In the Japanese music industry, there are two generally respected and relevant measurements of popularity and sales: Oricon for physical sales and Recochoku for digital sales.
The yearly rankings for both charts have recently come out, and given that 2011 was supposed to be the year of the Hallyu Wave in Japan, I thought it would be interesting to see how Korean artists fared.
I’ve pointed out multiple times that the hype has so far outweighed the results, so facts to back those assertions up would be relevant.
Analyzing the top 50 results from Oricon and Recochoku, it becomes abundantly clear which Korean groups deserve the hype they are getting, and which are media fabrications.
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Oricon – Singles – Physical Sales
16 – TVXQ – “Why”
25 – Kara – “Go Go Summer”
26 – Kara – “Jet Coaster Love”
29 – Jang Geun Suk – “Let Me Cry”
41 – TVXQ – “Superstar”
46 – SNSD – “Mr. Taxi / Run Devil Run”
Oricon – Albums – Physical Sales
5 – SNSD – “Girls’ Generation”
7 – Kara – “Super Girl”
20 – TVXQ – “Tone”
22 – Kara – “Girl’s Talk”
42 – SNSD – “Hoot”
Recochoku – Singles – Digital Sales
6 – SNSD – “Gee”
7 – Kara – “Mister”
11 – Kara – “Go Go Summer”
13 – SNSD – “Mr. Taxi”
20 – Kara – “Jumping”
26 – Kara – “Jet Coaster Love”
41 – TVXQ – “Why”
Recochoku – Albums – Digital Sales
7 – Kara – “Kara Best 2007-2010″
8 – SNSD – “Girls’ Generation”
10 – Kara – “Step”
24 – Kara – “Girl’s Talk”
26 – SNSD – “Mr. Taxi / Run Devil Run”
27 – Kara – “Super Girl”
46 – Kara – “Mister”
Recochoku – Ringtone – Digital Sales
3 – Kara – “Go Go Summer”
10 – Kara – “Mister”
11 – SNSD – “Mr. Taxi”
16 – Kara – “Jet Coaster Love”
18 – TVXQ – “Why”
19 – SNSD – “Gee”
30 – Kara – “Jumping”
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While most media focuses solely on physical sales from Oricon, it’s arguable that digital sales from Recochoku are of greater importance. Not just because more and more people use the Internet to access music nowadays, but because it’s generally the younger demographic who use their phones and computers to purchase things, and as anybody with a marketing background could tell you, it’s that demographic that moves product and establishes popular culture.
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Either way, the trend in the charts are clear. Kara (16), SNSD (9), and TVXQ (5) are legitimately popular in Japan and worthy of the Hallyu Wave hype they get. Jang Geun Suk (1) makes an appearance as well, but that’s mainly a result of the popularity of his dramas/films in Japan, which I would argue shares far greater importance in the Hallyu Wave than the music side of things.
What’s decidedly missing though is…well…just about everybody else, huh? Much like the Japanese market itself (AKB48/Arashi/EXILE), it’s extremely top heavy, but while lesser Japanese artists rarely get any publicity, there is an obvious push to make the lesser Korean artists popular, thus leading to the disparity between hype and reality.
Undoubtedly, there’s potential for growth in 2012 with Korean artists in Japan (T-ara, Big Bang, 2PM), but it’s clear that despite the gigantic push in 2011, only a few found actual mainstream success. So while the media can run articles about achieving top 10 on the daily Oricon charts against minimal competition, interview random street vendors about what they like, talk about paid advertisements as if it reflects sales, and hype sold out concerts that are 50% fans from countries outside of Japan, the reality is clear for everybody to see. Nothing I did was exactly groundbreaking either, which perhaps makes it even sadder that people would rather buy into lies than truth.
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For this very reason I love coming to this site. I finally get some reality instead of assumptions.
Reality my ass, that picture was misleading. I am becoming more annoyed at your intentionally misleading titles and images. Oh well i guess i shouldnt expect more from a kpop blog
What are the specific problems?
You sound mad at something but unable to provide rational reasons for your anger.
They report news about j-pop as well, you know.
Yes. :o
I lyk ur writing prose, its just sad u have to resort to misleading pictures, im sick of being misled
What is misleading about the picture?
It’s a stock picture of the top of the 2011 Oricon singles chart.
Yea, i just expected no kpop groups at all bein on orichon or sumthing was just a result i expected
I don’t see how you would get that from a picture of the top four singles of the year.
Iono its just me probably
:o
It makes me smile to see Kara’s name pop up so many times.
They are legit.
Rarely questioned in Japan anymore.
Glad to see Kara up there. I think T-ara may be the other girl group to watch out for in Japan. Aside from Kara, SNSD, and T-ara, I think most girl groups are wasting their time in Japan.
Off topic, but I can’t wait until the 48 bullshit dies in Japan.
They are a necessary replacement for Morning Musume, because you can’t do things like make jokes about the pubic hair of Korean idols on television.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5Rm8lGshD4
That’s funny
Despite some of the hype, I was amazed at how much money some of the really successful acts can gross in Japan.
Reportedly, Kara’s total sales in Japan in 2011 was 4.9 billion yen ($62.9 million USD).
I didn’t believe that number until I found out that a physical album in Japan costs about $40 USD (!) and did some rough math based on the album sales. It adds up.
These groups would have to be at least 4 times as successful in the US just to gross the same amount of money. Which makes me wonder why any of them waste any time in the US. Japan should be the most coveted music market for any group.
The top group, AKB48, did $208 million USD in music sales this year. Insane.
Of course.
That’s why their companies attempt it and why they spend so much money trying to market it.
Being #25 in Japan pays better than being #5 in Korea.
No FT Island? I’m kinda surprised since they’re concerts are selling out in a couple of minutes and all, but I guess they’re not exactly main stream. Either way, I love most of their Japanese releases!
Those articles are mainly hype drummed up by the company to get fans excited.
It’s part of the herd mentality we have as humans.
“Oh, they are popular so maybe we should check them out.”
That’s what they are trying to accomplish.
Basically what anybody with a brain should have been able to figure out, yet nobody seems to be able to.