Oricon

History

Original Confidence Inc., the original Oricon company, was founded by the former Snow Brand Milk Products promoter Sōkō Koike in 1967. That November, the company began publishing a singles chart on an experimental basis. Entitled Sōgō Geinō Shijō Chōsa, this went official on January 4, 1968.

Like the preceding Japanese music charts provided by Tokushin Music Report which was started in 1962, early Original Confidence was an exclusive information magazine only for the people who worked in the music industry. In the 1970s, Koike advertised his company's charts to make its existence prevail among the Japanese public. Thanks to his intensive promotional efforts through multiple media including television programs, the hit parade became known by its abbreviation "Oricon" by the late 1970s.

The company shortened its name to Oricon in 1992 and was split into a holding company and several subsidiaries in 1999. Since Sōkō Koike's death, Oricon has been managed by the founder's relatives.

Policy

Oricon monitors and reports on sales of CDs, DVDs, video games, and entertainment content in several other formats; manga and book sales were also formerly covered. Charts are published every Tuesday in Oricon Style and on Oricon's official website. Every Monday, Oricon receives data from outlets, but data on merchandise sold through certain channels does not make it into the charts. For example, the debut single of NEWS, a pop group, was released only through 7-Eleven stores, which are not covered by Oricon, and its sales were not reflected in the Oricon charts. Oricon's rankings of record sales are therefore not completely accurate. Before data was collected electronically, the charts were compiled on the basis of faxes that were sent from record shops.

Controversy

In 2006, Oricon sued journalist Hiro Ugaya when he was quoted in a Saizo (or Cyso) magazine article as suggesting that Oricon was manipulating its statistics to benefit certain management companies and labels, specifically Johnny and Associates. Ugaya condemned the lawsuit as an example of a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) in Japan. The lawsuit, filed by Oricon on November 17, 2006, accused Ugaya of "mendacious comments" and demanded 50 million yen (318,000 euros) in damages. In the interview, Ugaya had questioned the validity of Oricon's hit chart on the grounds that its statistical methods were not transparent. Many NGOs, including Reporters Without Borders, denounced the lawsuit as a violation of free expression. A Tokyo District Court initially ordered Ugaya to pay one million yen in damages, but Ugaya appealed to the Tokyo high court. Oricon later dropped the charges, after a 33-month battle. A settlement was reached under which the publisher of Saizo magazine, who intervened in the lawsuit from the High Court, apologized to Ugaya for "publishing inaccurate comments without permission" and paid him 5 million yen, and also apologized to Oricon for discrediting the chart. Oricon waived its claim for damages and Ugaya, who had also filed a counterclaim for damages, waived his counterclaim. No criminal charge was laid against the journalist.

Dropping a lawsuit is rare in Japan; for example, only 0.1% of cases that ended in 2007 were on account of the plaintiff ceasing the case.

Shareholders

(as of March 31, 2012)

• LitruPond LLC – 29.34%
• Yoshiaki Yoshida (DHC Corp. president) – 8.94%
• Hikari Tsushin, Inc. – 4.94%
• Ko Koike (CEO) – 2.75%
• Lawson, Inc. – 1.98%
• Hidekō Koike – 1.89%
• Naoko Koike – 1.87%
• DHC Corp. – 1.59%
• Yumi Koike – 1.55%

Charts

Current charts

• Singles Chart (January 4, 1968 – present)
• Albums Chart (October 5, 1987 – present)
• Karaoke Chart (December 26, 1994 – present)
• DVD Chart (April 5, 1999 – present)
• Book Chart (April 7, 2008 – present)
• Comic Chart (February 6, 1995 – March 26, 2001; April 7, 2008 – present)
• Bunkobon Chart (April 7, 2008 – present)
• Blu-ray Disc Chart (September 7, 2008 – present)
• Music DVD & Blu-ray Disc Chart (October 14, 2013 – present)
• Long Hit Album Catalogue Chart (April 2, 2001 – present)
• Digital Albums Chart (November 14, 2016 – present)
• Digital Singles Chart (December 25, 2017 – present)
• Streaming Chart (December 24, 2018 – present)
• Combined Albums Chart (December 24, 2018 – present)
• Combined Singles Chart (December 24, 2018 – present)

