AKB 48

Personnel

AKB48 holds the Guinness World Record for being the world's "largest pop group".^[12][13] The group currently consists of a total of 88 girls, divided into three subgroups: Team A and Team K with 21 members each and Team B with 22 members,^[14] as well as a number of aspiring members, who are called "kenkyūsei" ("trainees").^[15] The member lineup often changes as when girls get older, they "graduate" from the group, while new members are cast through regularly held auditions.^[3] Having several teams not only allows the group to reduce the load on its members, since a daily concert at the theater is given by only one team, but also gives AKB48 opportunity to perform in several places and even countries simultaneously.^[16]
Given the large number of members in the group, AKB48 uses two selection methods to determine who will record a single and perform it on TV.^{[citation needed]} So far, two big selection events are held annually. One is selected by fans who vote for their favorite members in so-called "general elections" ("sōsenkyo" in Japanese). Fans participate by purchasing the group's latest single, which includes a ticket that allows the buyer to register a vote for a particular member. The other selection method consists of a rock-paper-scissors tournament between the members themselves. Votes cast for the 2011 election exceeded 1 million, and the single "Everyday, Katyusha", that contained a voting ticket for the election, set a new Japanese all-time record for weekly sales of a CD single.