The Billboard Japan Hot Albums, also referred to as Combined Albums, is the primary album record chart published by Billboard Japan. It is released weekly on Wednesdays in Japan Standard Time.
The Hot Albums chart was launched on the week dated June 4, 2015, with Superfly's White (2015) as the inaugural number one. It initially ranked albums based on a combination of CD sales, digital downloads, and PC look-ups, and was the only combined albums chart in Japan until the establishment of the Oricon Combined Albums Chart in December 2018.[1][2] Since 2023, the chart has been based on only CD sales and digital downloads; the look-up factor was removed after Billboard Japan became unable to collect such data from the provider.[3] Physical sales units are provided by SoundScan Japan, whereas digital downloads are tracked by GfK Japan from Amazon, iTunes, Mora, Mu-mo, and RecoChoku, with additional iTunes data courtesy of Luminate.[4]
The South Korean band Seventeen holds the record for most number ones on the chart with a total of 13. Hikaru Utada, who has topped the chart 11 times, holds the record for solo artists. For specific albums, Dreams Come True The Best! Watashi no Dorikamu (2015) by Dreams Come True has the record for most weeks at number ones on the chart, with seven, and Kana Nishino's Just Love (2016) has the most number ones as a solo album, with five. Back Number's Encore (2016) has the most total chart weeks with 319; Kenshi Yonezu with Yankee (2014), Dreams Come True with their aforementioned album, Yumi Matsutoya with Nihon no Koi to, Yuming to (2012), and Southern All Stars with Umi no Yeah!! (1998) are the only other artists to have albums surpass 200 weeks.
- ^ "新チャート"Hot Albums" 第1回を制したのはSuperfly『WHITE』! μ'sは惜しくも2位に" [Superfly's White Claims First Place on Inaugural Hot Albums Chart; μ's Close Behind at Second]. Billboard Japan (in Japanese). June 4, 2015. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
- ^ "RADWIMPS、第1回合算アルバム1位に CD&デジタル同時1位" [Radwimps Takes Top Spot on First Combined Albums Chart] (in Japanese). Oricon. December 19, 2018. Archived from the original on December 19, 2018. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
- ^ "Billboard JAPANチャート、ルックアップ&Twitter指標を2023年度チャートより廃止" [Look-up and Twitter Factors to be Discontinued on the Billboard Japan Charts with 2023]. Billboard Japan (in Japanese). October 26, 2022. Archived from the original on October 26, 2022. Retrieved July 2, 2024.
- ^ "About Billboard Charts". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Archived from the original on August 9, 2022. Retrieved July 2, 2024.