Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements ...

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (''Akiba'' for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with it ...

's 19th single, released on December 8, 2010.

Member selection

Following AKB48's July concerts at

Yoyogi National Gymnasium Yoyogi National Gymnasium, officially is an indoor arena located at Yoyogi Park in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, which is famous for its suspension roof design. It was designed by Kenzo Tange and built between 1961 and 1964 to house swimming ...

in Tokyo, it was announced that the headlining "senbatsu" members for the 19th single would be decided in a janken (rock paper scissors) tournament among AKB48 members and four representatives of AKB48 trainees (also known as research students or kenkyuusei) also decided by janken. The tournament was a bracketed, single knockout format with 51 members.The tournament originally consisted of 52 members, but Team K member Erena Ono had graduated. The top 16 were given senbatsu status and participated in the single, 12 of which would be given media senbatsu members (which means that these 12 would appear on TV shows and other media promoting the single). The tournament was held at

Nippon Budokan The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts co ...

on September 21, and was won by Team K's Mayumi Uchida, who was given the center headlining position.

Release

"Chance no Junban" was released in four different versions and cover variations, with the theater version being exclusively sold in the AKB48 theater in

Akihabara is a common name for the area around Akihabara Station in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo, Japan. Administratively, the area called Akihabara mainly belongs to the and Kanda-Sakumachō districts in Chiyoda. There exists an administrative district c ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. Versions A, K, and B contained a different third track aside from the title track and "Yoyaku shita Christmas", which was performed by one of the respective teams of AKB48. The theater version included a third track that was performed by Team Research Students. In addition to including their respective music videos, versions A, K, and B also included footages of the janken tournament that took place in Budokan in September. All first press releases was enclosed with a handshaking event ticket, to be redeemed later in national handshaking tours held across Japan in promotion of the single release.

Reception

"Chance no Junban" only sold 471,242 copies in its first day, placing it on top of the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in N ...

daily chart, and sold 54,780 more on the second day. The single has been certified triple platinum by the

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include ...

for physical sales. All succeeding singles after Chance no Junban sold 1 million copies in their first week of release, starting the AKB48 Million Streak, which lasted until the 42nd single, '' Kuchibiru ni Be My Baby''.

Track listing

Contributing members

Chance no Junban

(Bold indicates front members who appears on the cover of theater version of the single, number in brackets denotes final placements in the Janken Tournament) *Team A: Asuka Kuramochi (10th), Haruna Kojima (3rd), Aki Takajō (8th), Haruka Nakagawa (4th),

Atsuko Maeda is a Japanese actress and singer. She is a former member of the idol girl group AKB48, and was one of the most prominent members in the group at the time, regarded as the group's "absolute ace", "immovable center", and the "Face of AKB." After ...

(15th), Ami Maeda (5th) *Team K: Mayumi Uchida (1st), Miku Tanabe (12th), Tomomi Nakatsuka (9th), Sakiko Matsui (14th) *Team B: Haruka Ishida (2nd),

Tomomi Kasai is a Japanese singer, actress and a former member of the idol group AKB48, belonging to Team A. She had a recurring role on ''Kamen Rider W'' as Elizabeth, alongside group member Tomomi Itano. Together, they make up the sub-unit Queen & Eliza ...

(13th), Kana Kobayashi (11th),

Sumire Sato is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings Sumire can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *菫, "violet" ;as a name *紫花, "purple, flower" *純麗, "purity, lovely" *澄玲, "lucidity, sound of jewels" *澄麗, ...

(6th), Natsuki Sato (7th), Rina Chikano (16th) Only 4 senbatsu members who appear in this single have appeared in the senbatsu lineup for the last single, Beginner (Haruna Kojima, Takajo, Atsuko Maeda, Kasai). Nakagawa made her return to senbatsu since last making it in

Heavy Rotation In broadcasting, rotation is the repeated airing of a limited playlist of songs on a radio station or satellite radio channel, or music videos on a TV network. They are usually in a different order each time. However, they are not completely sh ...

. Kuramochi has not appeared in senbatsu since Iiwake Maybe, the 13th single. Kana Kobayashi and Natsuki Sato both reappeared in senbatsu after an absence of 3 years and 8 months (since the 3rd single, Keibetsu Shiteita Aijō). Finally, other members such as Uchida, Ami Maeda, Tanabe, Nakatsuka, Sakiko Matsui, Ishida, Sumire Sato, and Chikano are making their first senbatsu appearance in an AKB48 single.

Yoyaku shita Christmas

*Team A: Haruna Kojima,

Rino Sashihara is a Japanese tarento, singer, producer and actress. She is best known as a former member of idol groups HKT48, AKB48 and STU48, and was the theater manager for HKT48 and STU48. She was also a member of AKB48's unit Not Yet and is the produce ...

