AKB48 49th Single Senbatsu Sousenkyo In A Nutshell

AKB48 49th Single Senbatsu Sousenkyo (SSK) has come to a wild ending. While the weather outside in Okinawa may have almost cancelled the main event, it didn’t stop from the show going on. This year was filled with savage drops and boost in rankings, shocking announcements, and a win that will go down in AKB48 history. Let’s nutshell it all up and talk about the memorable highlights.

To get the basics out of the way, Sashihara Rino ranked 1st and became the first member in 48G history to rank 1st three times in a row and 4 times total. Her voting numbers stayed the same as last year's (~240,000K) and her final vote count was 246,376. She announced that she will not be participating next year but, nonetheless, this streak is what the new generation will be aiming to achieve and beat.
 
Mayu Watanabe, surprisingly, came in 2nd place with no change in rank compared to last year. Her final voting count was 149,132 which was a ~100,000K votes margin between her and Sashihara. During her speech, she announced it would be her final sousenkyo then announced her graduation. She said she “wants to start new” and will be going forward in her acting career. No graduation dates have been announced but we will keep you updated.
 
Ogino Yuka from NGT48 Team NIII jumped up an astonishing 90 ranks to 5th place with her final vote count at 73,368 votes. Compared to her voting count during the 1st day preliminaries, she only went up ~20,000K votes and managed to stay in Kami 7. This is the biggest jump in ranks any 48G member has ever had. The real question is, was this all real votes, will she stay in Kami 7 or senbatsu at all next year, or was this due to the voting glitch? Time will only tell. Overall, I’m very happy OgiYuka made it. I believe she deserves it.
The most wild and shocking moment of Sousenkyo had nothing to do with votes, ranks, or graduation announcements. In fact, an announcement like this is new of it’s kind at Sousenkyo. NMB48 Team M member Sutou Ririka announced her marriage (yes, you read that right) during her speech. Apparently, a scandal involving her seeing someone in the medical field was going to be released after Sousenkyo. Ririka seemed to have taken the initiative to beat out the magazine story releases and announced her marriage to this mysterious guy during her speech. While some members seemed confused, in shock, or wondering if she is trying to pull a fast one, her fellow NMB members congratulated her on the announcement. She will be having a press conference soon about this announcement so stay tuned on this developing story.
 
Statistically, this was a successful year for 48G overall. The total vote count for the 9th Sousenkyo was 3,382,368 votes, which is a 126,968 vote increase compared to last year. AKB maintained being the largest group to rank with 25 members ranking. SKE48 came second with 19 members, HKT48 third with 16 members, and NMB48 and NGT48 with 10 members each. STU48 and BNK48 had no ranking members and JKT48 had no members participating. The number of participating members also increased with 322 members compared to 272 participating last year.
 
That's all you really need to know what happened at this year's Senbatsu Sousenkyo. Personally, this was the worst sousenkyo ever. Management screwed up by having an event outside in Okinawa of all places, I didn’t want Sashihara to win, I’m still trying to take in Mayuyu’s graduation announcement, only one out of the three members I voted for ranked (Congratulations to Ichikawa Miorin), and it overall felt lackluster. My experience doesn’t speak for everyone but that’s all there was to me for Sousenkyo.
 
Next year, we hope to see management take a note and never hold an outdoor Sousenkyo ever again, even if it’s fully sponsored, see a new face as 1st place, and see more of the newer generations take the ranks as Sashihara and Mayu step down.
 
Until next year, keep supporting your oshis! Even if they didn’t rank, they will need you for next year! Final results are shown below:

1) Sashihara Rino (HKT48 - Team H, 246,376) (-) (Senbatsu Center)
2) Watanabe Mayu (AKB48 - Team B, 149,132) (-)
3) Matsui Jurina (SKE48 - Team S, 113,615) (-)
4) Miyawaki Sakura (HKT48 - Team KIV, 82,803) (↑2)
5) Ogino Yuka (NGT48 - Team NIII, 73,368) (↑90)
6) Suda Akari (SKE48 - Team E, 63,124) (↑1)
7) Yokoyama Yui (AKB48 - Team A, 58,314) (↑4)
8) Souda Sarina (SKE48 - Team KII, 52,475) (↑22)
9) Okada Nana (AKB48 - Team 4, 48,143) (↑5)
10) Kitahara Rie (NGT48 - Team NIII, 45,684) (↑2)
11) Takahashi Juri (AKB48 - Team 4, 42,663) (↑4)
12) Shiroma Miru (NMB48 - Team M, 41,491) (↑12)
13) Homma Hinata (NGT48 - Team NIII, 41,230) (NEW)
14) Furuhata Nao (SKE48 - Team KII, 40,202) (↑15)
15) Takayanagi Akane (SKE48 - Team KII, 38,576) (↑5)
16) Yoshida Akari (NMB48 - Team M, 35,540) (↑61)

