2010 in Japanese music


The following is a list of notable events and releases that occurred in 2010 in Japanese music.

Events

January

February

March

  • March 7 – Idol group Idoling!!! announces five new members to their line-up, after auditions were held on March 6. The new members are Kaoru Gotō, Yūna Itō, Ruka Kurata, Manami Nomoto and Chika Ojima, all between 13 and 15 years of age. Approximately 5,000 girls auditioned for the group.
  • March 9 – Boy band Arashi's "Troublemaker" sells 542,000 copies in its first week, making it the current #1 single of the year.
  • March 9 – Kōichi Nakamura, vocalist of the 1980s rock band Jaywalk, was arrested for illegal stimulant possession. The band was put into hiatus, with their 30th anniversary releases/events cancelled and their contract with Warner Music Japan nulled.
  • March 10 – RIAJ certifies two albums for double platinum status: Kaela Kimura's 5 Years and Tohoshinki's Best Selection 2010. Both albums are the first to be released in 2010 to receive double platinum certifications.
  • March 12 – Kana Nishino's song "Best Friend" tops the RIAJ Digital Track Chart for the third week.
  • March 20 – Shonen Knife's drummer Etsuko Nakanishi retires from the band after five years, during the band's 13th Fandango concert in Osaka.
  • March 21 – Rock musician Gackt performs the first men's only concert in Kawasaki, Kanagawa.
  • March 22 – The 14th Space Shower Music Video Awards are aired. Namie Amuro's "Fast Car" wins the Best Video of the Year Award. Ringo Shiina was awarded the Best Artist award
  • March 24 – Hiro, leader of R&B group Exile, became the centre of a tax enquiry after failing to report approximately ¥300,000,000 in earnings at his entertainment production company LDH. Hiro later stated the discrepancy was unintentional.
  • March 25 – Hip-hop/reggae group Spontania add singer Kaori Natori as a permanent female vocalist to their line-up. The band's first release as a three-member group was a digital single, "Now or Never," released 8 days earlier without any indication of the line-up change.
  • March 29 – Soh of the band Greeeen passes his National Dentistry Examination exam, making all members of the group certified dentists. Bandmates Hide and 92 passed the exam in 2008, while Navi passed it in 2009.
  • March 30 – Akira Akasaka, former member of Johnny's idol group Hikaru Genji, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for using illegal stimulants. His prison sentence was increased to a period of three years, however, due to his previous suspended sentence for possession of stimulants in November 2007.

April

  • April 3 – Girl band Maria perform their final live at the Akasaka Blitz, after announcing their plans to disband due to drummer Tattsu suffering from thoracic outlet syndrome.
  • April 3 – Avex Management announce the hiatus of Korean boyband Tohoshinki's activities in Japan. The band's solo activities continued, with the Jejung starring drama Sunao ni Narenakute airing in mid April, and Junsu's solo debut single announced for release in May.
  • April 9 – Fuyumi Sakamoto tops the RIAJ Digital Track Chart with her song "Mata Kimi ni Koi Shiteru," becoming the first enka singer to achieve this.
  • April 10 – Funky Monkey Babys' greatest hits collection, Funky Monkey Babys Best was certified as double platinum by the RIAJ. Arashi's "Troublemaker" becomes the first single released in 2010 to be certified as double platinum. Orianthi's Believe becomes the first non-domestic album to receive a certification.
  • April 14 – Johnny's boyband Arashi's DVD Arashi Anniversary Tour 5x10 breaks the first week sales record for a music DVD, with 477,000 copies. Arashi were also the previous record holder, with 5x10 All the Best! Clips 1999–2009 selling 428,000 copies in a week in April 2009.
  • April 15 – Rhythm Zone announce a three-member subgroup created from some of the members of boyband Tohoshinki, after the group's hiatus announced earlier in the month. The members, Jejung, Junsu and Yuchun, are the band members who filed a lawsuit against SM Entertainment in 2009.
  • April 16 – Japanese media begin levelling accusations against the public relations theme song for Shanghai Expo 2010, "Ėrlíngyīlíng Děng Nǐ Lái", as being plagiarised from a 1997 song by Mayo Okamoto, "Sono Mama no Kimi de Ite." The executive committee for the event later admitted the song had been plagiarised by the songwriter Miao Senshi, and Okamoto gave permission for the rights for her song to be used.
  • April 17 – The music video is from Uverworld's single, "Gold," is premiered today, making it the first 3D music video released by a Japanese artist.
  • April 20 – Kana Nishino's song "Best Friend" becomes the first song released in 2010 to receive a double platinum digital certification. The song had been downloaded over 500,000 times as a ringtone since its release in late February.
  • April 27 – Kazumasa Oda's greatest hits album Jiko Best charts for its 400th week, since its release in 2002. As of 2010, no other album has charted long enough to reach this milestone.

