Bubbly Japanese pop star claims world download record
While the recording industry may be in the doghouse, that hasn't stopped Japanese pop princess Utada Hikaru from claiming a new record for the most digital downloads in the world with her latest single 'Flavor of Life'. Hikaru has managed over 7 million downloads across all formats since February, which isn't bad going especially seeing as that it's unlikely that many people outside of Japan would be able to point her out in a police lineup, let alone buy her single.
While the figures may be impressive, the metrics for this record are a little hazy, included are all digital products including mobile downloads, ringtones, Internet downloads, video clip downloads and ringback tones, giving the smiley pop star a bit of an edge in the race for the download record. Hikaru also was also helped along towards the record by releasing two separate mixes of the track.
The record is also contentious because there aren't really any industry standard metrics for measuring the success of downloads and reporting in other countries has varied greatly. Record label EMI points out that Akon's 'Smack That' managed 2.1 million downloads and that the top selling download track in the US has been Daniel Powter's 'Bad Day'.
Of course this news could just be a well timed effort to show that EMI's digital strategy and recent move to abandon DRM is paying off - at a point when the Major label is shopping for a new owner.
Or it could just mean that the Japanese really really really love that song.
After spending the better part of an hour on 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rob Stevens said 3:27PM on 7-18-2007
It's worth noting that Utada is a bit of an "otaku" (Japanese for "obsessed nerd") sensation in the US as well. Her music has been featured in several video games, so many of those downloads could be attributed to her popularity in that group as well.
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Donoho said 8:52PM on 7-31-2007
Kingdom Hearts I, CoM, & II Soundtracks made her very popular. I remember the first time I heard the theme song for Chain of Memories in the Square Enix booth at E3 2006. I immediately wanted the soundtrack (and the game of course)
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