AKB48

AKB48
AKB48 performing at Nokia Theatre, Los Angeles, in July 2010
Background information
Origin	Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan
Genres	J-pop
Years active	2005–present
Labels	AKS Co., Ltd. (Japan) DefStar Records (Japan) You, Be Cool!/King Records (Japan) Subunits' labels: Avex Trax Nayutawave Pony Canyon Nippon Columbia EPIC Japan
Members	Team A Details Team K Details Team B Details Team 4 Details
Past member(s)	Former Members
Website	AKB48's on YouTube www.akb48.co.jp

AKB48 is a Japanese idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. He searched Akihabara to find members who are innovative, because the area has been energetic recently. They are very popular in Japan. The "AKB" name comes from Akihabara (Japanese: 秋葉原), which is their home ground.

On 2012-10-31, AKB48 sold over 20,000,000 records in Japan and became the best selling female group in J-POP history.

Concept

The group debuted in January 2009. There are 47 members in total. They have their very own theater called the "AKB48 theater" (AKB48劇場) in Akihabara, and they perform there everyday. AKB48's theater is located on the 8th floor of the shopping mall "Don Quixote Akihabara" (ドン・キホーテ秋葉原店). The reason for this is because Akimoto wanted to change the idea of idols. Idols usually are presented in an unrealistic way in the media, so Akimoto's idea was to show idols as real people whom fans could interact with.

The group became popular for its concept of "Idols you can meet every day". Since they perform every day in the theater, in the days when they were less known their fans could visit every day and meet their favorite members afterwards. But now, AKB48 has so many fans that it is not possible to go to the theater every day. Instead, their fans must enter a lottery to win a ticket for the popular theater shows.

They also hold "handshake events". Fans who buy a CD single of the group can get a ticket to the handshake event, and get the chance to meet a member and shake her hand for ten seconds.

Also, there are sister groups such as SKE48, SDN48, NMB48, HKT48, JKT48, SNH48, TPE48 and MNL48. "SKE" name is derived from Sakae (栄),"NMB" is from Namba (難波), "HKT" is from Hakata (博多), "JKT" is from Jakarta, "SNH" is from Shanghai (上海), "TPE" is from Taipei (台北) and "MNL" is from Manila. Also, the name "SDN" is derived from "Saturday Night". SDN48 consisted of members aged 20 or over. It had a more sexy, adult image, but it eventually split up.

Name

AKB is a short form for Akihabara. During the first phase of this project, the name "Akihabara 48" was decided. It is popularly thought that the number 48 means the number of members, but instead it refers to the name of the group's President's office; "office48". The office is located in Chiba Prefecture, and in Japanese pronunciation, "Chiba" and "48" sound similar.

Members

Because there are so many AKB48 members, they don't perform all at the same time. Instead, AKB48 consists of 5 teams called "Team A", "Team K", "Team B", "Team 4", and "Team 8". Most of the group's members are in one of these teams. Each team holds individual performances at the AKB theatre. These performances are a unique set list of around 15 to 20 songs, known as "stages". Each team has more than 20 members. For members who do not have enough experience to join a team, they are part of a group of "research students". The research students can take the place of a team member during performances if she is sick or unable to perform. When they are thought to have enough experience, they can join a team.

"Senbatsu Members"

Due to the large number of members, only a few members are picked by their producer when making media appearances. The members picked are called "senbatsu members", because "senbatsu" is a Japanese word meaning "selection". Senbatsu members have "earned" the privilege of representing the group during media appearances, and are chosen in different ways. The most famous is the election.

Election

There are four big elections to decide who sings new songs. You can get tickets to vote in the election when you buy specific CDs or related goods by AKB48. The member who ranks at number one in the election will become the "center" of their new song. This means they will stand in the front and center for the dance, and they will get a starring role in the song's music video.

AKB48 First Election

The first election of AKB48 happened from June 23th to July 7th 2009. The results were announced at a concert venue called Akasaka BLITZ (赤坂 BLITZ). The top 21 in this election got the right to sing in their 13th single CD "Iiwake Maybe". Atsuko Maeda was ranked number 1 "center".

AKB48 Second Election

The second election of AKB48 happened from May 25th to June 8th 2010, and results were announced at JCB Hall (JCBホール). The top 21 in this election got the right to sing in the 17th single CD "Heavy Rotation". The top 12 were called "Media Senbatsu". They were chosen to promote new information on media such as TV and radio. Yuko Oshima was ranked number 1 "center".

AKB48 Third Election

The third election of AKB48 happened from May 24th to June 8th 2011. Results were announced at Nihon Budoukan (日本武道館). Top 21 in this election got the right to sing in the 22th single CD "Flying Get". Atsuko Maeda was ranked number 1 "center".

AKB48 Fourth Election

The fourth election of AKB48, from May 22th to June 5th 2012. Results announced at Nihon Budoukan (日本武道館). Top 16 in this election got the right to sing in their 27th single CD "Gingham Check". Yuko Oshima was ranked number 1 "center".