Mariko Shinoda is a Japanese singer, actress, fashion model, and former member of the Japanese idol group AKB48, in which she was the captain of Team A. Career In October 2005, she auditioned for AKB48's first generation roster but failed the audition. Short ...

, Aki Takajo,

Minami Takahashi is a Japanese idol, singer, tarento and a former member of the Japanese girl idol group AKB48. She is in Team A of AKB48. She became the first of AKB48 and its sister groups. In an interview with Nippon Television in June 2010, AKB48 produ ...

, Atsuko Maeda, Ami Maeda *Team K: Tomomi Itano,

Yuko Oshima is a Japanese actress and former member of Japanese idol girl group AKB48, of which she was the captain of Team K. She was also a member of the AKB48 subunit Not Yet. In addition to the singles that involved the rock-paper-scissors tournaments ...

Minami Minegishi is a Japanese singer and actress, represented by Production Ogi. She was a member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48, and its subunit no3b. She is noted for having the longest tenure among the group's original members from 2005 to 2021. Ca ...

, Sae Miyazawa *Team B: Tomomi Kasai, Yuki Kashiwagi, Rie Kitahara, Mika Komori, Mayu Watanabe

Kurumi to Dialogue

;Performed by Team A (Bold indicates center member) *Team A: Misaki Iwasa, Aika Ota, Shizuka Oya, Haruka Katayama, Kuramochi Asuka, Haruna Kojima,

Aki Takajo is a Japanese tarento who is a former member of the idol groups AKB48 and JKT48. She auditioned for AKB48's sixth generation and was promoted to member of Team A. Her talent agency is Is.Field (she was previously affiliated with Watanabe Produ ...

, Takahashi, Nakagawa,

Chisato Nakata is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings Chisato can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *千里, "great distance" *知里, "knowledge, hometown" *智里, "wisdom, hometown" *千聖, "thousand, holy" *千郷, "th ...

, Sayaka Nakaya,

, Ami Maeda, Natsumi Matsubara

Alive

;Performed by Team K (Bold indicates center members) *Team K:

Sayaka Akimoto is a Filipino-Japanese actress and singer. She was a member of Japanese idol girl group AKB48 and its spin-off unit Diva. As an actress, Akimoto has appeared in both Japanese and American productions, and made her Hollywood debut in '' Sniper: ...

, Tomomi Itano, Uchida, Ayaka Umeda, Yuko Oshima, Ayaka Kikuchi, Miku Tanabe, Tomomi Nakatsuka, Moeno Nito, Misato Nonaka, Reina Fujie, Sakiko Matsui,

, Sae Miyazawa, Yui Yokoyama, Rumi Yonezawa

Love Jump

;Performed by Team B (Bold indicates center members) *Team B: Haruka Ishida, Manami Oku, Tomomi Kasai, Yuki Kashiwagi, Rie Kitahara, Kana Kobayashi, Mika Komori,

Amina Sato is a Japanese voice actress and a former member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48. In AKB48, she was originally a fourth generation trainee, then in Team A, in Team B, and finally in Team K. Amina Sato was also a member of a pop group named N ...

, Natsuki Sato, Mariya Suzuki, Rina Chikano, Natsumi Hirajima, Yuka Masuda, Miho Miyazaki, Mayu Watanabe

Fruit Snow

;Performed by Kenkyusei *Team Research Students:

Miori Ichikawa is Japanese actress and former member of Japanese idol groups AKB48 and NMB48. She is known for her "Fresh Lemon" character and is the Hiroshima Lemon Ambassador since 2014. Biography Ichikawa debuted in the entertainment industry under Star ...

, Anna Iriyama, Mina Oba, Rena Kato, Yuki Kanazawa, Haruka Shimazaki, Haruka Shimada,

Shihori Suzuki Shihori (written: or in hiragana) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese actress *, Japanese field hockey player {{given name Japanese feminine given names ...

Miyu Takeuchi is a Japanese singer and YouTuber based in South Korea. She is a former member of AKB48. Career 2004-2008: Pre-debut Prior to joining AKB48, Takeuchi signed a contract with Stardust Production in 2004 and appeared in Little By Little's music ...

Mariya Nagao is a Japanese television personality and former member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48. Nagao is represented by Irving. Career Mariya Nagao joined AKB48 as a 9th generation trainee in late 2009. On December 8, 2010, together with Min ...

, Shiori Nakamata, Mariko Nakamura, Wakana Natori, Anna Mori,

Suzuran Yamauchi is a Japanese tarento who is represented by the talent agency Horipro. She is a former member of Team S of the female idol group SKE48, and is a former member of its senior group AKB48. Aside from being an idol, Yamauchi is an avid golfer and ha ...

, Nau Yamaguchi

Charts

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chance No Junban 2010 singles AKB48 songs Songs with lyrics by Yasushi Akimoto Oricon Weekly number-one singles Billboard Japan Hot 100 number-one singles King Records (Japan) singles 2010 songs