Oricon Combined Singles Chart

First published on December 24, 2018, it ranks the top fifty singles in Japan based on an album-equivalent unit system factoring physical CD sales, digital downloads, and streaming.

The lack of accuracy in what songs received the most listens resulted in Oricon losing popularity to Billboard Japan's multi-factored charts.

[2][3] Though CD singles were still more popular, the rise of digital music downloads and chaku-uta (ringtones) spurred discussion at Oricon to create a chart combining the different sales methods, which proved unfruitful.

[3] According to music journalist Sōichirō Matsutani, Oricon's lack of accuracy in ranking what songs actually received the most listens caused a downfall in their popularity among media outlets, who began to prefer the multi-factored reports of Billboard Japan and their Hot 100 chart.

He argued that such a formula would not be of "societal interest" when artists like Johnny & Associates groups have policies to not release songs digitally, but said that they would continue to experiment.

[12] In September 2021, "Yoru ni Kakeru" by the duo Yoasobi became the first song to chart with over 200,000 points; only two months after, "Pretender" by Official Hige Dandism became the second single to reach the milestone.

[14] As of August 2024, numbers for digital downloads are taken from iTunes, Amazon Music, the official Oricon store, RecoChoku-owned services, Avex's Mu-mo, Music.jp, and Mora.

SKE48 's "Stand by You" topped the first Oricon Combined Singles Chart in December 2018.
In the 2010s, the Oricon Singles Chart lost popularity to the Billboard Japan Hot 100 . Since Oricon's chart only accounted for CD sales, groups like AKB48 (pictured) topped the chart by selling many copies, even if the songs were not the most listened-to. The Combined Singles Chart was subsequently established.