Alright, as requested by many of our readers, starting with the new Oricon year we’re also going to be posting the Japanese Soundscan charts that are released each week. While a physical chart like Oricon, Soundscan breaks down the sales of any one particular release by version and shows you exactly how much each of these versions have sold in a Top 20 format (for both Singles and Albums).

Of note, this chart doesn’t include copies sold by Avex’s Mu-mo shop, Pony Canyon’s shop, AKB48’s Chara-Ani, GLAY’s G-Direct (though Oricon doesn’t count these guys either), and the like. As such, it’s not necessarily as complete of a chart as Oricon, but it does provide an interesting look into what those who use conventional methods to purchase music within Japan are buying.  Plus, there are rare moments where a release can sell a higher amount of copies on Soundscan as well (Mr.Children’s “Ashioto ~Be Strong” and Nishino Kana’s “with LOVE” are good examples on the current charts).

Also of note is that because it’s version-based, one variant of a particular release can top a week’s Soundscan chart and not actually be the highest selling release overall (counting all charting versions) on Soundscan that week. As such, rather than just telling you about who topped the Soundscan chart one week, I might have to give a bit more background about how the chart shaped up.

So, now that I’ve given you all of the basic information you need to read the Soundscan chart, let’s take a look at this week’s and see how things played out.