AKB48 45th Single Senbatsu Sousenkyo 〜Bokutachi wa Dare ni Tsuiteikeba ii?〜 (AKB48 45thシングル 選抜総選挙～僕たちは誰について行けばいい？～AKB48 45th Single Senbatsu Sousenkyo 〜Bokutachi wa Dare ni Tsuiteikeba ii?〜?) was held on June 18, 2016 at HARD OFF ECO Stadium Niigata. Fans made their voices heard by voting for their favorite AKB48/SKE48/NMB48/HKT48/NGT48/Team Kaigai member at the eighth annual AKB48 Group members election.
The top 16 members are featured in the Senbatsu of the group's 45th single (47th single overall). Meanwhile, the 17th to 32nd place members join Undergirls for the B-side track, the 33rd to 48th place members join the Next Girls unit for the 2nd B-side track, and the 49th to 64th place members join the Future Girls for the 3rd B-side track, while the 65th to 80th place members will join the Upcoming Girls unit for the 4th B-side track.
For a member to participate in the Senbatsu Sousenkyo, she must first be an active member of AKB48, SKE48, NMB48, HKT48, NGT48, or Team Kaigai as of March 23, 2016. Eligible members who wish to run need to submit an application (available from March 23 to March 27) in order to participate.
Members with concurrent memberships are listed on both their respective Teams.
The most recent updates on who have applied for candidacy were seen in this link
Sousenkyo Breakdown[]
Out of the 80 members who ranked in, 28 came from AKB48, 20 came from SKE48, 11 came from NMB48, 19 came from HKT48 and 2 came from NGT48. Kennins are counted as part of their original teams:
AKB48 = 28 members
Team A = 8 members
Team K = 4 members
Team B = 5 members
Team 4 = 9 members
Team 8 = 2 members
SKE48 = 20 members
Team S = 6 members
Team KII = 7 members
Team E = 7 members
NMB48 = 11 members
Team N = 5 members
Team M = 4 members
Team BII = 2 members
HKT48 = 19 members
Team H = 11 members
Team KIV = 8 members
NGT48 = 2 members
Team NIII = 2 members
Voting Methods[]
Fans will have twenty methods of voting. Voting will open on May 31, 2016 at 10:00 JST and close on June 17, 2016 at 15:00 JST.
The first election to announce more members as 1st day results than actually will rank
On March 23rd, staff members received an application from Nyan Nyan Kamen (にゃんにゃん仮面), which they believed was submitted by Kojima Haruna under an alternate alias. The application included inaccurate entries such as her birthday being on February 22nd, 2222. Kojima confirmed the next day that it was not her submission, and she did not submit an application by the end of the application period. On April 5, they officially accepted "Nyan Nyan Kamen" application. With the release from the members posters it was confirmed that Nyan Nyan Kamen is Kojima Haruna. Nyan Nyan Kamen also revealed that she was Kojima, during her skit in the election, thus marking the first instance where a member joins the election despite not applying.
Both Iwasaki Moeka and Shibata Yui applied for the election, but retired their applications after announcing their graduation (Iwasaki on April 3, Shibata on May 3).
The total number of members participating this year was originally the same as the number of members who participated last year (272 members). This number was raised when Nyan Nyan Kamen's application was accepted, and then dropped when Iwasaki Moeka and Shibata Yui graduated. There were a total of 271 members.
It was announced that the group with the most ranking members would get a new original stage. AKB48 later won the stage having the most members ranking in the election.
Compared to last year's ranking, Sashihara Rino is the only member whose rank didn't change. She is also the first member to acquire over 200,000 votes, rank #1 for two consecutive years (in Japan), and win three different elections. She won the elections for 2013, 2015, and 2016.
Kojima Haruna (Under the alias Nyan Nyan Kamen) had the biggest ranking increase (Non-rank to #16) while Tano Yuka had the biggest ranking decrease (#47 to #99).
For members who ranked in the top 80 for both this year and last year's elections, Motomura Aoi had the biggest ranking increase (#80 to #36), while Tani Marika had the biggest ranking decrease (#23 to #55).
For newly-ranked members, Komiyama Haruka had the highest ranking increase (Non-rank to #21).
For members who ranked in the top 80 for both 1st day and final results, Omori Miyu gained the least votes after the 1st day, with an increase of 6,462 votes.
Former AKB48 member Oshima Yuko made a special appearance playing the role of a cop during Nyan Nyan Kamen's skit.
This is the first election in which Team 8 members ranked in the top 80, since their debut in 2014.
Sashihara Rino had the biggest vote gain of 48,962 votes, while Kashiwagi Yuki had the biggest vote less of 75,073 votes.
Kashiwagi Yuki's vote loss is the highest in the history of AKB48 Sousenkyo.
Nyan Nyan Kamen
