The best selling JAV of all time! Estimated sales of over ¥1 billion?!

Rio Yasuda (official Twitter here) is a freelance writer who has observed the porn world for over 20 years and knows the ins and outs of the industry. In 2019, he shared this wonderful, "pointless" porn knowledge!

There was always a JAV to beat! Visionary JAV releases!

So what is the best selling JAV of all time? Actually, it's difficult to say, because JAV publishers don't actually announce how many sales they have made.

(From "My Sun" by KM Produce)

In the age of video rentals and the Nihon Ethics of Video Association (NEVA, a voluntary organization to ensure adherence to Japanese obscenity laws), it was said that it was "My Sun" (JP: Boku no Taiyou) with Satomi Kawai, released in 1987 by Cosmos Plan (now KM Produce). In a sales ranking article called "Shocking JAV Records," written by Yoshito Bunchou and run in a special volume by Takarajimasha in 1994 called "JAVs of One Million People," the best seller was "My Sun" with 45,000 copies sold. In those days, JAV copies were basically sold to rental shops, and each copy retailed at ¥13,500, or around $125 USD (all figures used in this article are according to current exchange rates, not adjusted for inflation). With a simple calculation, that comes out to over ¥600 million, or approximately $5.6 million USD!

(From "Virgo Downy Haired Venus Reiko Hayama" by h.m.p)

Next on the list in second place was "Virgo" with Reiko Hayama, published by h.m.p with 40,000 copies sold, pictured above.

(From "Virgo -Wet Hill of an Angel- Hikaru Hoshino" by h.m.p)

In third place was "Virgo, Chapter Two: Wet Hill of an Angel" with Hikaru Hoshino, also published by h.m.p with 32,000 copies sold, pictured above.

(From "NEW Princess of Sensuality" by h.m.p)

In fourth place was "NEW Princess of Sensuality" with Hitomi Shiraishi, yet again published by h.m.p with 29,000 copies sold, pictured above.

(From "I Like SM-ish Play" by Crystal Eizo)

And in fifth place was "I Like SM-ish Play" with Kaori Kuroki, published by Crystal Eizo with 22,000 copies sold, pictured above.  Fans of the popular Netflix series, The Naked Director, may recognize this title as it was Toru Muranishi's breakthrough release that put his fictional JAV studio, Sapphire, on the map.  This was also the movie that launched Kaori's career as a mainstream talent:

However, as Yoshito Bunchou alluded to in this original ranking article, it seems that these numbers may have been considerably exaggerated by the PR spokespeople of the JAV publishers when asked about their sales. Even so, at the time, "My Sun" accomplished an undoubtedly impressive feat by selling so many copies that it ranked in the general Oricon Video Charts despite being a JAV.

(From "Sell-Debut: Minimal Mosaic" by S1)

When it became the age of sales over rentals, the videos became cheaper, and hit videos with over 10,000 copies sold were common. But in the midst of that, the first video to break the 100,000 copies sold record was Sora Aoi's sale debut, "Sell-Debut: Minimal Mosaic," published by S1 in 2004, pictured above. One of the mega-popular Japanese boy band Hey! Say! JUMP's recent concert DVDs sold 110,000 copies; by comparison, it's impressive that "Sell-Debut: Minimal Mosaic" was able to sell nearly as many copies as an adult video.

(From "Japan's Long-Awaited AV Debut of National Idol Rico Yamaguchi" by Alice Japan)

After that, other JAVs began to break the 100,000 copies sold record, such as "Real Celebrity Saori Hara: Miraculous AV Debut" with Saori Hara (who also went by the names Mai Nanami and Miyabi/Miyavi Matsunoi) published by SOD Create in 2009, as well as former AKB48 member Rico Yamaguchi's JAV debut, "Japan's Long-Awaited AV Debut of National Idol Rico Yamaguchi," published by Alice Japan in 2010.

However, in 2011, an unbelievably huge mega-hit was released: Minako Komukai's debut work, "AV Actress - Minako Komukai," published by Alice Japan in 2011.

(From "AV Actress - Minako Komukai" by Alice Japan)

It sold 200,000 copies. The work garnered attention because she was a hot topic (and still is...), but regardless, that is an astounding number. Perhaps no new JAV releases will ever beat this record! The retail price per copy was ¥3,800 (approx. $35 USD), meaning that the overall sales were ¥760 million, or around $7.1 million USD!

(From "AV Actress - Minako Komukai" by Alice Japan)

After a lot of research, Rio Yasuda discovered more and more impressive sales records. According to an interview with JAV director Masaaki Hibino published in another special volume by Takarajimasha called "The Showa Era Unlocked! Men and Women's Big Affair," even though 10,000 copies of "I Like SM-ish Play" with Kaori Kuroki were distributed to rental shops, the publishers received a literal mountain of mail containing cash from individuals interested in buying the video. It all amounted to a whopping 70,000 copies sold!

Typically JAV is sold wholesale to shops for a discounted price, but when purchased directly from the publisher by individual buyers, the entire profit goes straight to the publisher. In other words, these 70,000 copies of a ¥14,800 JAV came out to  ¥1,036 million, or around $9.75 million USD!

Well, if you're just looking at the proceeds, there are still higher selling JAVs than those too, such as the hugely successful black market JAV from 1982, "Ken-chan, the Laundry Man." It circulated around 12,000 copies, and total sales reached over ¥1.2 billion, or around $11 million USD. However, because it was a black market JAV sold on the underground market, these were mostly bootleg copies. This profit was not returned to the original creator; on the contrary, the production staff and the male actor were arrested for the crime of distributing obscene material.

(Original article.)