Last week, AKB48 released their 28th single “UZA,” and Oricon announced today that it sold roughly 1,129,000 copies in its first week. This gives AKB48 their 15th consecutive #1 single, but more importantly, it also marks their 10th million-selling single (9th consecutive). They are the first female artist to achieve 10 million-selling singles, and the first artist to do so in almost 14 years.
AKB48 is only the third artist to achieve 10-million sellers, after B'z (currently with 15) and Mr.Children (currently with 10). In terms of consecutive million-sellers, they were already in second place before this, behind B’z (13) and ahead of Mr.Children (8).
Since their major-label debut in February 2006, AKB48 has released 29 singles (1 digital-only) and 11 albums. In total, the group has now sold approximately 17,597,000 CD singles and 2,703,000 CD albums, for a grand total of 20,300,000 CDs. Among female groups, they have now pulled past SPEED (19,546,000 CDs) to become the #1 all-time top seller.
Sources:
Mantan Web
Oricon & tokyograph