Top 10 celebrities appearing most in the news for the first half of 2016 (Oricon)

Oricon counted the number of times a celebrity appeared in articles on Yahoo! topics and LINE NEWS between 1 January and 30 June this year but there are a few exceptions in the counting method:
- Sports athletes and deceased celebrities
- Mention of the celebrity's group name only
- News related to criminal cases
- Mention of TV programmes bearing the person's name but the article is not about the person

* Number in brackets reflect the number of articles which the person appeared in. The main reasons/topics why the person was in the news appear behind the numbers.

1) Becky (442) - Alleged affair with Kawatani Enon, break from work and restarting her showbiz activities

2) Kawatani Enon (249) - Alleged affair with Becky

3) Nakai Masahiro (171) - SMAP's rumoured disbanding, his interview with Becky about her return to work and his charity visits to the areas hit by the Kumamoto earthquake

4) Kano Eiko (130) - Breakup with Kato Sari and alleged multiple girlfriends

5) DAIGO (112) - Marriage to Kitagawa Keiko and the release of his proposal song

6) Kato Sari (109) - Breakup with Kano Eiko

7) Kitagawa Keiko (97) - Marriage to DAIGO

8) Matsumoto Hitoshi (90) - Comments on various issues while on TV programmes

9) Sashihara Rino (83) - Winning the AKB48 election and comments while on TV programmes

10) Takahashi Minami (78) - Graduating from AKB48 and rumours of alleged romance

Source: Oricon