Oricon

Encyclopedia : O : OR : ORI : Oricon

, or also known as Oricon Style, is a Japanese company which provides music industry-related information. It is best known for the music charts it produces, similar to those published by Billboard Magazine in the USA. The name "Oricon" is derived from the English words "Original Confidence".

The "Oricon Year" runs from the beginning of December of one year, to the end of November the following year. Also to note, Oricon combines the last week of December with the first week of January, therefore an "Oricon Year" has 51 weeks versus a real year, which has 52 weeks. Despite this these weeks are counted as 2 instead of 1 in the chart run of a single or an album.

An interesting fact about Oricon charts is that Western artists' singles tend to do miserably on the charts. There have been only a handful of #1 singles by western artists since 1967, some of which were belatedly released in Japan several years after hitting the charts outside Japan. The all-time best-selling single in Japan by a non-Japanese artist is "Beautiful Sunday" by Daniel Boone, issued in Japan in 1976, four years after it was a hit in the U.S. Since 1980, only four singles by non-Japanese have reached #1 Oricon: "I'm In The Mood For Dancing" by The Nolans (1980), "Flashdance... What A Feeling" by Irene Cara (1983), "To Love You More" by Celine Dion (1995), and "Candle In The Wind '97" by Elton John (1997). (Reference: http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=317101)

Contents

1 Yearly Charts

1.1 Singles
1.2 Albums

2 References

Yearly Charts

The year-end charts that shows the sales of albums and singles in Japan.

Singles

Albums

References

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