Oricon Combined Albums Chart

With their album Anti Anti Generation (2018), rock band Radwimps (pictured in 2016) topped the first issue of the Oricon Combined Albums Chart.

The Oricon Combined Albums Chart (Japanese: オリコン合算アルバムランキング, Hepburn: Orikon Gassan Arubamu Rankingu) is a record chart released weekly by Oricon—a major provider of information on the Japanese music industry. First published on December 24, 2018, it ranks the top fifty albums through an equivalent unit system based on physical CD sales, digital downloads, and the streaming of songs. The Oricon Albums Chart (active since 1987) only factors physical sales. The Combined Albums Chart is competed by Billboard Japan's Hot Albums, another multi-factor record chart.

Methodology and history

The Oricon Albums Chart was established in 1987 and ranks albums based on physical sales alone. Oricon established a downloads-only albums chart, the Digital Albums Chart, in November 2016.[1] On August 29, 2018, Oricon announced that they would launch new charts combining their physical and digital albums/singles charts. The new charts would factor in CD sales, digital downloads, and streaming, alike the Japan Hot 100 and Hot Albums charts published by competitor Billboard Japan.[2][3] Alongside the Combined Singles and Streaming Singles Charts, the Oricon Combined Albums Chart was launched with the issue dated December 24, 2018; Anti Anti Generation, the tenth album by rock band Radwimps, was the inaugural number one.[4]

The Oricon Combined Albums Chart compiles the top fifty albums of the week based on CD sales, digital downloads of both albums and their included songs, and streaming. An album-equivalent unit system is used: physical purchases and downloads of albums are worth one point; downloads of a song from an album is worth 0.4 points; the stream of a song is worth 0.00069 points (1,440 streams required for one point).[5]

Statistics for the chart are collected from Mondays to Sundays. As of August 2024, numbers for digital downloads are taken from iTunes, Amazon Music, the official Oricon store, RecoChoku-owned services, Avex's Mu-mo, Music.jp, and Mora; streaming statistics are adapted from Apple Music, Amazon, AWA, Au Smartpass, KKBox, Spotify, Tower Records Music, YouTube and YouTube Music, Line Music, and Rakuten Music; physical sales are reported from various record stores, rental stores, electronics stores, convenience stores, and online shopping sites.[5]

Number-ones by year

The boy band Arashi (pictured in 2019) topped the first year-end Combined Albums Chart in 2019.
List of year-end number ones on the Oricon Combined Albums Chart
Year Album Artist Ref.
2019 5x20 All the Best!! 1999–2019 Arashi [6]
2020 Stray Sheep Kenshi Yonezu [7]
2021 BTS, the Best BTS [8]
2022 Snow Labo. S2 Snow Man [9]
2023 Mr.5 King & Prince [10]

References

  1. ^ "オリコン 新ランキング発表 アルバムDL数を集計…初回首位は宇多田ヒカル" [New Oricon Chart Ranks Albums Downloads — Hikaru Utada Claims Inaugural No. 1] (in Japanese). Oricon. November 9, 2016. Archived from the original on December 21, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  2. ^ "オリコン、合算ランキングおよびストリーミングランキングを12月より開始" [From December, Oricon Will Release Combined Albums/Singles and Streaming Singles Charts] (in Japanese). Oricon. August 29, 2018. Archived from the original on August 31, 2023. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  3. ^ "About Billboard Charts". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Archived from the original on August 9, 2022. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  4. ^ "RADWIMPS、第1回合算アルバム1位に CD&デジタル同時1位" [Radwimps Simultaneously Tops CD, Digital, and New Combined Albums Chart] (in Japanese). Oricon. December 19, 2018. Archived from the original on December 19, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  5. ^ a b "オリコン合算ランキングの集計方法について" [Methodology for the Oricon Combined Charts] (in Japanese). Oricon. n.d. Archived from the original on October 4, 2024. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  6. ^ "【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、髭男がデジタルシーンを席巻" [(Oricon Year-End Chart 2019) Arashi Surpasses ￥200 Billion in Profits for First Time in 18 Years and Tops Combined Charts; Kenshi Yonezu, Aimyon, and Official Hige Dandism Captures the Digital Scene] (in Japanese). Oricon. December 23, 2019. Archived from the original on December 22, 2019. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  7. ^ "【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" [(Oricon Year-End Chart 2020) Arashi Takes First Place Overall for Ninth Year in a Row] (in Japanese). Oricon. December 25, 2020. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  8. ^ "【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" [(Oricon Annual Ranking 2021) BTS Tops Total Artist Sales for the Year, the First Foreign Artist to Achieve This Feat] (in Japanese). Oricon. December 25, 2020. Archived from the original on December 23, 2021. Retrieved October 9, 2024.
  9. ^ "【オリコン年間ランキング2022】King & Prince、今年度唯一のミリオン達成で自身初の「シングル」首位　Snow Man初の「アルバム」1位" [(Oricon Year-End Chart 2022) King & Prince Achieves the Year's Only Million Single; Snow Man Takes Their First Place in Albums] (in Japanese). Oricon. December 22, 2022. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
  10. ^ "【オリコン年間ランキング2023】King & Prince、「シングル」「アルバム」ともにミリオン達成で「音楽」3ジャンルで首位　YOASOBI「アイドル」が3冠" [(Oricon Year-End Chart 2023) King & Prince Tops Three Music Genre Charts with Million Selling Single and Album; Yoasobi's "Idol" Tops Three Charts] (in Japanese). Oricon. December 20, 2023. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved October 6, 2024.