Today we’re October 1st.. so “about time” to give you a top 10 on Japan’s album and singles charts. Apologies for being later than usual, so here we go:

In the singles department:

1. フライングゲット – ＡＫＢ４８ (Get flying – AKB48)
2. Ｅｖｅｒｙｂｏｄｙ　Ｇｏ – Ｋｉｓ－Ｍｙ－Ｆｔ２
3. ＲＵＮ　ＦＯＲ　ＹＯＵ – ＫＡＴ－ＴＵＮ
4. ツブサニコイ – 関ジャニ∞  (Tsubusa nikoi – Seki Jani)
5. 明日へのマーチ／Ｌｅｔ’ｓ　ｔｒｙ　ａｇａｉｎ – 桑田佳祐 (March / Let’s try again – Keisuke Kuwata)
6. へたっぴウィンク – 渡り廊下走り隊７ (Having to wink – Corridor Running Team)
7. マル・マル・モリ・モリ！- 薫と友樹、たまにムック。 (Maru maru mori mori – Yuki & Kaori
8. ＭＩＮ・ＭＩＮ・ＭＩＮ – ＳＤＮ４８
9. Ｉ’ｍ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｍａｎ – ２ＰＭ
10. 純潔パラドックス – 水樹奈々 (Chastity paradox – Mizuki Nana)

This month’s single ranking is quite something special. AKB’s latest smash hit single only entered the charts last week (Release date: 24-08-2011), and already manages to sell a monstrous 1.4 million copies in the first week on the shelf. Admittedly the new single of the all-girls squad Is good to say the least, yet over the years they managed to secure a loyal fanbase who seems to assure every new push they make gets sold in the millions. We are quite curious how this single will do at the end of next month, with sales ratios like mentioned before; this could be at least a 5 million baby at the end of October.

Looking at the number 2, we also see a new single from the Japanese boys band Kis-My-Ft2. Their Album already sold a decent number of copies so it didn’t come as a surprise that the new single would sell 392 228 copies since its release in September(10-08-2011).

Number 3, also a new single, this time from Kat-Tun. Run for you has turned out to be a solid record for the Japanese boy’s band. With 174 076 singles sold since it’s availability on 03-08-2011 it has been selling quite well.

In the album department:

1. ＳＭＡＰ　ＡＩＤ – ＳＭＡＰ
2. Ｍ　ＢＥＳＴ – 加藤ミリヤ (Kato Miliyah)
3. Ｒａｙ　Ｏｆ　Ｈｏｐｅ – 山下達郎 (Tatsuro Yamashita)
4. Ｃ’ｍｏｎ – Ｂ’ｚ
5. ｍｅｇａｐｈｏｎｉｃ – ＹＵＫＩ
6. ＳＯ　ＢＥＡＳＴ – ＢＥＡＳＴ
7. Ｇｏｌｄ　Ｓｋｏｏｌ – 久保田利伸 (Toshinobu Kubota)
8. ＹＯＵ – ＪＵＪＵ
9. ラブ・ソングス – シェネル  (Love songs – Che Nelle)
10. ＧＩＲＬＳ’　ＧＥＮＥＲＡＴＩＯＮ – 少女時代 (Girls Generation)

In the album’s department we can be quite short on comments this month. SMAP AID is the Japanese version of what we tend to call Band Aid. Unlike a genuine Band Aid consisting of multiple performances by a wide variety of bands, this album focuses only on the boy’s band called SMAP. SMAP made a comeback after the events on March 11^th (Earthquake/Tsunami) when a lot of radio stations started playing their songs due to the many request by their listeners. The album retails for a not-so-cheap 3750 Yen (Special Edition), but a portion of that amount is destined for donation to Marching J’s Project (a project destined to help the affected areas in the Tsunami area). Released on 17-08-2011, sold 341 938 copies.

On 2, we have the new album of Kato Miliyah (Miho), released on 03-08-2011. Call It Miho’s greatest hits album. Her style is a blend of pop and urban tracks. Sales this month are closing in on 270 000 sold copies.

And last but not least, number 3 of this month’s album sales: Ray of hope, by Tatsuro Yamashita. This album has been selling extremely well, as you might recall from last month’s top 10 albums. Tatsuro managed to sell another 161 697 albums this month.