fly to high

So the Oricon half year charts are finally out. Out of the top 100 singles, the Johnny’s releases are:

2. KAT-TUN – DON’T U EVER STOP – 433,168
3. KAT-TUN – LIPS – 421,902
5. Arashi – Step and Go – 374,449
7. NEWS – Taiyou no Namida – 291,447
10. NEWS – SUMMER TIME – 251,056
11. Kanjani8 – Wahaha – 228,563
13. Hey! Say! JUMP – Dreams come true – 220,072
16. SMAP – Dangan Fighter – 173,586
18. SMAP – Sonomama / White Message – 158,837
20. V6 – way of life – 143,599
22. Maizu Tsukasa (Domoto Koichi) – No more – 127,905
32. 244 ENDLI-x – Kurikaesu Haru – 94,044
33. V6 – Chou – 89,871
49. Tackey & Tsubasa – Koi Uta/PROGRESS – 68,973
54. MATCHY with QUESTION? – Mezamero Yasei – 59,035
59. KAT-TUN – Keep the Faith -55,580
66. 20th Century (V6) – Ore ja Nakya, Kimi ja Nakya – 50,011
67. Hey!Say! JUMP – Ultra Music Power – 49,732
82. NEWS – weeeek – 42,405

19 entries on the top 100; 20% of the charts, and 44% of the top 25. Very nice. I think everything released this year is on the list, not surprisingly. More un-surprises? KAT-TUN is still the best selling JE group, Arashi is doing very well, as is NEWS, Kanjani8 is a little behind, SMAP is still loved, Japanese love little children aka Hey!Say!JUMP, Koichi sells more than Tsuyoshi despite having more mediocre music, and a bunch of Tackey and Tsubasa’s fans have jumped ship. You know, same old same old. A lot of last year’s releases have done extremely well.

As for the top ten though, it looks like KAT-TUN and Arashi will be the only ones on it for sure; NEWS’ “Taiyou no Namida” might make the cut. Their “Summer Time” will, inevitably, get pushed off the top ten by GReeeeN’s “Kiseki” though. As for the top spot, if JE wants a top yearly hit it’d have to put out something really good, because I don’t see “DON’T U EVER STOP” getting enough sales to beat out “Soba ni Iru ne.”

Overall, JE sales still aren’t as great as they were two years ago – remember the great year of Seishun Amigo, Real Face, and Daite Senorita being a power trio at the top of the charts? But JE still has the Japanese fangirls (and the fangirls’ money) wrapped around its well manicured in a manly way finger. And I am glad to have contributed to their pot of gold v.