Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (27/12)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 27 December 2010

1. Michael Jackson / Michael
2. Mr. Big / What If...
   
3. Black Eyed Peas / The Beginning
4. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
5. Lady Ga Ga / The Monster
6. PiNK / Greatest Hits
7. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
8. Lady Ga Ga / The Remix
9. Lady Ga Ga / The Fame
10. Kesha / Cannibal

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

K-POP idol groups 2PM and U-Kiss, who were both in Top 10 last week, now can be seen nowhere in Top 10 this week. Their names are even not seen in Top 30 now. It's so interesting. I reckon many Japanese people seem to think K-POP are so popular and Korean pop stars have a huge fan base here in Japan. I think they do actually. However, I am now wondering if K-POP really can be said it reaches the mass. Of course some K-POP artists such as TVXQ (東方神起) and Girls' Generation (少女時代) are so hot and selling more CDs than many of the J-POP artists this year. Nevertheless, I now guess other smaller K-POP artists are only popular amongst many of the K-POP fans. Let's think in this way: if they really succeeded in drawing the mass to their music, 2PM and U-Kiss, for example, should have been remained at least in Top 30 this week. Their large decline in the chart shows they actually don't.

I hope this hypothesis will be proved with more examples soon.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (20/12)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 20 December 2010

1. Black Eyed Peas / The Beginning
2. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
3. 2PM / 01:59PM Japan Special Edition
4. Kesha / Cannibal
5. U-Kiss / First Kiss
6. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
7. Lady Ga Ga / The Monster
8. V.A. / What's Up Greatest Hits 
9. Lady Ga Ga / The Fame
10. Rihanna / Loud

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

2PM and U-Kiss are both a K-POP (Korean Pop) idol group and others are the artists who you know. Yesterday was the day that some great and interesting things were announced. I will address them later on - stay tuned!

A little about Yokohama indie rock music scene

above: Jamming O.P. under: my name is...

I accidentally found great news - Yokohama's two hottest post-rock/hardcore bands Jamming O.P. and my name is... both were reunited this year and will play together next week. I can't express how great they were especially in a live setting and wait for seeing them again soon. On this occasion, I'd like to talk a bit about indie rock scene in Yokohama.

Yokohama(wiki), where I have lived since I was 9, is approx. 20mins away by train from central Tokyo. It's the second biggest city in Japan followed by Osaka and about 3.6 million people live there. It's a big city in terms of size of population and dimension.

When I was a university student, I had a lot of friends who were in a band so that often went to small clubs in the city to see their plays. At the moment, albit divese, Yokohama indie rock scene was pretty much about post-rock / hardcore / progressive / emo (and the trend hasn't changed since then) - bands based in Yokohama tended to be very skillful and so aggressive on stage. Despite being quite close to Tokyo, Yokohama has their own thriving and unique music scene. I don't think you can find many bands in Tokyo that are similar to Yokohama bands. The scene is that unique I would say.

I love my hometown's music scene as it has its own identity. I always like any local music scenes that have the one. It's a pity people wouldn't pay attention consistently to local music scenes unless a city has a great reputation in producing amazing bands such as Manchester, Glasgow and NY. So, I'd like to say this: if you have a chance to come over to Yokohama, why not popping in a small venue like one of the greatest club in Yokohama Club Lizard and see local bands?

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (13/12)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 13 December 2010

1. Black Eyed Peas / The Beginning
2. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
3. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
4. My Chemical Romance / Danger Days
5. Jamiroquai / Rock Dust Light Star
6. Rihanna / Loud
7. Lady Ga Ga / The Monster
8. Nelly / 5.0
9. V.A. / What's Up Greatest Hits
10. Norah Jones / Featuring

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Kanye West "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", which was crowned Pitchfork's "Best New Music" with an amazing 10.0 review, reached only #14 in this chart. US Rap/Hip-hop is one of the most popular genre here but Kanye is not that popular compared to his popularity in the rest of the key music markets. On the other hand, Black Eyed Peas has well done really. They even successfully managed to get in Top 10 all Japan album chart, which covers both domestic and international releases. For your information, they headlined one of two biggest festivals Summer Sonic few years ago and I think their popularity remains high regarding this week's chart.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (6/12)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 6 December 2010

1. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
2. My Chemical Romance / Danger Days
3. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
4. Utada / Utada the Best
5. Beast / Beast - Japan Edition
6. Jamiroquai / Rock Dust Light Star
7. Rihanna / Loud
8. Norah Jones / Featuring
9. Ne-Yo / Libra Scale
10. Linkin Park / A Thousand Suns

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Oh my god, this week was the first week for Japanese version of the Kings Of Leon's "Come Around Sundown" and it went to #26. I expected its chart position for the first week could be like #26 but might be higher at the same time. What do you think about the chart position? I was honestly so surprised...

Billboard Japan's new chart system launched

Billboard Japan announced this week that they introduced new chart system. You can check their PR (released on Dec 01, Japanese only) here. According to the PR, Hot 100 chart now covers iTS' sales as well as physical sales and airplays (airplays? really? it isn't sales fig, is it?!). They now collect sales figures from 4,100 music shops on/off line. There are some other changes and the launch of new chart "Hot Animation".  I'm not particularly passionate about checking Billboard Japan chart but if you are, you can check here.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (29/11)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 29 November 2010

1. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
2. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
3. Norah Jones / Featuring
4. Rihanna / Loud
5. Jamiroquai / Rock Dust Light Star
6. Ne-Yo / Libra Scale
7. Mariah Carey / Merry Christmas ll You
8. Paul McCartney & Wings / Band on the Run
9. Nelly / 5.0
10. Suzan Boyle / The Gift

source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Sorry for the delay in updating the chart. I came back in Japan last weekend and have been busy since then.

This is the album chart announced last week. I'll soon update the latest one.