AKB48 has done it again! The idol pop group has won back-to-back "Grand Prix" Awards at the 54th Annual Nihon Record Taishou (Japan Record Award) on Dec. 30th.
AKB48 had the top 5 selling CD singles in Japan for 2012 and dominated the music charts with each selling over a million copies.
And it was a literally a shoe-in for the idol group to win the "Grand Prix" award at the 54th Annual Nihon Record Taishou for their second straight year, as no other music artist or band in Japan came close to achieving similar numbers of CD singles sold in 2012.
Their CD single" 真夏のSounds good !" (Manatsu no Sounds good!) (which translates to "Midsummer Sounds good!") sold nearly two million copies. And their four other singles that sold over a million copies were "GIVE ME FIVE!", "Gingham Check", "UZA" and "永遠プレッシャー" (Eien Pressure).
The combined sales of CD singles, albums and DVD's by AKB48 has equaled to 19.1 billion yen.
AKB48 joins the list of other artists/groups with two "Grand Prix" wins such as Namie Amuro, Mr. Children, Takashi Hosokawa, Akina Nakamori and Yukio Hashi. Ayumi Hamasaki and R&B pop group EXILE are the only artists that have won three "Grand Prix" awards.
AKB48 also joins Takashi Hosokawa, Akina Nakamori, Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki and EXILE for back-to-back "Grand Prix" award wins.
Nominees for the “Grand Prix” award were:
「ありがとう」JUJU
「風が吹いている」いきものがかり
「GO FOR IT!!」西野カナ
「櫻」氷川きよし
「酒のやど」香西かおり
「777 ～We can sing a song!～」AAA
「花火」三代目 J Soul Brothers
「White Angel」Fairies
「真夏のSounds good!」AKB48
「やさしくなりたい」斉藤和義
