Akikawa Masafumi First Classical Million Seller
The
song "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" has made opera tenor Akikawa Masafumi (39)
a household name. And now it has finally made him Japan's first
classical artist to have a million-selling release, according to sales
data from Oricon.
The song is based on an English poem by an unknown
author called "Do not Stand at my Grave and Weep" and Akikawa's version
was released in May 2006, with the Japanese translation and melody by
Arai Man. But after he sang it on NHK's "Kohaku Utagassen" popular song
concert last New Year's Eve, sales started to really pick up and
Akikawa started popping up all over the place on TV.
It became the
first classical recording to reach No.1 on Oricon's singles chart and
was named the best-selling single for the first half of 2007. The song
was most recently used as the closing theme for a two-night Fuji TV
special adaptation of "Hadashi no Gen", the famous anti-war manga based
on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
With the ongoing decline in CD
sales, million-selling hits are becoming fewer and further between,
with only one a year in the last four years, compared to 14 in 2000 and
five in 2001.
Source: Japan-Zone.com

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