert. =LOVE is confident enough to do mid-week concerts in SSA (37k capacity), whereas AKB is doing a weekend in Nippon Budoukan (14k.5). Even though AKB still sells better than IkoNoiJoy, I'd say the latter have a better reputation with the GP.

 

Billboard's first day sales figure is 489,188:
https://www.billboard-japan.com/d_news/detail/130244/2

 

2nd day:
Holding top spot
11,827
https://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/js/d/2023-09-27/

 

Day 3:
5 430 discs sold
https://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/js/d/2023-09-28/

 

Song performance from last night's edition of 'All Night Fujiko' (credit to uploader):

[video removed by uploader]

 

Day 4:
20,296
https://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/js/d/2023-09-29/

It is becoming the best "new era" 1st week.
For reference, Na mo Ha mo Rumor sold around 350k.

 

Yes it is! I just saw the numbers here. This single has the best sales since it became AKB-only:

Ne mo Ha mo Rumor (1st week) - 350,677
Moto Kare Desu (1st week) - 328,521
Hisashiburi no Lip Gloss (1st week) - 317,932
Doushitemo Kimi ga Suki da (1st week) - 327,441
Idol Nanka Janakattara (4 days) - 352,576

There are still 3 days to have the full 1st week


I wanted to share this too:

The day before the release, Yuiyui posted on IG that she went to pray for it to be a success
https://twitter.com/yuiyuifiles/status/1706517468909543734

230926 Oguri Yui Instagram update

✳︎ September 27 release ✴︎
62nd single "Idol Nanka Janakattara"
I prayed for it to reach many people...
#Praying for it to be a hit
#Hakone shrine



and now it's a success! I'm happy for Yuiyui and for AKB

 

My two cents..
- Main song is good, but MotoKare stays my favorite from Neo AKB. (MotoKare >Doushitemo >Rumor >IdolNanka >HisaLip) Although, if I would go by music only, I'd probably change the ranking.
- Do, do, do the dance! I've listend to this song multiple times, and always 3-4 times on repeat. Favorite song from this single, by far, and for sure one of my favorites from their new discography.
-- A thought that always comes to my mind while watching the MV - I really wish somebody would merge 17th & 18th Gen, add Remi & Hiyuka, and form a new, independent group with them. I can see myself following them a lot closer than as AKB members..
Won't happen, but wishing is not forbidden..
- That aside, I liked most of the songs. To a level I can say ,,If they start playing, I wouldn't skip them." Easy to listen to. Probably the overall best single so far from this new era (imo). ^^

 

Eh really? I thought MotoKare was the weakest (in terms of A side song only).

I agree doushitemo is the best. Mv wise, this MV is the best so far out of the new era

 

Day 5:
Won't leave the top
13, 669
https://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/js/d/2023-09-30/