KARA is back. Or at least they are in Japan.
Their “Summergic” single sold 28,497 copies on its first day, placing #1 on the daily Oricon chart, and it could give KARA their first #1 on the weekly Oricon since 2011’s “Jet Coaster Love“. After second day sales of 7,161, they have now outsold what their last two Japanese singles, “Mamma Mia” (31,864) and “French Kiss” (35,505), sold for the year.
And because I know everybody wants the clusterfuck, yes, the KARA/SNSD war in Japan is officially back on, as “Summergic” sold more on its debut day alone what “Catch Me If You Can” sold in its debut week (20,835). We’ll have to wait for KARA’s digital performance, but SNSD certainly didn’t make an impact there, failing to make the top 10 on both Recochoku and iTunes.
Count me among the guilty as figuring KARA was left for dead after Nicole and Jiyoung departed, but the addition of Youngji has helped remake their image a bit, especially in Korea, and releasing a quality Japanese single seems to have done the trick in that market.