Korean girl group KARA, continuously raising the bar for Korean artists in the J-pop music scene, has set yet another new record with their new single.
The website for Japan's prestigious Oricon chart showed Tuesday that KARA topped this week's ranks after selling over 123,000 copies of their third Japanese single "JET COASTER LOVE" which went on sale last Wednesday.
This makes them the first foreign female group in the Oricon's 43-year history to take over the prestigious chart in the first week of releasing a single.
Irish female band The Nolans reached No. 1 on Oricon's weekly chart with their single "Dancing Sister" in late 1980 but this came 16 weeks after releasing the single.
Also, no female artists, including solo and group, had ranked atop the chart in six years -- the last was achieved by Korean solo songstress BoA in April 2005.
KARA's latest triumph is even more noteworthy since "JET COASTER LOVE" was originally set to debut in late March but was pushed back and released without the girls promoting the single due to Japan's March 11 earthquake.
The feat also tops the string of accomplishments they have made in Japan since their debut in the country last summer -- they placed fifth on the Oricon with their singles "Mister" and "Jumping" while reaching No. 2 with albums "KARA BEST 2007-2010" and "Girl's Talk."
KARA is now inarguably one of the most successful Korean girl groups to break into the Japanese market, their success foreseen when they were named best new artists of the year at last year's Japan Gold Disc Award and were placed first on Oricon's listing for the most successful new artists of 2010 as well as the most promising artist of 2011.
The future of the group continues to be questioned however, since they have halted all activities as a five-member group in Korea after members Han Seungyeon, Kang Jiyoung and Nicole applied for their contract with agency DSP Media to be terminated.
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Jessica Kim jesskim@
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