is the 27th

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

by Japanese girl group

SKE48 SKE48 (S.K.E. Forty-eight) is a Japanese idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. SKE48 is named after the Sakae, Nagoya, Sakae district in Nagoya of Aichi Prefecture, where the group is based. The group performs at SKE48 Theater on 2F of Sunshi ...

. It was released digitally and as a

CD single A CD single is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to any si ...

on February 3, 2021, by

Avex Trax is a record label owned by Japanese entertainment conglomerate Avex Inc. The label was launched in September 1990, and was the first label by the Group. History Two years after Max Matsuura began a career distributing studio albums from othe ...

. The song was written by

Yasushi Akimoto is a Japanese record producer, lyricist, and television writer, best known for creating and producing some of Japan's top idol groups, Onyanko Club and the AKB48 franchise. Total sales of the singles he has written exceed 100 million copies, ma ...

and produced by Nobuaki Tanaka. Musically, it is a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

song. A

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

premiered on January 12, 2021, to accompany the release of the song. Upon release, the song peaked at number one on both the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard Single (music), singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track down ...

and

Japan Hot 100 The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and Hanshin Contents Link since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thursday ...

. It was eventually

certified Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan 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 pro ...

(RIAJ).

Background and release

In November 2020, SKE48 announced the release of the single, "Koiochi Flag" to commemorate the graduation of member

Jurina Matsui is a Japanese TV personality, singer, actress, and YouTuber. She is a former member of Japanese idol girl group SKE48 and former concurrent member of AKB48 (in 2012–2015). She is recognized as SKE48's absolute "ace", having placed in the to ...

. It is a

song with lyrics about friendship. The single was made available digitally as an EP, on February 3, 2021, by

. The physical version was also released the same day in three editions: Regular, First press limited, and Seven net limited. Each edition was made available in CD+

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

formats in three types: A, B, and C; each type contains the single "Koiochi Flag" on the

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

. Additionally, type A includes "Memories 〜Itsunohika aeru made〜" and the instrumentals of both tracks on B-side, type B contains "Change Your World", while C has "Anogoro no rokkā". The DVD features music videos and bonus videos of the tracks. A live version of the single, which includes "Koiochi Flag" and "Oto no wareta chaimu" was released in Japan.

Commercial performance

"Koiochi Flag" was a commercial success in Japan. The single took the number one spot on its first day of release on Oricon Daily Singles Chart, selling 5,188 physical copies. The single peaked at number one on the

Oricon Weekly Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In ...

, on the chart issue dated February 9, 2021, selling 191,000 copies in its opening week. It became SKE48's 23rd consecutive chart-topper, making them the fifth female artist in history to achieve this. It has been

platinum by the

(RIAJ) for sales exceeding 250,000 copies. "Koiochi Flag" sold debuted at number one on the

chart on February 10, 2021, selling 17,897 digital downloads. The single recorded 196,556 copies in the tracking week, which was highest sales for that week.

Music video and promotion

The accompanying

premiered on SKE48's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel on January 12, 2021. The video shows the members performing choreography in multiple groups. To promote the song, the group performed it live on the release day.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

Footnotes

Citations

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{authority control 2021 singles SKE48 songs 2021 songs Songs with lyrics by Yasushi Akimoto Avex Trax singles Oricon Weekly number-one singles Billboard Japan Hot 100 number-one singles