is the first single by the group Kaoru to Tomoki, Tamani Mook, released on 25 May 2011 by

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

. This group is specially formed for the

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

television drama series In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

Marumo no Okite is a Japanese television series which premiered on Fuji TV on April 24, 2011. This television series stars Sadao Abe as Mamoru Takagi, a public relations officer with a stationery company. It also stars child actor Fuku Suzuki and child actres ...

'', and consists of actor Fuku Suzuki and actress

Mana Ashida is a Japanese actress, '' talent'' and singer. Ashida's first appearance was in Asahi Broadcasting Corporation's ''ABC Short Movie 2'', though she rose to prominence after acting in the television drama ''Mother''. She became the youngest lead s ...

, both of whom are the lead stars in the drama series. ''Maru Maru Mori Mori!'' is also the theme song for ''

''.

Track listing

Production

On 4 April 2011, it was announced that the theme song of the

television drama ''

'' will be sung by actress

and Fuku Suzuki, both of whom are also starring in the television drama. They formed a temporary group called Kaoru to Tomoki, Tamani Mook, and the song that they will be singing is entitled ''Maru Maru Mori Mori!''

Reception

This singles album debuted on the

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 ...

charts at the third position with sales of around 35 thousand albums in the first week. This makes the group the youngest group ever to debut in the top 10 charts at the average of 6 years old, beating the previous record set by the group for their singles in September 2006. This album also occasionally reached the first position on the

daily charts. The

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pr ...

ranked ''Maru Maru Mori Mori!'' fourth in the top downloaded singles from the Chaku-Uta pay chart ranking in the first half of 2011. This placed this single ahead of other singles from groups like

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 ...

and Girls' Generation. The song was certified by the RIAJ as a double platinum ringtone, and a platinum full-length download to cellphones. Sankei Sports reported that ''Maru Maru Mori Mori!'' crossed the 250 thousand album sales mark as of 17 July 2011. This makes the group the first Japanese group under 10 years old to exceed 200 thousand sales mark in over 35 years, the last person to do so being Kawahashi Hiroshi with his single ''Yamaguchi-sanchi no Tsutomu-kun''. On 16 August 2011, Oricon reported that this singles managed to remain in the top 10 list for 12 weeks in a row. Amongst singles released by an artist under 10 years old, ''Maru Maru Mori Mori!'' now holds the record of the longest streak on the Oricon charts. The previous record set by the 2007 song '' Gake no Ue no Ponyo'', the theme song of the Studio Ghibli film ''Ponyo'', which remained on the charts for 11 consecutive weeks in 2008. ''Gake no Ue no Ponyo'' featured the then 8-year old actress Nozomi Ōhashi. The song ''Maru Maru Mori Mori'' received the Special Award at the 53rd Japan Record Awards.

References

External links

Official website for the single by Universal Music

Oricon Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maru Maru Mori Mori! 2011 singles Japanese children's songs Japanese television drama theme songs RIAJ Digital Track Chart number-one singles Universal Music Japan singles

Track listing

Production

Reception

See also

References

External links