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Japanese Charts Proves Girls' Generation's Unstoppable Rise

Girls' Generation

Korean girl band Girls' Generation came fifth overall in Japan's Oricon pop charts rankings for the first half of the year and first among foreign artists with 2.6 billion yen in sales.

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Japanese girl band AKB48 topped the chart with 6.66 billion in sales, followed by boy band Arashi (6.59 billion yen), Exile (4.68 billion yen), and Namie Amuro (2.7 billion yen).

Girls' Generation's fifth-place finish came just one year after they made their debut in Japan. Their third single "Mr. Taxi/Run Devil Run", released on April 27, sold 153,000 copies, and their self-titled first regular Japanese album released on June 1, sold 326,000 copies.

Korean girl band Kara landed in sixth place. Despite a temporary withdrawal from the stage due to conflicts with their management agency, Kara managed to post 2.15 billion yen in sales with their third single "Jet Coaster Love", which sold 198,000 copies since it came out on April 6.

Male Korean singers also had a lot of success in Japan. Boy band TVXQ's "Why", released in January, sold 284,000 copies, finishing fourth in album sales. Jang Keun-suk, who is immensely popular among Japanese women thanks to the success of TV series "You're Beautiful", came in 15th with his debut single "Let Me Cry", which sold 186,000 copies.

In the DVD category, "Kara Best Clips" was third with sales of 228,000, the most among foreign artists.

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