In the history of the Oricon weekly albums chart, which started in January 1970, only 280 out of all of the charting albums have sold more than one million copies, a feat mostly achieved by domestic acts.[2]
This is a list of the top-selling albums in Japan, based on data compiled by Oricon. Prior to January 1987, the domestic albums chart was separated into LPs (created in 1970), cassette tapes (introduced in 1974) and compact discs (launched in 1985), until their unification, which remains the current form. It is worth noting that Oricon only takes into consideration physical sales for its charts, meaning that digital purchases are excluded.[2][3][4][5] The best-selling album is First Love (1999) by non-binary solo artist Hikaru Utada, which sold over 7.5 million copies by the end of that year.[6]Ryuichi Kawamura's Love (1997) topped the album chart with sales of 1,021,000 copies, making him the only male solo artist to have an album sell over one million copies in its first week in Oricon history.[7]Love went on to sell 2,788,000 copies, and holds the record as the best-selling male solo album of all time.[8] Whereas, Mr. Children's Atomic Heart (1994), still remains its position as the top-selling original studio album by a male band.
Message, originally released in 2001 by Okinawan punk band Mongol800 became the first album in Oricon's history to sell more than one million copies despite being released on an independent label.[9]
List of Million-certified albums by the Recording Industry Association of Japan
This is the list of the albums that have shipped over 1,000,000 copies and been certified Million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).[11][12] Albums are listed in alphabetical order of each recording artists' name.
^【オリコン年間ランキング 2019】嵐が18年ぶり200億円超えで総合首位、米津玄師、あいみょん、Official髭男dismがデジタルシーンを席巻 – 年間アルバムランキング 1位～25位 [[Oricon Annual Ranking 2019] Arashi exceeded 20 billion yen for the first time in 18 years, and Kenshi Yonezu, Aimyon, and Official Hige Dandism dominate the digital scene – Annual album ranking 1st to 25th] (in Japanese). Oricon. 23 December 2019. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
^【オリコン年間ランキング2020】嵐、総合で通算9度目の首位獲得 – 合算アルバムランキング 1位～10位 [[Oricon Annual Ranking 2020] Arashi wins top spot for the ninth time – Combined album ranking 1st to 10th] (in Japanese). Oricon. 25 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
^【オリコン年間ランキング2021】BTS、年間アーティストセールストータル１位 海外アーティストで初の快挙 – 合算アルバム 1位～10位 [[Oricon Annual Rankings 2021] BTS ranks first in total annual artist sales, the first overseas artist to achieve this feat – Combined album ranking 1st to 10th] (in Japanese). Oricon. 24 December 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
