Surprise, surprise. S/mileage's new single debuted at #4 on the Oricon single charts (they are #5 today), but that's not the most impressive accomplishment.
Uchouten Love's first day sales are 13,504, which is not only higher than any of S/mileage's previous first day sales (it's nearly triple Koi ni Booing Buu!'s first day sales), but it is also higher than Morning Musume's Only you first day sales (13,209). That's absolutely amazing.
Their exact second day sales are unknown at the moment, but they probably have already outsold Koi ni Booing Buu!'s total sales. And this has been accomplished knowing the best part of their promotion (Happy Music, Music Japan, and FNS Uta no Matsuri 2011 appearances) hasn't even happened yet.
Then it gets even better. Right now, S/mileage has the chance to do something that hasn't been done in nearly four years - they can surpass the first week sales (and maybe it's overall sales) of Morning Musume's current single. The last time that happened was in 2007 when Berikyuu were in their prime, sales wise. Buono!'s Honto no Jibun (29,715) and Berryz's Tsukiatteru no ni Kataomoi (28,307) both were higher than Morning Musume's Mikan's first week sales (28,082).
S/mileage has a golden opportunity to make Hello! Project history and I really hope that they can accomplish it. It's good for business all around. And the last time Morning Musume was outsold by one (in this case, two) of their kouhai groups, they answered with one of their highest selling singles in a while (Resonant Blue with 57,964 total copies sold). With Aichan's last single coming up, I have a strong feeling that history will once again repeat itself.
You don't have to leave this in the hand of fate; if you want S/mileage to keep up the success, you can buy this single!
I bought it (iTunes and physical).
ReplyDeleteThese girls really deserve it after all the hard work they've put in. If this manages to sell better first week than a MM single, I hope it's enough of a kick in the butt for UFA to promote MM better.
For now: let's just enjoy the success!
Update (quoting this from H!O)
ReplyDelete"Total Estimated sales so far are 19,614
If this estimated sales are right (or close to right), they already surpassed "Ai no Dangan", "Momoiro Sparkling", "MY DAYS FOR YOU" and their previous single "Koi ni Booing" first week sales.
That's slightly lower than I had hoped (I was wishing for about 9k-10k), but it is still excellent.
ReplyDeleteAll of the groups have had their "statement single" where one of their singles overachieved - Buono!'s debut single that sold so well that you'd mistake it for a Morning Musume single, C-ute with Tokaikko Junjou showing they aren't kids anymore, and Berryz with Dschinghis Khan charting for over two months - and it looks like this will be that defining moment for S/mileage.
Whether it's because of or in spite of the auditions, I'm very happy for them. If this does end up being their highest selling single (and it definitely is on the right track), then S/mileage will have momentum that the auditions will only build upon. I hope that UFA continues the promotion with S/mileage's next single for consistency's sake. Getting them into a groove where they sell 25k-35k per single would be a huge leap forward for the group.
I preordered every version. Just have to wait for the Single V to go on sale for the shipment to send. DO the preorders count towards the first days sales?
ReplyDeleteIf you ordered from CDJapan or Amazon Japan and didn't order anything that releases on a later date, yes.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise I think it will count towards the chart whenever it officially ships.
So like if you ordered something that releases on 8/17 with it, then it counts towards the third week. I think (I'm about 60% sure on this.)
@Chris
ReplyDeleteI ordered from YesAsia, the also report to the Oricon, so I guess it'll be in the second week because it's shipping with the Single V?
Yesasia only counts toward the end of the week sales. It'll be added to the sales of the last day of the second week.
ReplyDelete@Chris
ReplyDeleteAlright then~