Oricon Inc., 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 Original Confidence Inc., which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc. was originally set up as a subsidiary of Original Confidence and took over the latter's Oricon record charts in April 2002.
Japanese rock duo B'z has released 22 studio albums, 12 compilation albums, nine extended plays (EP), 62 singles, and 20 live albums. With more than 86 million sales in Japan, the duo is the best-selling artist in Japan and with 100 million sales one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Sakurazaka46, formerly Keyakizaka46, is a Japanese idol girl group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. The group was created on August 21, 2015, becoming Nogizaka46's first sister group under the Sakamichi Series. Following the resignation of group's center Yurina Hirate, the group was rebranded as Sakurazaka46 after their last concert on October 13, 2020. The group's fans are known as Buddies.
Japanese boy band Sexy Zone has released nine studio albums, two compilation albums, 24 singles, and 15 concert videos. Sexy Zone has also released 34 music videos.
The discography of Japanese singer-songwriter Kenshi Yonezu consists of five studio albums, two Vocaloid albums, and thirteen singles.
Japanese idol group Nogizaka46 has released thirty-one singles and six albums, as well as numerous music videos and concert performance videos. Million-selling singles have included "Influencer" and "Synchronicity", each of which won a Japan Record Awards Grand Prix, as well as "Kaerimichi wa Tōmawari Shitaku Naru" and "Sayonara no Imi". Album releases include the studio albums Tōmei na Iro, Sorezore no Isu, Umarete kara Hajimete Mita Yume, and Ima ga Omoide ni Naru made. The group also released a compilation of "under" songs, written for members who perform at concerts but are not part of the main selection group for promoting singles, with the title Boku dake no Kimi: Under Super Best. They released the 10-year-anniversary greatest hits album, titled Time Flies.
Japanese boy band JO1 has released three studio albums, one video album, eight singles, thirty six promotional singles, and seventeen music videos with Lapone Entertainment. Formed through the reality competition show Produce 101 Japan, JO1 debuted in 2020 with the single Protostar and the Japan Hot 100 number-one song "Infinity". The single made the group the seventh Japanese artist to sell over 300,000 copies of a debut single in the first week. It was followed by the single Stranger and its lead track "Oh-Eh-Oh", both of which peaked atop the Oricon Singles Chart and the Japan Hot 100, respectively. The group's first studio album, The Star (2020), debuted at number two on the Japan Hot Albums chart.
Yoasobi is a Japanese pop duo formed in 2019 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It is composed of Vocaloid producer Ayase and singer-songwriter Lilas Ikuta, under the moniker Ikura. Represented by the slogan "novel into music", the duo originally released songs based on selected short stories posted on Monogatary.com, a social media website for creative writing operated by the label. Sources later also come from various media like stories written by professional authors, books, letters, plays, etc.
"Yoru ni Kakeru" is the debut single by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their debut EP, The Book (2021). It was released on December 15, 2019, by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. The song was based on Thanatos no Yūwaku, a short story by Mayo Hoshino, which was published on the creative writing social media Monogatary.com, and won the Sony Music Award, and the Grand Prize from Monocon 2019.
"Gunjō" is a song by Japanese duo Yoasobi, featuring an uncredited chorus by cover group Plusonica, from their debut EP, The Book (2021). It was released as a single through Sony Music Entertainment Japan on September 1, 2020. Inspired by Tsubasa Yamaguchi's manga Blue Period and based on a story text Ao o Mikata ni, the song is described as "a cheering song that inspires listeners by immersing themselves in what they like and expressing what they see."
"Kaibutsu" is a song by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their second EP, The Book 2 (2021). It was released as a single through Sony Music Entertainment Japan on January 6, 2021, the same date as the duo's debut EP, The Book. As an opening theme for the second season of the anime television series Beastars, "Kaibutsu" is about a carnivore trying to coexist with herbivores in a cruel world, based on Jibun no Mune ni Jibun no Mimi o Oshi Atete, written by the anime's writer Paru Itagaki.
"Yasashii Suisei" is a song by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their second EP, The Book 2 (2021). It was released as a single on January 20, 2021, by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, and released as a double A-side CD single together with "Kaibutsu" on March 24. The song was featured as an ending theme song for the second season of the anime television series Beastars.
BTS, the Best is the second Japanese-language compilation album by South Korean boy band BTS. It was released on June 16, 2021, through Big Hit Music, Universal Music Japan sublabel Virgin Music and Def Jam Recordings. The album is a compilation of their previous two Japanese-language studio albums, Face Yourself (2018) and Map of the Soul: 7 – The Journey (2020). It was a commercial success in Japan, reaching number one on the Oricon Albums Chart, and earned the biggest first week sales for an album in 2021 domestically. BTS became the first South Korean group to surpass the 1 million sales mark for an album in the country.
The discography of Japanese duo Yoasobi consists of seven extended plays, twenty-five singles, two promotional singles, two video album, and twenty-eight music videos.
The Book 2 is the second Japanese-language EP by Japanese duo Yoasobi. It was released on December 1, 2021, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan, eleven months after their debut EP The Book (2021). It consists of eight tracks, preceded by their all singles released in 2021, and included the new song "Moshi mo Inochi ga Egaketara".
Kyōgen is the debut studio album by Japanese singer Ado, released January 26, 2022, by Virgin Music. A J-pop and rock record, the album was produced by various Vocaloid musicians.
"Shukufuku" is a song by Japanese duo Yoasobi from their third EP, The Book 3 (2023). It was released as a single on October 1, 2022, by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, served as the opening theme of the first season of the Japanese mecha anime series Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (2022).
Dream is the third Japanese-language extended play by South Korean boy band Seventeen. It was released on November 9, 2022, through Hybe Labels Japan. It contains the original song "Dream", the Japanese versions of the two previously released Korean singles "Rock with You" and "All My Love", and the "holiday" version of the English track "Darl+ing". The EP has been marketed as the band's "first" Japanese-language EP despite Seventeen having recorded two previous Japanese EPs, We Make You and 24H, which were officially classified as "mini-albums".
The Book 3 is the third Japanese-language EP by Japanese duo Yoasobi. It was released on October 4, 2023, through Sony Music Entertainment Japan, one year and ten months after their second EP The Book 2 (2021). Continuing with the "reading CD" concept as previous records, the EP spans electropop and synth-pop genres, comprising ten tracks, which were solely written and produced by one half of the duo Ayase.