Past charts

• LP Chart (January 5, 1970 – November 27, 1989)
• CT Chart (December 2, 1974 – April 24, 1978)
• Cartridges Chart (December 2, 1974 – April 24, 1978)
• CD Chart (February 6, 1984 – April 21, 1997)
• LD Chart (February 6, 1984 – January 31, 2000)
• Sell-Video Chart (February 6, 1984 – May 30, 2005)
• VHD Chart (February 6, 1984 – November 27, 1989)
• MD Chart (1994)
• Game Software Chart (February 20, 1995 – November 28, 2005)
• All-Genre Formats Ranking (May 24, 1984 – April 2, 2001)
• New Media Chart (January 2004 – 2005)
• Tracks Chart (September 6, 2004 – August 31, 2008)

Top Artists' total sales revenue by year

Footnotes

References

References

1. "Overview of Oricon.Inc". Oricon Inc.
2. "会社概要". Oricon Inc.
3. "Policy of the Oricon Weekly Charts". oricon.co.jp.
4. "Official Site of Oricon Charts". oricon.co.jp.
5. Ronald. (2018-08-31). "Oricon to Create Combined and Streaming Charts".
6. "会社案内 – tokushin music report". Tokushin Music Report.
7. Prideaux, Eric. (February 8, 2007). "Libel suit attacks free speech: defendant".
8. (2009-08-06). "Abandonment of the claim against a Japanese journalist {{!}} Reporters without borders".
9. link. (August 3, 2009). 47news
10. "Abandonment of the claim against a Japanese journalist - Reporters without borders".
11. link. . . (). Supreme Court of Japan
12. link. . . (). Supreme Court of Japan
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14. link. (September 22, 2017). Oricon
15. link. (August 29, 2018). Oricon
16. [http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/83845/full/ 2010年音楽ソフト市場 嵐、いきものがかりが部門首位 メーカー別ではソニーがV2] {{Webarchive. link. (May 13, 2013 . Oricon. 14 January 2011 4:00.)
17. ''コンフィデンス年鑑 1977年版''. 31p.
18. ''コンフィデンス年鑑 1978年版''. 28p.
19. ''コンフィデンス年鑑 1979年版''. 30p.
20. ''オリコン年鑑 1980年版''. 30p.
21. ''オリコン年鑑 1981年版''. 31p.
22. ''オリコン年鑑 1982年版''. 30p.
23. ''オリコン年鑑 1983年版''. 27p.
24. ''オリコン年鑑 1984年版''. 28p.
25. ''オリコン年鑑 1985年版''. 28p.
26. ''オリコン年鑑 1986年版''. 345p.
27. ''オリコン年鑑 1987年版''. 379p.
28. ''オリコン年鑑 1988年版''. Capital 17p.
29. ''オリコン年鑑 1989年版別冊 オリコン・チャート・データ'88''. 28p.
30. ''オリコン年鑑 1997年版別冊 オリコン・チャート・データ'96''. 29p.
31. ''オリコン年鑑 1998年版別冊 オリコン・チャート・データ'97''. 23p.
32. [http://www.narinari.com/log/news/200212music.html#303 オリコン、「第35回日本レコードセールス大賞」を発表。] {{Webarchive. link. (September 16, 2018 . Narinari.com. December 29, 2002.)
33. ''オリコン年鑑 1999年版別冊 オリコン・チャート・データ'98''. 23p.
34. ''オリコン年鑑 2000年版別冊 オリコン・チャート・データ'99''. 25p.
35. link. (February 10, 2008 . Musicman編集部. December 12, 2002.)
36. ''オリコン年鑑 2001年版別冊 オリコン・チャート・データ2000''. 26p.
37. [https://web.archive.org/web/20021001152926/http://www.sanspo.com/geino/g_top/gt200112/g_top2001121408.html 浜崎あゆみ、CD売り上げ2年連続ナンバーワン]. SANSPO.COM. December 14, 2001.
38. ''オリコン年鑑 2002年版 データ本''. 25p.
39. ''オリコン年鑑 2003年版 データ本''. 62p.
40. ''オリコン年鑑 2004年版 データ本''. 60p.