AKB48 Fifth Election

The fifth election of AKB48 took place from May 21st to June 7th 2013, with results announced at Nissan Stadium (日産スタジアム). Top 16 in this election can get the right to sing 32th single CD "Koi Suru Fortune Cookie". Rino Sashihara was ranked number 1 "center".

AKB48 Sixth Election

The sixth election of AKB48 took place from May 20st to June 6th 2014, with results announced at Ajinomoto Stadium (味の素スタジアム). Top 16 in this election can get the right to sing 37th single CD "Kokoro no Placard". Mayu Watanabe was ranked number 1 "center".

AKB48 Seventh Election

The seventh election of AKB48 took place from May 19th to June 5th 2015, with results announced at Fukuoka Yahoo Auction Dome (福岡 ヤフオク!ドーム). Top 16 in this election can get the right to sing 41st single CD "Halloween Night". Rino Sashihara was ranked number 1 "center".

Discography

Indies labels

1. "Sakura no Hanabiratachi"
2. "Skirt, Hirari"

Major labels

1. "Aitakatta"
2. "Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru"
3. "Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou"
4. "Bingo!"
5. "Boku no Taiyou"
6. "Yuuhi wo Miteiru ka?"
7. "Romance, Irane"
8. "Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008"
9. "Baby! Baby! Baby!" (Digital Single)
10. "Oogoe Diamond"
11. "Juunen Zakura"
12. "Namida Surprise!"
13. "Iiwake Maybe"
14. "River"
15. "Sakura no Shiori"
16. "Ponytail to Shushu"
17. "Heavy Rotation"
18. "Beginner"
19. "Chance no Junban"
20. "Sakura no Ki ni Narou"
21. "Everyday, Katyusha"
22. "Flying Get"
23. "Kaze wa Fuiteiru"
24. "Ue kara Mariko"
25. "Give Me Five!"
26. "Manatsu no Sounds Good!"
27. "Gingham Check"
28. "UZA"
29. "Eien Pressure"
30. "So Long!"
31. "Sayonara Crawl"
32. "Koisuru Fortune Cookie"
33. "Heart Electric"
34. "Kimi no Hohoemi wo Yume ni Miru"
35. "Mae shika Mukanee"
36. "Labrador Retriever (lagu)"
37. "Kokoro no Placard"
38. "Kibouteki Refrain"
39. "Green Flash"
40. "Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai"
41. "Halloween Night"
42. "Kuchibiru ni Be My Baby"
43. "Kimi wa Melody"
44. "Tsubasa wa Iranai"
45. "Love Trip / Shiawase wo Wakenasai"
46. "High Tension (lagu)"
47. "Shoot Sign"
48. "Negaigoto no Mochigusare"
49. "#Sukinanda"
50. "11gatsu no Anklet"
51. "Jabaja"
52. "Teacher Teacher"
53. "Sentimental Train"
54. "No Way Man"
55. "Jiwaru Days"
56. "Sustainable"
57. "Shitsuren, Arigatou"
58. "Nemo Hamo Rumor"
59. "Motokare Desu"
60. "Hisashiburi no Lip Gloss"
61. "Doushitemo Kimi ga Suki da"
62. "idol nanka janakattara"

Awards

The following table lists some of the major awards received by the group.

Year	Ceremony	Award	Nominated work	Result
2009	51st Japan Record Awards	Special Award		Won
2010	24th Japan Gold Disc Award	Special Award		Won
2011	Billboard Japan Music Awards	Artist of the Year		Won
		Hot 100 of the Year	"Everyday, Katyusha"	Won
	53rd Japan Record Awards	Grand Prix	"Flying Get"	Won
2012	Billboard Japan Music Awards	Artist of the Year		Won
		Hot 100 of the Year	"Manatsu no Sounds Good!"	Won
	54th Japan Record Awards	Grand Prix	"Manatsu no Sounds Good!"	Won
	26th Japan Gold Disc Award	Artist of the Year		Won
2013	Billboard Japan Music Awards	Artist of the Year		Won
		Hot 100 of the Year	"Koi Suru Fortune Cookie"	Won
	27th Japan Gold Disc Award	Artist of the Year		Won
2014	28th Japan Gold Disc Award	Artist of the Year		Won
	18th space shower music video award	Special Award		Won
2015	57th Japan Record Awards	Grand Prix	"Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai"	Nominated
	29th Japan Gold Disc Award	Single of the year	"Labrador Retriever"	Won
		Album of the Year	"Tsugi no Ashiato"	Won
2016	Billboard Japan Music Awards	Artist of the year		Won
		Hot 100 of the Year	"Tsubasa wa Iranai"	Won
	30th Japan Gold Disc Award	Single of the Year	"Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai"	Won
		Best 5 Albums	"Koko ga Rhodes da, Koko de Tobe!" "0 to 1 no Aida"	Won
	11th Taisho Ryou Music Award	Grand Prix	"365 Nichi no Kamihikouki"	Won
2017	31st Japan Gold Disc Award	Single of the Year	"Tsubasa wa Iranai"	Won
2018	32nd Japan Gold Disc Award	Single of the Year	"Negaigoto no Mochigusare"	Won

References

Other websites

• Official website (in Japanese)