KinKi Kids' 28th Single is No. 1 on Oricon Singles Weekly Chart

Congratulations to KinKi Kids! Their newest 28th single CD - Yakusoku has topped the Oricon Singles Weekly Chart from 28 Jan to 2 Feb with a total sales of 171,412.

KinKi Kids have been holding the record in the Guinness Book of World Record for having the most number of singles consecutively topping the Oricon chart upon release. With the latest sales, this means that KinKi Kids' every single from the 1st to the 28th have all hit No. 1 on the Oricon Singles Weekly Chart upon release. This is an achievement that nobody else can even rival or come close to.

Notwithstanding the achievement, there have been many disappointing voices heard from fans on the internet. I can of course understand why. The sales volume of KinKi Kids' singles have unfortunately been dropping steadily over the years, and this can be seen from the data below.

This newest 28th single was thought by fans to be much better than the previous few singles and they were hoping for better sales this time round. Unfortunately, the sales for the latest single set a new precedent for the lowest sales ever. Fans felt aggreived as they are of the view that KinKi Kids' agency - Johnny's Entertainment, did not do a good job in terms of the promotional campaign, the PV, the CD cover, the availability of the CD at shops, etc. And the perception that JE is devoting its resources to the other younger groups at the expense of KinKi Kids naturally stirs up greater frustration and anger.

Of course promotional campaign will help to improve sales. However, I believe that there are many reasons that contributes to the declining sales for KinKi Kids.

1) KinKi Kids have been around since 1997 and it is not surprising that their popularity has declined over the years. The fact that they are still able to hit no. 1 on the Oricon chart after being around for 10 odd years is already an amazing achievement by itself.

2) KinKi Kids originated as an idol group and the original target market would naturally be attracted to them due to their good looks and dance moves. With their music styles moving away from the pop music genre, lesser (or nil) dance moves and the mere fact that they are no longer young, the original target market would definitely shrink.

3) People then argue that there are other music groups which continued to generate high sales volume despite being around for many years, like Mr Children. Unfortunately, KinKi Kids are perceived as an idol group and their fan base would be very different from that of a serious music group like Mr Children. So what gave KinKi Kids the rise in popularity when they were young and what is now causing their decline in popularity is the one and same reason - they are seen as idols and idols only.

4) Of course it doesn't help that their agency JE is one that focuses on idol groups. Hence, it is only natural that they will now focus their resources on the younger groups that can attract the target market for idols, and to build up their pipelines for standby to replace the current popular batch. Hence, JE would aggressively market Arashi, Kat-tun, News and Hey Say Jump as they are now at their prime and idol marketing is JE's forte. To JE, I guess they would assume that KinKi Kids is a shrinking market and hence, there is no point wasting too much resources on marketing them. The only exception seems to be SMAP, but then again, SMAP is afterall the heavenly group of Japan.

5) I nearly forgot to say this. The effects of the economic depression this round should not be ignored.

After all the long-winded talk above, what am I trying to say?! Well, I don't really know either. I just wanted to ventilate too! =.=

I had also wished that this 28th single could have done better, not just in terms of the sales but more importantly, in terms of the regard from the serious music front. KinKi Kids have been venturing into different music styles in order to break out from the pop/idol genre, and I personally think that Secret Code and Yakusoku are good and unique music pieces. These songs are not easy to sing and KinKi Kids have done a good job performing these songs. However, we don't seem to hear much feedback from the music sector. Instead, we keep hearing fans commenting that the music is not nice, Tsuyoshi is singing too much, they are not dancing, etc etc etc. These are comments that would be made by fans (or maybe I should say enemies?!) of a pop or idol group. Where are the serious music critics? How come KinKi Kids are not appearing on the more serious music magazines that the other musicians appear in when they release new songs?

I am also upset by the fact that the other songs in this 28th single CD have been put to waste as they are all very good songs. I personally loved "Tabidachi no hi" and "Loving" but I wonder if the masses even had a chance to hear them out.

Anyway, if KinKi Kids want to break out of this downward spiral, they need to have a breakthrough so that people can look at them with new perspective. A friend of mine, who is also a KinKi Kids fan, feels that the breakthrough could come in the form of an album that is made up of music composed and written by them. I am also beginning to agree with her view. I would like to think that Tsuyoshi is already perceived as a serious musician in terms of the alternative music market for funk music. It would be wonderful if KinKi Kids can one day also be perceived as serious musicians for mainstream music. I can understand why Tsuyoshi wants to come out with an original KinKi Kids' album written by themselves and why he would prefer not to have to dance in their new songs. They need a breakthrough.