Sakurazaka46
Japanese female idol group
Sakurazaka46 (櫻坂46; Sakurazaka Forty-six), formerly Keyakizaka46 (欅坂46; Keyakizaka Forty-six), is a Japanese idol girl group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. The group was created on August 21, 2015, becoming Nogizaka46's first sister group under the Sakamichi Series. The group was rebranded as Sakurazaka46 after their last concert on October 13, 2020. The group's fans are known as Buddies.
As Keyakizaka46, the group had released nine singles, eight of which topped the Oricon Singles Chart and Billboard Japan Hot 100. The group had also released three compilation albums, one of which was released by Hiragana Keyakizaka46, a subgroup who later became an independent group, Hinatazaka46. Additionally, the group hosts multiple variety shows, radio programs, and television dramas.
History
2015: Formation
On February 22, 2015, during the Nogizaka46 3rd Year Birthday Live at Seibu Dome, Nogizaka46 announced plans to recruit the first generation members for their new project. The new group's name was Toriizaka46 (鳥居坂46), named after the Toriizaka area in the Roppongi district of Minato, Tokyo, and the recruitment was started on July 28. The final stage of the audition took place on August 21, the same day Nogizaka46 was created four years earlier, and 22 were selected out of 22,509 candidates.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sakurazaka46” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.