17) Mukaichi Mion (AKB48 - Team K, 35,201) (↓4) (Undergirls Center)
18) Matsumura Kaori (SKE48 - Team KII, 34,977) (REENTER)
19) Minegishi Minami (AKB48 - Team K, 34,688) (↓2)
20) Sutou Ririka (NMB48 - Team N, 31,779) (↑24)
21) Kato Rena (AKB48 - Team B, 30,282) (↑5)
22) Oya Masana (SKE48 - Team S, 30,236) (REENTER)
23) Nakai Rika (NGT48 - Team NIII, 29,903) (↑73)
24) Kojima Mako (AKB48 - Team 4, 29,699) (↓5)
25) Takakura Moeka (NGT48 - Team NIII, 28,623) (NEW)
26) Oba Mina (SKE48 - Team KII, 28,554) (↓4)
27) Ota Yuuri (NMB48 - Team BII, 28,452) (↑25)
28) Tanaka Miku (HKT48 - Team H, 28,355) (↑17)
29) Kawamoto Saya (AKB48 - Team 4, 28,118) (↓2)
30) Kuranoo Narumi (AKB48 - Team 8, 28,037) (↑4)
31) Moriyasu Madoka (HKT48 - Team KIV, 27,384) (↑19)
32) Fukuoka Seina (AKB48 - Team B, 26,444) (↑65)

33) Kato Yuuka (NMB48 - Team M, 25,988) (↑51) (Next Girls Center)
34) Fuchigami Mai (HKT48 - Team KIV, 25,900) (↑6)
35) Tomonaga Mio (HKT48 - Team KIV, 25,733) (↓12)
36) Ego Yuna (SKE48 - Team KII, 25,731) (↓1)
37) Yabuki Nako (HKT48 - Team H, 25,364) (↓9)
38) Tomiyoshi Asuka (HKT48 - Team KIV, 24,996) (↑4)
39) Murase Sae (NMB48 - Team BII, 24,585) (↑49)
40) Tashima Meru (HKT48 - Team H, 24,458) (↑3)
41) Nishigata Marina (NGT48 - Team NIII, 24,401) (NEW)
42) Iwatate Saho (AKB48 - Team 4, 24,303) (↑9)
43) Sasaki Yukari (AKB48 - Team A, 24,276) (↓5)
44) Kamata Natsuki (SKE48 - Team E, 24,108) (↑30)
45) Taniguchi Megu (AKB48 - Team A, 23,304) (↑24)
46) Goto Rara (SKE48 - Team E, 23,225) (NEW)
47) Kubo Satone (AKB48 - Team K Draft Kenkyuusei, 22,895) (NEW)
48) Okita Ayaka (NMB48 - Team BII, 22,264) (↓23)

49) Sakaguchi Riko (HKT48 - Team H, 21,643) (↑10) (Future Girls Center)
50) Tanaka Natsumi (HKT48 - Team H, 21,472) (↑39)
51) Oguri Yui (AKB48 - Team 8, 21,296) (NEW)
52) Komiyama Haruka (AKB48 - Team 4, 20,910) (↓31)
53) Yamaguchi Maho (NGT48 - Team NIII, 20,818) (NEW)
54) Ueki Nao (HKT48 - Team KIV, 20,640) (↑4)
55) Muto Orin (AKB48 - AKB48 Kenkyuusei, 20,356) (NEW)
56) Takeuchi Saki (SKE48 - Team KII, 19,919) (↓25)
57) Tanigawa Airi (NMB48 - Team N, 19,752) (REENTER)
58) Arai Yuki (SKE48 - Team KII, 19,467) (↑28)
59) Matsuoka Natsumi (HKT48 - Team H, 19,372) (↓13)
60) Shibuya Nagisa (NMB48 - Team M, 19,263) (↓4)
61) Ichikawa Miori (NMB48 - Team N, 18,814) (↑20)
62) Motomura Aoi (HKT48 - Team KIV, 18,363) (↓26)
63) Kumazaki Haruka (SKE48 - Team E, 18,299) (↑4)
64) Kitagawa Ryoha (SKE48 - Team S, 18,052) (-)

65) Ota Nao (AKB48 - Team 8, 17,757) (NEW) (Upcoming Girls Center)
66) Tani Marika (SKE48 - Team E, 17,744) (↓11)
67) Nagano Serika (AKB48 - Team 8, 17,662) (NEW)
68) Sato Sumire (SKE48 - Team E, 17,320) (↑7)
69) Sakaguchi Nagisa (AKB48 - Team 8, 17,303) (↑1)
70) Miyajima Aya (NGT48 - NGT48 Kenkyuusei, 16,930) (NEW)
71) Kato Minami (NGT48 - Team NIII, 16,641) (↑5)
72) Obata Yuna (SKE48 - Team KII, 16,511) (NEW)
73) Hiwatashi Yui (AKB48 - Team A, 16,492) (NEW)
74) Mogi Shinobu (AKB48 - Team K, 16,393) (↓27)
75) Omori Miyuu (AKB48 - Team 4, 16,162) (↓2)
76) Goto Moe (AKB48 - Team B, 16,097) (NEW)
77) Kado Yuria (NGT48 - NGT48 Kenkyuusei, 15,990) (NEW)
78) Takahata Yuki (SKE48 - Team E, 15,804) (NEW)
79) Toyonaga Aki (HKT48 - HKT48 Kenkyuusei, 15,598) (NEW)
80) Matsuoka Hana (HKT48 - Team TII, 15,396) (NEW)

-Alana (Milky Kitty)