41. [https://web.archive.org/web/20031216172732/http://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/kiji/2003/12/15/01.html あゆ2年ぶり｢セールス大賞｣ ]. スポニチアネックス. December 15, 2003.
42. ''オリコン年鑑 2005年版 データ本''. 76p.
43. [http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/40468/ 倖田來未、年間セールス127億円で初の大賞!] {{Webarchive. link. (May 15, 2013 . Oricon. 2006-12-21,14:00.)
44. ''オリコン年鑑 2006年版''. 77p.
45. [http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/051219_01_3.html 2005年 アーティストトータルセールスランキング] {{Webarchive. link. (September 9, 2017 . Oricon. December 19, 2005.)
46. ''オリコン年鑑 2007年版''. 76p.
47. [http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/061221_04.html 2006年 アーティストトータルセールスランキング大発表!] {{Webarchive. link. (September 9, 2017 . Oricon. December 21, 2006.)
48. ''オリコン年鑑 2008年版''. 76p.
49. [http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/071218_01_03.html 2007年 アーティストトータルセールスランキング大発表!] {{Webarchive. link. (January 1, 2008 . Oricon. December 18, 2007.)
50. ''オリコン年鑑 2009年版''. 100p.
51. [http://contents.oricon.co.jp/music/special/081211_01_05.html 2008年 アーティストトータルセールスランキング大発表!] {{Webarchive. link. (May 19, 2013 . Oricon. December 11, 2008.)
52. [http://contents.oricon.co.jp/music/special/091218_01_06.html 2009年 アーティストトータルセールスランキング] {{Webarchive. link. (January 27, 2011 . Oricon. December 18, 2009.)
53. [http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/2010/musicrank1220/index06.html 2010年 オリコン年間ランキング アーティストトータルセールス] {{Webarchive. link. (September 9, 2017 . Oricon. December 20, 2010.)
54. [http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/2011/musicrank1219/index.html 2011年 オリコン年間ランキング アーティストトータルセールス] {{Webarchive. link. (July 8, 2017 . Oricon. December 19, 2011.)
55. [http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/2012/musicrank1220/index09.html#topphoto 2012年 オリコン年間ランキング アーティストトータルセールス] {{Webarchive. link. (September 9, 2017 . Oricon. December 20, 2012.)
56. [http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/2013/musicrank1215/index09.html#topphoto 2013年 アーティストトータルセールスランキング] {{Webarchive. link. (August 17, 2017 . Oricon. December 15, 2013.)
57. [http://www.oricon.co.jp/special/47530/6/ 2014年 年間音楽&映像ランキング発表] {{Webarchive. link. (August 25, 2017 . Oricon. December 20, 2014.)
58. [http://www.oricon.co.jp/special/48546/6/ 2015年 年間音楽ランキングを発表！] {{Webarchive. link. (July 30, 2017 .Oricon. December 23, 2015.)
59. [http://www.oricon.co.jp/special/49664/6/ 2016年 年間音楽&映像ランキング 嵐が前人未到の記録達成！] {{Webarchive. link. (September 9, 2017 . Oricon. December 24, 2016.)
60. (December 23, 2017). "【第50回 オリコン年間ランキング 2017】嵐が総合売上5年連続首位、AKB48がシングル年間V8達成!". Oricon.
61. link. (December 20, 2018). Oricon
62. link. (December 23, 2019). Oricon
63. link. (December 25, 2020). Oricon
64. link. (December 24, 2021). Oricon
65. link. (December 23, 2022). Oricon
66. link. (December 20, 2023). Oricon
67. link. (December 27, 2024). Oricon
68. link. (December 26, 2025). Oricon