Gold Disc Awards 2014 winners announced

By JONATHAN HICAP, Manila Bulletin

Japanese girl group AKB48 and boy band One Direction won as Artists of the Year at the recently concluded Japan Gold Disc Awards 2014.

Several K-pop artists also emerged as winners in the prestigious awards, including TVXQ, Girls’ Generation and BAP.

The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) picked the category winners based on music sales from Nov. 21, 2012 to Dec. 31, 2013.

AKB48 won for Japanese music and One Direction won for western music. According to RIAJ, AKB48 sold 306,829 albums, 9.91 million singles, 750,771 music videos and 4 million music downloads during the period.

In comparison, One Direction sold 672,701 albums, 45,398 singles, 49,455 music videos and 1.39 million music downloads.

Boy band TVXQ won the Best Asian Artist, Album of the Year (Asia), Best 3 Albums (Asia), Song of the Year by Download and Best Music Video.

The RIAJ quoted TVXQ’s Jung Yunho as saying, “I am very happy that TVXQ’s album ‘TIME’ has won the Gold Disc Awards. Thanks to everyone for their support. I will continue to work harder.”

Shim Changmin, on the other hand, said, “I am very grateful to everyone for making it possible to win the prize. In 2014, we will work hard. Thank you for your support.”

Girls’ Generation won two awards in the Best 3 Albums (Asia) category for “Girls Generation II: Girls & Peace” and “Love & Peace.”

Korean boy band BAP won the New Artist of the Year (Asia) and Best 3 New Artists (Asia) along with Korea’s Seo In Guk and Taiwanese singer Lin Yuchun.

AKB48, One Direction and TVXQ also won the Album of the Year awards for Japanese, western and Asian music, respectively.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

Artist of the Year

• AKB48 (Japanese music)
• One Direction (western music)

Best Asian Artist

• TVXQ

Best Enka/Kayokyoku Artist

• Hikawa

Best New Artists

• Chris Hart
• Little Mix
• BAP

Best 5 New Artists (Japan)

• HKT48
• Chris Hart
• Kerakera
• Generations
• Haji

Best 3 New Artists (western)

• The Stripes
• Jake Bugg
• Little Mix

Best 3 New Artists (Asia)

• Seo In Guk
• BAP
• Lin Yuchun

Best Enka/Kayokyoku New Artist

• Daisuke Kawakami

Album of the Year

• Arashi – “Love” (Japanese)
• One Direction – “Take Me Home” (western)
• TVXQ – “TIME” (Asia)

Best 5 Albums (Japanese)

• Arashi – “Love’
• EXILE – “EXILE Best Hits”
• B’z – “B’z The Best XXV 1988-1998″
• Yumi Matsutoya – “The Best of Yumi Matsutoya 40th Anniversary”
• Mr. Children – “Mr. Children [(an imitation) blood orange]

Best 3 Albums (western)

• Bruno Mars – “Unorthodox Jukebox”
• Lady Gaga – “Artpop”
• One Direction – “Take Me Home”

Best 3 Albums (Asia)

• Girls’ Generation – “Girls & Peace”
• Girls’ Generation – “Love & Peace”
• TVXQ – “TIME”

Soundtrack Album of the Year

• “Les Miserables”

Animation Album of the Year

• “Gintama Best 3″

Concept Album of the Year

• Chris Hart – “Heart Song”

Single of the Year

• AKB48 – “Sayonara Crawl”

Best 5 Singles

• AKB48 – “Eien Pressure”
• AKB48 – “Koi Suru Fortune Cookie”
• AKB48 – “Sayonara Crawl”
• AKB48 – “Heart Electric”
• AKB48 – “Suzukake Nanchara”

Song of the Year by Download

• AKB48 – “Koi Suru Fortune Cookie”
• 2CELLOS – “Kagemusha”
• TVXQ – “Catch Me If You Wanna”

Best 5 Songs by Download

• AKB48 – “Koi Suru Fortune Cookie”
• Kyary Pamyu Pamyu – “Ninja Re Bang Bang”
• Kerakera – “Star Loveration”
• Momoiro Clover Z – “Farewell, My Dear Sorrows”

Best Music Videos

• Namie Amuro – “Namie Amuro 5 Major Domes Tour 2012″
• Arashi – “Arashi Live Tour Popcorn”
• Metallica – “Quebec Magnetic”
• TVXQ – “TVXQ LIVE TOUR 2013″

Link to my original article on Manila Bulletin online: 
http://www.mb.com.ph/gold-disc-awards-2014-winners-announced/

To contact the author, send email to sangchusan(at)gmail.com