As seen from the rankings below, it seems like physical music media still accounts for the bulk of sales for music artists in Japan even though digital releases and online streaming are increasingly becoming the preferred medium for music releases by some artists and consumers who do not or buy less physical music media. There are also clear distinctions between the top 10 rankings for both types of media with idol groups featuring more prominently in the physical music media top 10 while bands and solo singers seem to be doing better in terms of digital media.
However, other than this being solely due to music preferences by consumers of both types of media, one important thing to keep in mind is which medium the artists choose to release their works through. For example, STARTO Entertainment's artists tend not to release their new music on digital platforms except when it comes to releasing them on streaming portals but that's largely restricted to older works. And not every group in their agency makes their music available online so fans can only get their hands on these works through buying CDs and DVDs. On the other hand, some artists choose to release their music exclusively on or largely in digital media formats so that's why they aren't seen in the physical media top 10. Yonezu Kenshi is probably one of the few who is an "all-rounder" to manage both realms equally well because about 56% of his sales come from physical media while the remaining is from digital media. Comparatively, Mrs.GREEN APPLE saw about 76% of their sales from the digital world so that's why they are overall No.2 but nowhere to be seen in the top 10 for physical media.
South Korean boybands seem to be doing really well too as seen from SEVENTEEN and Stray Kids outdoing every group from STARTO other than Snow Man and SixTONES. Looks like they are giving the local idol groups a serious run for their money while 2022's champion BTS is taking a break in the meantime due to military service. However, both groups are not appearing on the upcoming Kouhaku on NHK which is supposedly a reflection of who are popular in the past year - apparently not so for at least the last 2 decades, I think. The absence of female idol groups is also somewhat surprising even though groups like New Jeans and TWICE seem to be featured pretty frequently on TV and the Japanese media but they don't seem to be raking in the bucks through music releases. Maybe it's the concerts and their merchandise which are bringing in the dough rather than through music releases?
* Numbers in brackets indicate the estimated total sales figure in JPY:
1) Snow Man (JPY 15.42 billion)
2) Mrs.GREEN APPLE (JPY 9.59 billion)
3) SixTONES (JPY 6.47 billion)
4) SEVENTEEN (JPY 6.38 billion)
5) Stray Kids (JPY 6.05 billion)
6) Yonezu Kenshi (JPY 5.84 billion)
7) Ado (JPY 4.61 billion)
8) YOASOBI (JPY 4.37 billion)
9) WEST. (JPY 4.28 billion)
10) INI (JPY 4.12 billion)
1) Snow Man (JPY 14.92 billion)
2) SixTONES (JPY 6.35 billion)
3) SEVENTEEN (JPY 5.2 billion)
4) Stray Kids (JPY 4.9 billion)
5) WEST. (JPY 4.28 billion)
6) Naniwa Danshi (JPY 3.79 billion)
7) INI (JPY 3.67 billion)
8) Nogizaka46 (JPY 3.41 billion)
9) Sakurazaka46 (JPY 3.37 billion)
10) Yonezu Kenshi (JPY 3.27 billion)
1) Mrs.GREEN APPLE (JPY 7.3 billion)
2) back number (JPY 3.68 billion)
3) YOASOBI (JPY 3.61 billion)
4) Vaundy (JPY 3.23 billion)
5) Official Hige Dandism (JPY 2.89 billion)
6) Ado (JPY 2.87 billion)
7) Yonezu Kenshi (JPY 2.57 billion)
8) Creepy Nuts (JPY 2.36 billion)
9) King Gnu (JPY 2.29 billion)
10) Aimyon (JPY 2.09 billion)
No comments:
Post a Comment