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AKB48's 5th Consecutive Single Sells 1 Million+ Copies

The AKB48 idol group's 24th single CD "Ue kara Mariko," which shipped last Wednesday in Japan, sold about 1,199,000 copies in its first week. This is the female pop group's fifth single in a row to sell over one million copies since "Sakura no Ki ni Narō" in February. This CD marked 25-year-old Mariko Shinoda's first time as a center singer on an AKB48 single CD.

"Ue kara Mariko" topped Oricon's weekly single CD sales ranking dated December 19, and AKB48 became the first artists ever to sell four consecutive "First Week Million" singles in Japan. All five of AKB48's 2011 single CDs have sold over one million copies. AKB48 has released six total single CDs to sell more than one million copies including "Beginner," which sold 826,989 copies in its first week in 2010.

AKB48 are now the Japanese female artists with the most million-selling singles, having surpassed Pink Lady, Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki, and Hikaru Utada. The group is tied with fellow idol group Morning Musume as the female artist with the most number one singles at 11. AKB48 is also tied with the pop band GLAY for having five million-selling singles in a row.

Source: Oricon via My Game News Flash