Oricon Style announced that AKB48's 18th single, "Beginner" (released in October 2010), �has reached sales of 1,001,000 copies after including the sales of the latest Oricon Weekly Chart for January 31st.

This is AKB48's first single that has totaled a million sales since their major debut in 2006, and "Beginner" is the 243rd single with a million sales in Japanese singles history.

As we reported earlier,"Beginner" sold 827,000 copies during the first week of its release, and thus, AKB48 has beat the existing record for a female group achieved by SPEED's single, "ALL MY TRUE LOVE" (released in October 1998), which sold 601,000 copies in the first week over 12 years ago. �It even exceeded the best record of this century for the first week single sales, which was set by Utada Hikaru and her song, "Can You Keep A Secret?" (784,000 copies sold in the first week).

It's been 10 years and 11 months since any female group's single has reached a million sales, as�Morning Musume's "Koi no Dance Site" in�February�2000 marked the last time the feat was accomplished (released in January 2000 and sold 1,236,000 copies).

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Back in November, we reported that "Beginner" was certified as "Million" by the�Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), and for those of you who don't understand the RIAJ's "Million" certification, RIAJ's million certification is based on their own equation, which is, "All shipments from the maker - returns > a million".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltsqJz60phs

Source & Image: Oricon Style

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