News!!!

AKB48 breaks the 500,000 sales mark for their first week sales of Ponytail to Shushu.  They broke a couple of records:

• Best first week numbers for a female group since Momusu's [Renai Revolution 21] (515k) released approx. 9 years and 5 months ago

• Best first week numbers for a female artist since Utada Hiraku's [Can You Keep a Secret?] (784k) approx. 9 year and 3 months ago.

Included in the first press was a ballot to vote for their 17th Senbatsu Election.  I've posted both the first day and midway results in previous posts.  There are other ways to vote like being in the fan club.

Sayaka Akimoto, captain of AKB48's Team K, has released her first solo, digital photobook.  You can download the video here.  You can also download the photobook here.

There are a couple new AKB48 shows being planned.  One is a cooking show.  The first episode will air on the 27th of this month.

SDN48 finally got their own show.  It is called SDN48 すっぽんの女たち
(Suppon no Onnatachi). You can direct download the first episode here.


Atsuko Maeda of AKB48 is releasing her third photobook installment that is photographed in New York City.  This series is pretty cheap.  The first was in Hawaii, second in Tokyo, and well you know where the third is in.  This one is quite mature and includes partial nudity.

SKE48 will release their third single on the 7th of July.  It will include seven senbatsu for the first track.  It will also include an undergirls and theater girls song as well. 

Last Month on the 12th, AKB48 released Sosenkyo Official Guidebook.  It only costs $10!  It focuses on the Senbatsu Election.  You can buy it here.  Here is some interesting info from the JPHIP Forum:
"First, it comes with stickers and a poster.


The stickers are just inside the first page, and there's one for everyone that's running for the election this time. A total of 121 stickers (64 AKB48 stickers, 46 SKE48 stickers, 11 ranking stickers).


There are 3 different kinds of posters, each one has a back and a front side. The front side of the posters are the covers for Ponytail to ShuShu except larger.


    * Version A Front has Team A & Team S election posters
    * Version A Back has Oshima Yuko, Matsui Jurina, Maeda Atsuko, Takahashi Minami, Watanabe Mayu
    * Version K Front has Team K & Team KII election posters
    * Version K Back has Kashiwagi Yuki, Kojima Haruna, Itano Tomomi, Shinoda Mariko, Kitahara Rie
    * Version B Front has Team B & Kenkyusei election posters
    * Version B Back has Minegishi Minami, Ono Erena,Takajyo Aki, Miyazawa Sae, Kasai Tomomi, Miyazaki Miho


The book starts off with shots and interviews for the last election's Top 10 girls.


    * Maeda Atsuko gets 5 pages for herself (A 2 page spread, 3 pages of candids + interview)
    * Top 2 - 4 gets 4 pages each (Single page spread, 3 candid pages + interview)
    * Kojima Haruna gets 3 pages (Single page spread, 2 candid pages + interview)
    * Top 6 - 10 get 2 pages each (Single page, 1 candid page + interview)


Throughout the book we get some stats like


    * Request Hour 2010 Top 10 Songs
    * The 10 members who appeared on Shukan AKB the most
    * The 10 members who appeared on AKBINGO the most
    * Last election's rankings and vote numbers"

Watarirouka Hashiritai, a sub-group of AKB48, will release their 5th single Seishun no Flag on the 30th.

*:--☆--:*:--☆:*:--☆--:*:--☆--:

Goto Maki has reopened her official website and will be returning this summer.  She has already released a PV.

A new unit has been formed to perform at the Shanghai Expo which starts on the 22nd.  They are called Shanghai.  JunJun and LinLin, the two Chinese members of Morning Musume, selected the recently graduated member of Morning Musume Kusumi Koharu and Berryz Koubou, Buono!, and Aa! member Natsuyaki Miyabi.

For the next Hello Project Summer Tour people can vote for their favorite group and song.  They will perform the most popular songs.  The tour starts on July 18th, and continues until August 8th.

S/mileage will release their second major single on July 27th.

Sayumi Michishige on a TV show asking people on the street who is the cutest between Shige and some OG.  (Not really news, but fun to watch)

Part 1


Part 2