If you like girl bands, you sure won’t resist these most popular Japanese girl bands that we got listed for you!
Japanese music is slowly but steady finding its audience outside Japan in the last decade. It seems that language barriers are not a problem at all for fans of Japanese music outside its home country. Although some of the musicians are making music in English, most of them stick to their native language. That brings us to the new trend that emerged in Japanese music. All girl bands. Yes, there were always all girl bands in Japanese music, but in the last years the number is getting bigger and the girls from bands are becoming major stars.
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Japanese girls aren’t concentrated on just one music direction (like One Direction), but you can find them in all of the genres. If you like metal, there is probably Japanese girl band who plays those loud tunes. Maybe you are more into Pussy Cat Dolls kind of thing? Worry not, there is a band in Japan full of hot girls who can move their body (more or less). However, the most popular thing in Japan when it comes to girl bands is a concept of girl bands with a large roster of performers called theater groups. These groups have a close relationship with their fans and perform daily at their designated theaters.
It wasn’t easy to determine the most popular girl bands in Japan, since there is so many of them, but at the end we figured criteria that will show us the group’s popularity. We took a list from Nikkei Entertainment magazine, one of Japan’s most prestigious magazines, who rank the girl bands every year according to their popularity in Japan. They make their lists according to conducted surveys. Furthermore we checked out the Internet’s decision, taking into consideration the girl bands on ranker’s list of most popular Japanese bands, where people can vote about their preferences.
We gave each band points for their positions and, awarded additional points for every album that was on the spot one at the Japanese charts, thus getting the following 10 Most Popular Japanese Girl Bands. Be sure to check our The Richest Bands of all Time as well.
10. SKE48
This up and coming girl theater band is still to record its first album, but the singles they have put out are quite successful, with many of them reaching number 1 spot on Japanese charts. The producer of the group says that the concept of the band was to have a girl group that fans could meet and that will perform regularly.
Overall score:3
9. HKT48
One more theater group on our list. Like its sister group SKE48, HKT48 is still to record a full studio album, but the girls are aiming high, with their first 4 singles reaching top one on Oricon charts.
Overall score:4
8. Cute
These girls debuted in 2007 and immediately on Japanese Record Award for Best New Artist. Although they’ve put out 8 studio albums, none of them reached number one spot on the charts.
Overall score:5
7. Morning Musume
The oldest running group on our list being there from 1997, Morning Musume is the Oricon chart record holder for most top ten singles, with that number being 50. But with frequent line-up changes the group started losing its popularity in recent years.
Overall score:6
6. BabyMetal
These girls are successfully merging metal with the j-pop idol group concept. The group consists of three members, and it was formed in 2010. In February of 2014, they released their debut album that got some major buzz.
Overall score:7
5. NMB48
One more sister theater idol girl group. Ok, this will be probably hard to repeat more times than one. The group follows the same concept of “idols you can meet”, releasing two albums that topped the charts.
Overall score:9
4. Momoiro Clover Z
This girl band holds a record of nearly a half a million people attending their concerts in 2014, which the highest record for all female performers in Japan. After their number one album in 2013, they are currently working on a two-part follow up to be released in 2016.
Overall score:12
3. E-girls
With 19 members, it isn’t strange that these girls had 3 number one albums and are among 10 Most Popular Japanese Girl Bands. The band rose up when the members of bands Dream, Happiness, and Flower united, with the addition of two more band members.
Overall score:21
2. AKB48
In the intro, we talked about theater bands, and on our list we mentioned some of them. Well, AKB48 was the band that started the whole concept, and it still remains among the most popular girl bands in Japan. The group has now more than 140 members and several sister groups in Japan, China, and Indonesia. After their debut album had modest success, all the rest of them reached number one.
Overall score:27
1. Perfume
Definitely the most popular Japanese girl band of all 10 Most Popular Japanese Girl Bands according to all criteria. These girls are active since 2000, and unlike most of other bands, they kept the original line-up, with only one member leaving the group. After conquering Japan, and being one of the most popular acts in all of Asia, they are now trying to conquer the world as well.
Overall score: 30
