, established in 1999, is the

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

at the head of a Japanese

corporate group A corporate group or group of companies is a collection of parent and subsidiary corporations that function as a single economic entity through a common source of control. These types of groups are often managed by an account manager. The concep ...

that supplies

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

and information on music and the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

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 ...

and

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its

music chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often ...

s. Oricon Inc. was originally set up as a subsidiary of Original Confidence and took over the latter's Oricon record charts in April 2002. The charts are compiled from data drawn from some 39,700 retail outlets (as of April 2011) and provide sales rankings of music CDs, DVDs, electronic games, and other entertainment products based on weekly tabulations. Results are announced every Tuesday and published in ''Oricon Style'' by subsidiary Oricon Entertainment Inc. The group also lists panel survey-based popularity ratings for

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

s on its official website. Oricon started publishing Combined Chart, which includes CD sales, digital sales, and streaming together, on December 19, 2018.

History

Original Confidence Inc., the original Oricon company, was founded by the former

Snow Brand Milk Products , formerly is one of the largest dairy companies in Japan. In 2000, more than 14,000 people got sick from old milk sold by Snow Brand contaminated with the staphylococcus aureus bacteria, the worst case of food poisoning in Japan. A criminal ...

promoter Sōkō Koike in 1967. That November, the company began publishing a singles chart on an experimental basis. Entitled , this went official on January 4, 1968. Like the preceding Japanese music charts provided by Tokushin Music Report which was started in 1962, early ''Original Confidence'' was an exclusive information magazine only for the people who worked in the music industry. However, in the 1970s, Koike willingly advertised his company's charts to make its existence prevail among the Japanese public. Thanks to his intensive promotional efforts through multiple media including television programs, the hit parade became known by its abbreviation "Oricon" by the late 1970s. The company shortened its name to Oricon in 1992 and was split into a holding company and several subsidiaries in 1999. Since Sōkō Koike's death, Oricon has been managed by the founder's relatives.

Policy

Oricon monitors and reports on sales of CDs, DVDs, video games, and entertainment content in several other formats; manga and book sales were also formerly covered. Charts are published every Tuesday in ''Oricon Style'' and on Oricon's official website. Every Monday, Oricon receives data from outlets, but data on merchandise sold through certain channels does not make it into the charts. For example, the debut single of

NEWS News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

, a pop group, was released only through

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...

stores, which are not covered by Oricon, and its sales were not reflected in the Oricon charts. Oricon's rankings of record sales are therefore not completely accurate. Before data was collected electronically, the charts were compiled on the basis of faxes that were sent from record shops.

Controversy

In 2006, Oricon sued journalist Hiro Ugaya when he was quoted in a ''Saizo'' (or ''Cyso'') magazine article as suggesting that Oricon was manipulating its statistics to benefit certain management companies and labels, specifically

Johnny and Associates is a Japanese talent agency, formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which trains and promotes groups of male entertainers known as . History 1962–1989 In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group, Johnnys. In its early days, Kitagawa's agency rente ...

. Ugaya condemned the lawsuit as an example of a

strategic lawsuit against public participation Strategic lawsuits against public participation (also known as SLAPP suits or intimidation lawsuits), or strategic litigation against public participation, are lawsuits intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with t ...

(SLAPP) in Japan. The lawsuit, filed by Oricon on November 17, 2006, accused Ugaya of "mendacious comments" and demanded 50 million yen (318,000 euros) in damages. In the interview, Ugaya questioned the validity of Oricon's hit chart on the grounds that its statistical methods were not transparent. Many

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s, including

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

, denounced the lawsuit as a violation of free expression. A Tokyo District Court initially ordered Ugaya to pay 1 million yen (7,400 euros) in damages, but Ugaya appealed to the Tokyo high court. Oricon later dropped the charges, after a 33-month battle. No criminal charge was laid against the journalist. Dropping a lawsuit is rare in Japan; for example, only 0.1% of cases that ended in 2007 being done by the plaintiff ceasing the case.

Shareholders

(''as of March 31, 2012'') * LitruPond LLC – 29.34% * Yoshiaki Yoshida ( DHC Corp. president) – 8.94% * Hikari Tsushin, Inc. – 4.94% * Ko Koike (CEO) – 2.75% * Lawson, Inc. – 1.98% * Hidekō Koike – 1.89% * Naoko Koike – 1.87% * DHC Corp. – 1.59% * Yumi Koike – 1.55%

Charts

Current charts

* Singles Chart (January 4, 1968 – present) *

Albums Chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

(October 5, 1987 – present) * Karaoke Chart (December 26, 1994 – present) * DVD Chart (April 5, 1999 – present) * Book Chart (April 7, 2008 – present) * Comic Chart (February 6, 1995 – March 26, 2001; April 7, 2008 – present) *

Bunkobon In Japan, are small-format paperback books, designed to be affordable and space saving. The great majority of ''bunkobon'' are A6 (105×148mm or 4.1"×5.8") in size. They are sometimes illustrated and like other Japanese paperbacks usually ...

Chart (April 7, 2008 – present) * Blu-ray Disc Chart (September 7, 2008 – present) * Music DVD & Blu-ray Disc Chart (October 14, 2013 – present) * Long Hit Album Catalogue Chart (April 2, 2001 – present) * Digital Albums Chart (November 14, 2016 – present) * Digital Singles Chart (December 25, 2017 – present) * Streaming Chart (December 24, 2018 – present) * Combined Albums Chart (December 24, 2018 – present) * Combined Singles Chart (December 24, 2018 – present)

Past charts

* LP Chart (January 5, 1970 – November 27, 1989) * CT Chart (December 2, 1974 – April 24, 1978) * Cartridges Chart (December 2, 1974 – April 24, 1978) * CD Chart (February 6, 1984 – April 21, 1997) * LD Chart (February 6, 1984 – January 31, 2000) * Sell-Video Chart (February 6, 1984 – May 30, 2005) * VHD Chart (February 6, 1984 – November 27, 1989) * MD Chart (1994) * Game Software Chart (February 20, 1995 – November 28, 2005) * All-Genre Formats Ranking (May 24, 1984 – April 2, 2001) * New Media Chart (January 2004 – 2005) * Tracks Chart (September 6, 2004 – August 31, 2008)

Artists' total sales revenue by year

References

External links

Oricon website
{{Authority control Music companies of Japan Japanese record charts Japanese companies established in 1967 Japanese companies established in 1999