producer.[3]

Currently, they are one of the most successful Japanese idol girl groups, holding the record for the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon charts as of January 2012,[4] as well as the record for the most top ten singles with 66 titles as of October 2018[5] and the most top ten albums with 18 titles as of March 2019.[6] Morning Musume is also the biggest DVD seller in the female group category in Japan. Their combined CD and DVD sales exceed 23 million copies in Japan alone.

In recent years, the group has been making a concerted attempt to break into new markets in Asia, Europe and the US, performing at expos worldwide.[7]









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Members Edit

Main article: Morning Musume Members

History Edit

Main article: Morning MusumeHistory

In April 1997, Japanese producer Tsunku decided to hold an audition for a female rock vocalist for his band Sharam Q through the ASAYAN talent show.[8] At the end of August, Heike Michiyo was declared the winner,[9] but on September 7, he also decided to form an idol group with five of the ten runner-ups: Nakazawa Yuko, Abe Natsumi, Iida Kaori, Fukuda Asuka, and Ishiguro Aya.

Back at the studio, they were told that to be able to debut with Tsunku as their producer, they had to sell 50,000 copies of the demo single "Ai no Tane" with just five days of promotion events.[10][8] A week later, on September 14, the group's name was revealed as Morning Musume.[11]

Morning Musume's campaign to sell 50,000 copies of "Ai no Tane", which