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Sound Horizon CD with Virtual Idol Miku Hits #2 Weekly

"Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido," the single from the Sound Horizon musical group with vocals by the virtual idol singer Hatsune Miku, ranked #2 on Oricon's weekly singles chart for the June 14-20 week. The CD single sold 47,000 copies, a record for Sound Horizon. It is the first new release from the group in two years.

Sound Horizon had confirmed on June 11 that Hatsune Miku, Crypton Future Media's synthesized voice package based on Yamaha's Vocaloid 2 software engine, provided some of the vocals on the single. Other vocalists include Märchen von Friedhof, Joelle, Miki, and Crypton Future Media's "Junger März_Prototype β." Akio Ohtsuka, Rica Fukami, Nobuo Tobita, Miyuki Sawashiro, Asuka Tanii, Tōru Ohkawa, Saki Fujita, and Sascha contributed their voices, while former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman (Detroit Metal City) and former Siam Shade (Rurouni Kenshin) drummer Junji can also be heard.

This past May, the EXIT TUNES Presents Vocalgenesis feat. Hatsune Miku compilation album became the first "Vocaloid album" to top Oricon's weekly album ranking chart. Earlier this month, "Little Braver" CD single by the Angel Beats! anime's fictional Girls Dead Monster band sold 38,854 copies to rank #2 on Oricon's chart.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web