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Not quite unexpectedly, Johnny’s artists dominated the Japanese charts again in 2007. Although none of Johnny’s groups made it to the Top 3 of the yearly Oricon singles charts they managed to place 5 titles in the Top 10 and 22 in the Top 100.

Oricon Yearly Singles Charts 2007 (Johnny’s artists only)

4. Ｌｏｖｅ　ｓｏ　ｓｗｅｅｔ – 嵐
5. Ｋｅｅｐ　ｔｈｅ　ｆａｉｔｈ – ＫＡＴ－ＴＵＮ
6. 喜びの歌 – ＫＡＴ－ＴＵＮ
9. 関風ファイティング – 関ジャニ∞（エイト）
10. ｗｅｅｅｅｋ – ＮＥＷＳ
13. 星をめざして – ＮＥＷＳ
14. Ｕｌｔｒａ　Ｍｕｓｉｃ　Ｐｏｗｅｒ – Ｈｅｙ！Ｓａｙ！ＪＵＭＰ
15. Ｈａｐｐｉｎｅｓｓ – 嵐
18. ズッコケ男道 – 関ジャニ∞（エイト）
21. 永遠に – ＫｉｎＫｉ　Ｋｉｄｓ
22. イッツ　マイ　ソウル – 関ジャニ∞（エイト）
23. ＢＲＡＮＤ　ＮＥＷ　ＳＯＮＧ – ＫｉｎＫｉ　Ｋｉｄｓ
27. Ｗｅ　ｃａｎ　ｍａｋｅ　ｉｔ！ – 嵐
28. Ｈｅｙ！Ｓａｙ！- Ｈｅｙ！Ｓａｙ！７
44. 僕らの街で – ＫＡＴ－ＴＵＮ
50. ＨＯＮＥＹ　ＢＥＡＴ／僕と僕らのあした – Ｖ６
58. ミソスープ – テゴマス
60. 空が泣くから – ＥＮＤＬＩＣＨＥＲＩ☆ＥＮＤＬＩＣＨＥＲＩ
85. 宙船（そらふね）／ｄｏ！　ｄｏ！　ｄｏ！ – ＴＯＫＩＯ
88. ×～ダメ～／Ｃｒａｚｙ　Ｒａｉｎｂｏｗ – タッキー＆翼
96. ジャスミン／Ｒａｉｎｂｏｗ – Ｖ６
99. ＳＡＭＵＲＡＩ – タッキー＆翼

An article on the Oricon website is titled “Hey!Say!JUMP, Brilliant Debut!“. The article goes on to say that “the introduction of this group of all-Heisei-born and on average 15-year-olds surprised everyone. The hasty announcement of the 2007 Volleyball World Cup special supporters at the September Johnny’s Jr. concert created a stir among fans. Then, with their debut single Ultra Music Power, they created a hit that admirably reached the #1 chart position and sold over 300,000 copies. Furthermore, at their Debut & First Concert at Tokyo Dome on December 22nd a huge amount of people acclaimed this group that is carrying the future on their shoulders.” (http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/confidence/50749/)

Well, that doesn’t sound too bad, does it? And it’s true. It was a brilliant debut. Of course it was nothing like KAT-TUN’s debut, but you can’t really compare a group that had 5 years to build a fanbase with a bunch of 12- to 17-year-olds who found out about their own debut only 3 days before it was officially announced. So yeah, it was a great debut, and I truly admire Johnny Kitagawa for his courage that bordered on senile recklessness. To let Hey!Say!JUMP debut was bold and daring, because it could all have gone terribly, terribly wrong. But it didn’t, and I can only imagine Johnny K’s reaction when he heard the sales figures, jumping up and down excitedly in his office as if he were a little boy himself. Hey!Say! and Ultra Music Power combined sold over half a million copies. Of course the Volleyball World Cup helped a lot, as did the Lovely Complex anime series for Hey!Say!7. Without the marketing power of a TV series or a major sports event neither Hey!Say! nor Ultra Music Power would have been anywhere near as successful as they have been.

And that makes me wonder what the next tie-in for Hey!Say!JUMP will be, because I don’t think that they’re quite ready for a standalone hit single yet. The next major sports event will be the Olympic Games in Beijing. But that will be August 2008, and I don’t think that they’ll let us wait another 8 months for their next single. I hope we’ll have a new single much sooner, maybe around March or April. Just in time for the spring TV drama season. So why not have HSJ do a theme song for a TV drama? Preferably one that stars one or more HSJ members. Yuto hasn’t been in a drama for a long time. Ryutaro did a great job in Juken no Kamisama, and so did Hikaru in Kinpachi Sensei. Come to think of it, the only one with no acting experience in HSJ is Keito. But that’s not his fault as he spent the last couple of years abroad. There is so much potential in Hey!Say!JUMP. So, Mr. K, if you’re reading this, stand by your own words. You wanted to see Heisei kids stirring up the entertainment world, so why not put ‘em in a TV drama? All of them please. You got the money, you got the power, and I know you want it, so just do it. If you need someone to write the screenplay I’ll volunteer.

EDIT: Sometimes I’m even scared of myself. No kidding, 5 minutes after I published this post I learned about a rumour that says Yabu and Hikaru might be in Gokusen 3, which will start airing in April 2008. Wow. Just wow. But hey! RUMOUR, okay?! Don’t believe any of it until it’s official, and don’t blame me if it doesn’t happen.

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