Hello Arama Japan readers! After a brief hiatus, we are back with our monthly wrap up feature. A few of the staff members have come together to share their faves for the months of February and March. Find out what the staff was loving these past 2 months! Also feel free to post what you loved this past February and March in the comments!
We’re back with this week’s edition of Oricon Flashback. This is where we look back on what topped Oricon this week 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago. Think of it as a way to reminisce and learn about the past of Japanese music.
As previously reported, Nikkei Entertainment magazine releases its “Talent Power Ranking” lists annually. We now have the top 30 list for musical acts.
Arashi and Masaharu Fukuyama retain their top 2 positions from last year, respectively. TOKIO jumped from #10 to #3 this year. They are followed by Keisuke Kuwata, who jumped 2 spots from #6 last year. Rounding out the top 5 is SMAP, who fell 2 spots this year.
See the full top 30 list after the jump!
This week’s guests were Nishino Kana, aiko, and Perfume.
aiko – Yumemiru Sukima
Nishino Kana – Moshimo Unmei no Hito ga Iru no Nara
Perfume – Relax In The City
This week’s guests were RIP SLYME, OKAMOTO’S, chay, and Nishino Kana.
RIP SLYME x OKAMOTO’S – Katte ni Sindbad / Good Times
chay – Heart Couture
OKAMOTO’S – ZEROMAN
Nishino Kana – Moshimo Unmei no Hito ga Iru no Nara
RIP SLYME – Peace
On May 27, up and coming band mitsume will release their new single, “Memai.” This is the band’s first release since their 3rd album “Sasayaki” in February 2014. The single will be released in CD and 12-inch vinyl formats. It’s noted that “Memai” features more of a distorted guitar sound than is usually included in their work.
mitsume recently released the music video for “Memai.” The music video shows the members in various landscapes of the countryside. Forests, rugged coastlines, farms, grassy fields, black sand dunes, industrial piers, and Mount Fuji can all be seen in the video. Check it out after the jump, along with the single’s cover and tracklist!
As previously reported, Nikkei Entertainment magazine releases its “Talent Power Ranking” lists annually. We now have the overall top 30 list.
Arashi is #1, rising from #2 last year. Matsuko Deluxe is #2, after cracking the top 10 last year. Ayase Haruka comes in at #3, rising from last year’s #7 spot. She is followed by Nishikori Kei, who jumped 176 spots in this year’s ranking. He is trailed by Abe Hiroshi who fell 1 spot to #5.
See the rest of the top 30 after the jump!
Every year, Nikkei Entertainment magazine releases its “Talent Power Ranking” lists. There are several lists for things such as actors, musicians, athletes, and so on, as well as an overall Top 100 ranking. These lists are created from surveys that are conducted by an independent marketing research firm earlier in the year. They assign a “talent power score” to each entity. This score is based on 2 things: familiarity (the number of survey respondents able to recognize the entity by name and face) and interest level (the number of survey respondents saying that they’d like to see/hear/know more about the entity).
With that being said, we now have the ranking for the top 20 girl groups. Perfume retains their spot at the top. The top 4 actually is the same as 2014, with Momoiro Clover Z, AKB48, and E-girls trailing Perfume, respectively. This year also sees BABYMETAL debuting on the list, with Team Syachihoko, Dempagumi.inc, and Juice=Juice cracking the top 20.
See the full top 20 list after the jump!