Idol group AKB48 and its sub-units,�Not yet and Watarirouka Hashiritai 7, have taken over the top three spots on this week's Oricon Singles Chart. This is the first time that the same artist/group has claimed the top three spots since Kanjani8 during the sales week of January 4, 2010.

In AKB48's second "three-way battle", sub-unit Not yet (featuring Oshima Yuko - predicted to be the next top girl in AKB48's upcoming fourth general election - as well as Kitahara Rie, Sashihara Rino, and Yokoyama Yui) came out on top this week with their fourth single, "Suika BABY". The single sold 136,000 copies in its first week and came out on top of the singles charts for the week, making it their third number one single (1st single "Shumatsu Not yet" and 2nd single "Naminori Kakigoori"). The text on the jacket cover was written by Oshima Yuko herself, the coupling track featured Kitahara Rie's first stab at writing lyrics, and Yokoyama Yui wowed fans with her first-ever solo song for a winning combination.

Coming in at number two is AKB48's 26th single "Manatsu no Sounds good!" in its second week after selling a record-breaking over 1.6 million copies in its debut week. The single sold an additional 129,000 copies, pushing sales up to 1.745 million units total. This puts "Manatsu no Sounds good!" ahead of Morning Musume's 1999 mega-hit "LOVE Machine" (1.647 million) and their own 2011 single "Flying Get" (1.62 million), making "Manatsu no Sounds good!" the second best-selling single by a female group behind SPEED's 1997 single "WHITE LOVE" (1.845 million).

In third place is sub-unit Watarirouka Hashiritai 7, featuring the tentative third place of the upcoming election Watanabe Mayu with their tenth single "Shounen yo Uso wo Tsuke!". The single ranked in third with 67,000 copies sold, giving the group a ten-single top ten streak.

Source: Oricon