Summer is rolling around and AKB48 will be treating fans to an event like no other.

Pop idol group AKB48 will be holding their 2nd AKB48 Sports Day [第2回 AKB48大運動会] at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo in only a matter of days. The event is being touted as a way for the 50+ member group to create cohesion and build bonds for the squad.

AKB48 is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara area of Tokyo where the group’s primary theater is located. AKB48′s producer, Yasushi Akimoto, had envisioned the group as the girl next door and sought to form a group with their own theatre featuring daily performances in order for fans to see shows year-round. The concept of “idols you can meet” evolved into a rotating roster of teams and sister groups able to hold simultaneous performances at events around Japan and the world with the recent expansion of AKB48′s international sister groups in China and Indonesia.

The group is one of the highest-earning musical performers in Japan, with 2013 sales of over $128 million, and has been characterized as a social phenomenon. As of March 2014 the group has sold over 30 million records, including over 28.78 million singles as of May 2014, the second-highest musical act in Japan in the number of singles sold and the highest by a girl group. AKB48′s twenty-three latest singles have topped the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart, with a record twenty singles selling over a million copies.



Source : oricon.jp