Tokyo Reborn: Dark Superstar

Chapter 202 Last Year's Fear

The third album of the Beasts band has started pre-sale.

Countless people began to recall the fear of being beaten by the super devil in the second half of last year.

Last year, the new album "PLANET" of the Beasts band first surpassed "Undercurrent" by the rising Hong Kong queen Wang Wen, and then suppressed the "Dragon Ball GT" theme song by supernova Namie Amuro, newcomer Ayumi Hamasaki and Izumi Sakai.

In the end, the epic hit song "Candle In The Wind '97" was invincible and unique in the world.

You should know that last year Elton John's "Candle In The Wind '97" sold about 1997 million copies in the UK in just one week, breaking the UK Singles Chart's single-week sales record.

The song was released in the US market and topped the Billboard Hot 14 chart, remaining at the top for 40 consecutive weeks. It also won the "Best Male Pop Vocal Performance" award at the th Grammy Awards.

It ranked first on the music charts in Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and other countries, and through the Dark Agreement, it obtained T0-level entertainment industry resources in Commonwealth countries.

It sold more than 3 million copies worldwide that year, becoming one of the best-selling singles in history.

Ranked 500th on Rolling Stone magazine's "11 Greatest Albums of All Time".

…………

In this case, Elton John's Dark Pact in Japan actually failed because it could not maintain the first position on the Oricon chart.

This led to Elton John's fan support group raising £3000 million in donations to buy indulgences in Japan, helping Elton John choose the lightest punishment of "eating a specially made dog shit-flavored chocolate."

This was Candle In The Wind '97's only worldwide failure.

Through this battle, the Beasts band's album "PLANET" dominated the charts until late November, when its popularity declined and several songs began to drop off the charts, but it still maintained a certain level of popularity.

To be honest, the dominance of "PLANET" in the charts is slightly weaker than that of "Kill, Miracle, Heart" in 1998.

Anyone who paid attention to the news about last year’s music charts would have found that the second half of the year was almost dominated by the news about the Beasts band.

Whoever Takakura Bunta defeats today will be the one who challenges Takakura Bunta and fails tomorrow. This has been going on for several months, creating an atmosphere of a big devil fighting against the entire Asian music scene.

In addition to the lively rankings, people in the industry are most concerned about the sales of Bunta Takakura's albums.

"PLANET" sold over 650 million copies in the first month and exceeded 1997 million before the end of 2000, winning the annual sales championship. To date, sales have reached 5000 million copies.

Although sales figures continue to decline, it is only a matter of time before total sales exceed 100 million as the Beasts consolidates their position in Asia.

…………

Bunta Takakura's first album, "Kill, Miracle, Heart", officially exceeded 9 million sales as early as September last year. After the release of "PLANET", it boosted sales to a certain extent, with direct sales exceeding 8000 million.

This became the third diamond album in Japan in the 90s to sell over million copies. The first two were albums by the SMAP group led by Takuya Kimura.

The two albums have a combined sales volume of 1 million copies. It took the Beasts Band only two years to catch up with the data of other stars that would take more than a dozen albums or even a lifetime, making them a real superstar in the music industry.

Companies such as Johnny's Office, Stardust Communications, Hori Productions Co., Ltd. (H Company), Rolling Stone, Ken-On, Warner Music, and Avex have now placed One Piece Entertainment on MAX-level alert.

The song has a wide influence and is a hot seller.

The Beasts is currently recognized as the pop singer with the greatest commercial value, and people in the industry both love and fear him.

The band Love has created one brilliant achievement after another, breaking down the barriers in the entire Asian music scene. An unprecedented super market is slowly being activated and gradually prospering.

They are afraid that this band is too strong, and as soon as they release a song, other singers will become supporting roles, and their performance and sales will be affected to varying degrees.

…………

Last year, Takakura Bunta and his band went to film a movie by Kitano Takeshi. The music scene was quiet for a few months, but the good times didn't last long. He came back to make a new album. Many singers who were planning to release albums next time were very worried.

If this hits, I'm afraid I'll be rubbed again.

Of course, where there are fears, there are also those who are eager to try. The music industry has never lacked stubborn singers who want to step on the heads of true gods to get to the top.

The era of the three Showa singers has gradually faded away.

The current Heisei generation singers in the Japanese market are eager to give it a try.

…………

The one who is holding back the most is ARASHI.

This male idol singing group under Johnny & Associates is composed of five members: captain Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto.

Although they were suppressed by Bunta Takakura last year, but leaving Bunta Takakura aside, they are indeed the most popular among the new generation of male singers.

The NHK Red and White Song Festival brought them a certain degree of fame across the country, and the title song of their first album, "ARASHI," was chosen as the theme song for the World Cup Volleyball.

Johnny's Office has also been providing resources, including the sports program "Arashi no V1", hosting the radio program "Arashi no Friday", the short drama "V no Arashi" broadcast on Fuji TV, and being the youth image spokesperson for the Nagano Winter Olympics, etc.

It can be said that Johnny's office gave Arashi resources according to the standards of future pillars. After all, compared to the grown-up SMAP, Johnny's Kitagawa will always love eighteen-year-olds and prefer young and energetic fresh faces.

Compared with Arashi, senior groups such as V6, TOKIO, KinKi Kids, and Shonentai have now had to stand aside.

…………

Therefore, Arashi, who has no shortage of resources, fame, good looks, and exposure, is now the strategic weapon of Johnny's Office, and is also the group that is currently most confident in challenging One Piece Entertainment's Beasts Band.

The Arashi group itself is also very ambitious, and they are determined to defeat the Beast Band, surpass SMAP and Southern Stars, and become the top group.

..............................

However, regarding this super group showdown between Arashi and outsiders that is highly anticipated, One Piece Entertainment's president, Keiko Kanda, is taking a wait-and-see attitude.

Again, Arashi's conditions in almost every aspect are completely defeated by the Beasts Band, and the only thing they can show off is Johnny's fanatical fan club mechanism.

Last year, Arashi hosted three variety shows, acted in six movies, twelve TV series, and participated in dozens of variety shows, as well as being a magazine model and having countless media interviews.

Kanda Keiko looked at the number of movies and albums that Arashi had made, and she began to wonder if these five people had learned the art of clone ninjutsu.

However, the quantity has been increased, but as for the quality, it is a matter of opinion.

At least so far, Arashi has only two songs that have really become popular, the famous song "ARASHI" and the song "Horizon".

Therefore, Arashi's current positioning is a bit awkward. They have extremely high popularity, but too few representative works. When people mention them, they think more of their TV variety shows.

Lan is determined to defeat Takakura Bunta, but the reality is that even Amuro Namie can suppress them.

Therefore, in Takakura Bunta's mind, the threat level of Arashi is always one level lower.

…………

The opponents that Takakura Bunta values ​​more are not in Japan, but in other parts of Asia...

(End of this chapter)