AKB48's latest original album 'Tsugi no Ashiato' (went on sale on January 22) sold 962,000 copies in the first week, topping Oricon's weekly ranking.

This is the first time in 5 years and 2 months for an album to sell over 900,000 copies during the first week since EXILE's best-of album "EXILE BALLAD BEST" accomplished it by selling 944,000 copies.

Also, this album allowed AKB48 to become the 2nd female group to sell their album over 900,000 copies in the first week as it has been achieved only by SPEED with their album "RISE" (sold 1,318,000 copies in the first week) back in 1998. 

"Tsugi no Ashiato" is the group's 3rd consecutive chart-topping album (4th in total) followed by "Koko ni Ita Koto" (released in June 2011) and "1830m" (released in August 2011), but this marked their best first week sales album.

Source & Image: Oricon