generasia:Featured article for 2022 week 28
Snow Man
Snow Man is a Japanese pop idol boy group formed by Johnny & Associates in 2012 that specializes in dancing and acrobatics. The group was originally a sub-unit of Johnny & Associates' pre-debut trainee group, Johnny's Jr. Along with SixTONES, Snow Man made their official debut in January 2020. The groups' simultaneous debut marks the first time for two groups to debut on the same day in Johnny's history. In just one year they sold 4.6 million physical copies.
Snow Man and SixTONES released their split debut single "Imitation Rain / D.D." on January 22, 2020. The single peaked at #1 on the Oricon weekly single charts during its first week of release, selling 1,328,206 copies during that week alone. It reached the #1 spot on the weekly charts twice more, and still remains on the charts to this day. The single placed as #1 single of the year on the 2020 Oricon Top 100 Singles, selling a total of 1,760,904 copies, and beating out super girl group AKB48 who had held the #1 spot every year since 2010. Their second single, "KISSIN' MY LIPS / Stories", placed at #5 selling a total of 1,001,570 copies. All three of their releases have peaked at the #1 position on the Oricon weekly singles chart.
Snow Man makes the best selling debut group since KAT-TUN in 2006. "D.D. / Imitation Rain" is the best-selling debut release in Asian history with more than 1.8 million physical copies sold, it is also the first male idol single in 17 years to reach the top 100 of the Oricon chart for more than 100 weeks. Since their debut in 2020 the group sold 8.9 million physical copies in Japan. In 2021, their debut studio album, Snow Mania S1, sold in the first week more than 841k physical copies, and became in the best selling first week for a boy group studio album in Japan's history, and in the second best week for a debut album in the country's history. Their single "Grandeur" was the best-selling release of 2021 in Japan with more than 1 million physical copies sold, with this Snow Man became the first male artist since L'Arc~en~Ciel in 1999 to have two consecutive releases that have sold more than a million copies.
Their fourth single, "Orange kiss", is released this week on July 14th.
