is the 53rd single by Japanese idol girl group

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (''Akiba'' for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with it ...

. It was released in Japan by King Records on September 19, 2018. The single would feature

Jurina Matsui is a Japanese Television personalities in Japan, TV personality, singer, actress, and YouTuber. She is a former member of Japanese idol girl group SKE48 and former concurrent member of AKB48 (in 2012–2015). She is recognized as SKE48's absolut ...

as the center performer, but due to health issues, she was absent from the music video and the first performances.

Background

On June 16, 2018, the results of the 10th

AKB48 Group , or AKB48 sister groups, shortened to 48 Group, 48g, refers to the sister groups of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48. Based on the same concept "idols you can meet", it currently consists of 5 sister groups in locations across Japan and 7 s ...

general election, in which fans voted which members of AKB48 and its sister groups would participate in the AKB48 53rd single, was announced at the Nagoya Dome.

SKE48 SKE48 (S.K.E. Forty-eight) is a Japanese idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. SKE48 is named after the Sakae district in Nagoya of Aichi Prefecture, where the group is based. The group performs at SKE48 Theater on 2F of Sunshine Sakae, a s ...

placed first overall with 194,453 votes, making her the center performer for the single's titular main song. On the same day, it was announced that the single will be released on September 19 in five versions. On July 7, it was revealed that the title for the 53rd single would be "Sentimental Train".

Release

Jurina Matsui went on hiatus due to poor health shortly after the election announcement, and she did not participate in early recordings and live performances of the single. In the music video, released on YouTube on August 22, her likeness was alternately replaced by a body double, a computer animated model, and hand-drawn illustrations. King Records announced that when Jurina returns from hiatus, the music video and single will be re-recorded with her participating. Matsui returned from hiatus on September 6 and performed the song for the first time on ''

Music Station is a Japanese music television program. Broadcasting live weekly on TV Asahi since October 24, 1986, it currently airs from 9PM-10PM on Fridays. The program is also colloquially known as , , and . The show is currently syndicated throughout th ...

'' the next day. The music video with Jurina is available for physical disc owners with a code allowing for users to view a re-recorded version of the music video and a new cover. On June 16, 2019, the complete version was released on YouTube.

Commercial performance

"Sentimental Train" debuted atop 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 its daily chart on September 18, 2018, maintaining the spot for the next four days. It fell to number 2 in its sixth day and to number 4 in its seventh day. On the day of release,

Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine ''Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence from ''Bi ...

reported that the single sold 1,551,061 copies in its first day The song debuted atop the Oricon Singles Chart for the week of October 1, 2018, with 1,448,900 physical copies sold. The song debuted at number 86 on

Billboard Japan Hot 100 The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and '' Hanshin Contents Link'' since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thur ...

. In its second week, the song rose to number 79 and topped the chart a week later. "Sentimental Train" was the best-selling single of September 2018, with 1,457,758 physical copies sold. The song was the 2nd best-selling single of 2018 on Oricon. The song placed at number 32 at Billboard Japan's Hot 100 Year End and placed at number 2 on the Top Singles Sales Year End chart.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control AKB48 songs 2018 singles 2018 songs Oricon Weekly number-one singles Billboard Japan Hot 100 number-one singles Song articles with missing songwriters