Amuro Namie, B'z & Arashi in the Single Battle - 11/07

The Oricon chart will have a single battle tomorrow (12/07) with the releases of 3 awaited singles. Those are Amuro Namie's "Never End", B'z "Ring" and Arashi "Taifuu generation".

In the Amuro side we have a song written and composed by Tetsuya Komuro. This song was chosen as the image song for the Kyuushu Okinawa Summit. The song is a slow ballad.

B'z will try to break their own record with this Rock song. If this single gets the 1st place in the Oricon chart will be their 27th consecutive single to get the 1st place, something no one has done yet.

Arashi also has a strong tie-up, as their song was chosen as image song for the Fuji TV summer event "Odaida dotto komu!" if this single becomes 1st it will be the 3rd in a row for them. Who will get this disputed 1st place?

Translation of article from ZAK ZAK

B'z Breaks Matsuda Seiko's Oricon Record - 19/07

Rock band B'z with their 27th single managed to get the 1st position in the Oricon chart (24/07). With this position they set up a new record of 23 singles in a row to get the 1st position (*2003: the record is now 30 singles and 16 albums/mini-albums, all debut at No.1). The previous record belonged to Matsuda Seiko, but in her case there were some singles that started in the Top 10 and afterwards went up to the first position. But B'z managed to get every single released the 1st position right in the 1st week what noone has ever came close to.

B'z also is the band who most sold records in the Japanese history, with a total of 34.400.000 singles and 42.300.000 albums in a total of 76.700.000 records sold. Even if you compare these numbers with the greatest in the world music sellers, B'z is the 5th, after Elvis Presley (77,280 millions). The first are The Beatles (165,300 millions), 2nd is Garth Brooks (91 millions) and the 3rd is Led Zeppelin (83,620 millions). It's just a matter of time for B'z to go over Elvis' record (*2003: B'z sales record is now 86 millions).

About the reasons of the monster sucess people in the music scene say "The wonderful vocals along with his visual beauty provided by Inaba & the guitar technique from Matsumoto makes a very strong combination. Also their combined musical expertise grows with each song they make."

B'z is currently in a live tour "B'z LIVE-GYM Pleasure 2000 Juice" will be in 10 diferent cities with 18 shows. In August the finale will be with 5 shows in the Chiba-Marines stadium & Osaka Dome with 2 shows here.

In the 2nd of August it will be released a live video, from the live they made in '99 August in Yokohama. The video [Once Upon a Time in Yokohama - B'z LIVEGYM '99 "Brotherhood"] is expected to break the previous record, which also belong to them with "BUZZ!! THE MOVIE" with 500.000 copies sold for music-related videos. With all these records there's no doubt that B'z is the greatest band in Japan's history.

Follow-up : B'z No.1 Position Singles History by ZAKZAK

Translation of article from ZAKZAK

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