Pokemon hits 4m sales in fifth week at Japanese #1

Pokemon Black & White remains unassailable at the top of the Japanese software chart, beating off stiff competition from Kirby's Epic Yarn and Square-Enix's Lord of Arcana in their opening weeks.

Handheld games claimed the top four spots, reflecting the ongoing dominance of the DS and PSP in the Japanese hardware market.

Black & White has now sold over four million units, shifting a further 168,541 last week. In second, Kirby managed a total of 92,280.

Kirby and Arcana are two of only three new entries to the chart this week, with NBA 2K11 opening at 19. Only three non-hanheld titles make it to the top ten, all them on PS3.

In hardware, the PS3 jumps up to second, overtaking the DSi, with all consoles other than the leading PSP, the PS2 and the PSPgo seeing a small bump in sales.

Full tables follow below. In the software chart, figures in brackets are sales to date. For hardware, figures in brackets are sales last week. All figures are courtesy of Media Create, via Andriasang.

Japanese software chart

01. Pokemon Black & White (Pokemon, DS): 168,541 (4,161,397)
02. Kirby's Epic Yarn (Nintendo, Wii): 92,280
03. Lord of Arcana (Square Enix, PSP): 69,932
04. Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded (Square Enix, DS): 31,247 (126,753)
05. Red Dead Redemption (Take-Two, PS3): 26,293 (96,892)
06. Wii Party (Nintendo, Wii): 23,304 (1,122,732)
07. Macross F (Namco Bandai, PS3): 18,071 (170,769)
08. Yakuza Black Panther (Sega, PSP): 11,263 (247,748)
09. Class of Heroes 3 (Acquire, PSP): 9,848 (40,420)
10. Dead Rising 2 (Capcom, PS3): 9,761 (113,872)
11. K-On! Ater School Live (Sega, PSP): 9,745 (202,048)
12. F1 2010 (Code Masters, PS3): 8,680 (33,953)
13. Legend of Heroes: Zero no Kiseki (Nihon Falcom, PSP): 8,293 (103,799)
14. One Piece Gigant Battle (Namco Bandai, DS): 8,150 (194,869)
15. Monster Hunter Portable 3nd G PSP the Best Reprint (Capcom, PSP): 6,529 (449,895)
16. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo, Wii): 6,270 (855,836)
17. Red Dead Redemption (Take-Two, X360): 6,203 (31,877)
18. Wii Fit Plus (Nintendo, Wii): 5,990 (2,092,697)
19. NBA 2K11 (Take-Two, PS3): 5,167
20. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii): 5,023 (2,952,634)
Japanese hardware chart

1. PSP: 37,127 (33,683)
2. PS3: 22,201 (19,948)
3. DSi LL: 21,084 (21,777)
4. DSi: 20,749 (22,301)
5. Wii: 12,810 (12,158)
6. DS Lite: 5,268 (5,960)
7. X360: 2,342 (2,746)
8. PS2: 1,715 (1,373)
9. PSP go: 1,590 (1,191)

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