May

June

  • June 1 – Idol group AKB48's single "Ponytail to Chouchou" sells 513,000 copies in its first week, becoming the biggest first week for a female idol single since Morning Musume's "Ren'ai Revolution 21" in 2000, and the biggest first week for a female artist since Hikaru Utada's "Can You Keep a Secret?" in 2001.
  • June 1 – Boyband Tohoshinki member Xiah Junsu's single "Xiah" sells 195,000 copies in its first week, becoming the biggest first week sales of the year by a solo artist.
  • June 4 – July 13 – Visual kei metal band Versailles embark on their first world tour, with dates in South America and Europe. The band have previously performed single concerts in the US in 2008.
  • June 10 – RIAJ certifies Hideaki Tokunaga's album Vocalist 4 as double platinum, and his album Vocalist as a million selling album.
  • June 13 – Misia performs her song "Maware Maware" from the 2010 FIFA World Cup official album Listen Up! The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Album at the Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg, and also unveils a 3D music video for the song.
  • June 13 – Surface disband at their final concert at the Tokyo International Forum.
  • June 15 – Kaela Kimura reaches #1 on Oricon's single charts with her song "Ring a Ding Dong," making this the first time she has topped the single charts since she debuted in 2004.
  • June 19–20 – Jin Akanishi, member of the boyband KAT-TUN, performed three concerts in Los Angeles as a part of his You & Jin solo tour. This is the first solo performance by a Johnny's artist in the US. Further concerts over the United States are planned for September and October. Consequently, Akanishi did not attend KAT-TUN's Asian tour.
  • June 20 – Kaela Kimura's song "Ring a Ding Dong" is certified by the RIAJ for 1,000,000 ringtone downloads between its release date, May 26, and the end of May.
  • June 25 – Ai Otsuka married RIP SLYME member SU. The announcement of the marriage had been released on her official website on June 26.
  • June 28 – Otonamode will play their final live with their current line-up. After this date, vocalist/guitarist Keita Takahashi will continue on as the band's lead, however with different members.

July

August

Scheduled events

October

  • October 1–31 – Nippon Columbia's month-long celebration of its centennial.
  • October 1 – November 6 – Rock band Vamps plan to tour the United States, Spain, France, China and Chile. This will be the band's third tour, and the second to be performed overseas.
  • October 8–24 – Kokia plans to hold her fifth string of European concerts, with dates in Austria, England, Germany, France, Poland and Russia.

December

  • December 30 – The 52nd Japan Record Award is planned.
  • December 31 – Annual New Year's music events are planned, such as the 61st Kōhaku Uta Gassen song contest and the 8th Countdown Japan festival.

Independent artists making major label debuts

Artists resuming activities

Artists on hiatus

Disbanding artists

Top hits on record

Currently, there are four major charts for song popularity in Japan: Oricon singles charts, Soundscan singles charts, the Billboard Japan Hot 100 and RIAJ digital tracks. Oricon and Soundscan track sales of physical single releases, though Soundscan separates each version of the release. The Japan Hot 100 tracks song popularity based on radio airplay and physical single sales data from Soundscan. The RIAJ digital chart tracks the most popular songs downloaded in their entirety from cellphones. No chart exists that tallies PC downloads as of 2010, though the RIAJ certifies PC download releases.

Deaths

January
  • January 7 – Minami, 34, vocalist of D-Loop, prescription medicine misdosage.
  • January 17 – Maki Asakawa, 68, jazz singer, heart failure.
February
  • February 26 – Nujabes, 36, hip-hop track maker, car accident.
March
May