NMB48

NMB48 (read "N.M.B. Forty-eight") is a Japanese idol girl group that debuted in 2011 as the second sister group to AKB48, produced by Yasushi Akimoto. The group performs at the NMB48 Theater which is located in the basement of the Yes-Namba Building in Namba, Osaka. The name "NMB" comes from "Namba" in the Minami district in Osaka.

History

On 10 July 2010, AKB48 first announced that they would be forming a second sister national group. based in Namba. NMB48 officially became active on 9 October 2010.Yasushi Akimoto announced that the group would have 26 trainees for the first generation. These members made their first appearance at the AKB48 Tokyo Autumn Festival.

NMB48 made their debut performance at their theater on New Year's Day 2011. They released their debut single, "Zetsumetsu Kurokami Shōjo", on 20 July 2011. In its debut week, the single sold a total of about 218,000 copies, making it the bestselling single on the Oricon weekly charts for the week of 20–27 July 2011. This makes NMB48 the second girl group after Passpo to reach number 1 with a debut single.