Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

has the second largest music market in the world. In 1962, Tokushin music reports was founded and became the leading provider of music sales in Japan. However their reports and charts are only available to industry insiders and are not available to the general public. In 1968

Original Confidence , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in N ...

was established and began providing music charts to the general public with data collected from various retailers throughout Japan. This is the list of the best-selling singles, based on the data by

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

. It does not include singles that were released before 1968, and is only from data collected from Oricon's retail partners and not the record companies.

Best-selling physical singles in Japan

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

certified that

Masato Shimon , also known as Masato Simon, is a retired Japanese vocalist from Meguro, Tokyo. He is most known for his contributions to the theme songs of various anime and tokusatsu series. In his career, he has sung under the names and . "Masato Shimon" is a ...

's "

Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun is a song by Japanese singer Masato Shimon, released by Canyon Records (now Pony Canyon) on December 25, 1975. The B-side "Ippon Demo Ninjin" was sung by Japanese folk singer Kenichi Nagira. However, the label claimed that the song was a children' ...

" is the best-selling single in Japan. There were several singles which achieved worldwide success.

Shoukichi Kina , is a Japanese rock musician and politician. He, along with his band Champloose, played a large role in the Okinawan home-grown "folk rock" scene in the 1970s and 1980s. His first big hit was " Haisai Ojisan" ("Hey, old man") in 1972, which he wr ...

's "Subete No Hito No Kokoro Ni Hana Wo" sold estimate 30 million copies over worldwide.

Kyu Sakamoto was a Japanese singer and actor. He was best known outside Japan for his international hit song "Ue o Muite Arukō" (known as "Sukiyaki" in English-speaking markets), which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies. It reached number ...

's "

Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish that is prepared and served in the ''nabemono'' (Japanese hot pot) style. It consists of meat (usually thinly sliced beef) which is slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in ...

" sold estimate 13 million copies over worldwide. However, those were worldwide sales. There were many non full-track digital download singles in Japan.

Hikaru Utada , who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan. Born in the United States to Japanese parent ...

's "

Flavor of Life "Flavor of Life" is Hikaru Utada's 18th Japanese single (25th single overall). The physical single was officially released on February 28, 2007. Compared to the preceding singles following "Colors", "Flavor of Life" garnered far more success. Th ...

" sold over 7.7 million combined sales.

GReeeeN Greeeen (stylized as GReeeeN) is a Japanese vocal group from Kōriyama in Fukushima Prefecture, comprising the all-male four members: HIDE, navi, 92 (read as "kuni"), and SOH. They made their debut with Universal Music in 2007. Their logo image i ...

's "Ai Uta" sold 5 million digital download singles. However, those included the sales of non full-track digital download singles.

certified that

Thelma Aoyama is a Japanese pop and R&B singer. She is part Afro-Trinidadian and Japanese. She is known for her collaboration song with SoulJa, "Koko ni Iru yo" and her answer song "Soba ni Iru ne". In September 2008, the Guinness World Records certified th ...

's "

Soba ni Iru ne is Thelma Aoyama's second official single, released on January 23, 2008, featuring SoulJa. It is an answer song to her previous collaboration with SoulJa, " Koko ni Iru yo." B-side "My dear friend" was used as the ending theme to anime Shion no ...

" is the best-selling full-track digital download single in Japan with over 8 million copies.

Machiko Soga was a Japanese actress and voice actress. She also performed by the stage name Stella Soga. Life and career Early life and family Machiko was born on March 18, 1938, in Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan. She had a humble upbringing and was raised to ...

's "Oba-Q Ondo" sold estimate 2 million single and 4 million

sonosheet The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable. ...

in Japan. However, a sonosheet was not a regular

7-inch single In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separate ...

. Yujiro Ishihara & Shunko Makimura's "Ginza No Koi No Monogatari" (1961) sold estimate 3.35 million copies in Japan. Hiroshi Wada & His Mahina Stars's "Ozashiki Kouta" (1964) sold estimate 3 million copies in Japan.

Yūzō Kayama is a Japanese popular musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Life and career Son of mid-twentieth century film star Ken Uehara,and actress Yoko Kozakura, ( ja) Kayama graduated from Keio University. Yuzo Kayama signed with Toho and made his ...

's "Kimi to Itsumademo" (1965) sold estimate 3 million copies in Japan. However, those were released before 1968 in Japan.

List of best-selling singles based on physical sales

The following list covers the highest-selling singles in the country based on physical sales compiled by

since its foundation in November 1967. Notes: * Released along with popular B-side "

Love Story wa Totsuzen ni is a song by Japanese singer Kazumasa Oda. The song, his best-known work, is featured as the B-side on the single "Oh! Yeah! / Love Story wa Totsuzen ni", the ninth-best-selling Japanese single since 1968, selling approximately 2.7 million ...

". * Released as a double A-side single along with " Yume no Bannin". * Released as a double A-side single along with "

Time Will Tell Time Will Tell may refer to: * Time Will Tell (Fifth Angel album), ''Time Will Tell'' (Fifth Angel album), 1989 * Time Will Tell (game show), ''Time Will Tell'' (game show), an American game show which aired on the DuMont Television Network in 1954 ...

List of best-selling singles by Western acts

Since the creation of the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In J ...

in November 1967, only three singles released by acts of Western origin have become million sellers. The following list covers the top-selling singles released by such acts in Japan, based on physical sales only. Notes: * According to

Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

, "To Love You More" sold 1.5 million copies in the country. * Originally released in 1984, reissued in 1993. * Released as a double A-side single along with " Top of the World".

Best-selling multi-format singles in Japan

With over 9.2 million combined sales,

's "

" is the best-selling multi-format single in Japan.

Over 5 million copies

Over 4 million copies

Over 3 million copies

''Note:''

Over 2 million copies

''Note:''

Best-selling singles by year

The following is a table of the yearly best-selling singles in Japan by physical sales.

References

External links

Oricon official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Best-Selling Singles In Japan Best selling singles in Japan

Best selling singles in Japan

Best-selling physical singles in Japan

List of best-selling singles based on physical sales

List of best-selling singles by Western acts

Best-selling multi-format singles in Japan

Over 5 million copies

Over 4 million copies

Over 3 million copies

Over 2 million copies

Best-selling singles by year

See also

References

External links