Sakurazaka46

Sakurazaka46 (櫻坂46), formerly Keyakizaka46 (欅坂46), is a Japanese idol girl group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. The group was created on August 21, 2015, becoming Nogizaka46's first sister group under the Sakamichi Series. Following the resignation of group's center Yurina Hirate, the group was rebranded as Sakurazaka46 after their last concert on October 13, 2020. The group's fans are known as Buddies.

As Keyakizaka46, the group had released nine singles, eight of which topped the Oricon Singles Chart and Billboard Japan Hot 100. The group had also released three compilation albums, one of which was released by Hiragana Keyakizaka46, a subgroup who later became an independent group, Hinatazaka46. Additionally, the group hosts multiple variety shows, radio programs, and television dramas.

2015: Formation
On February 22, 2015, during the Nogizaka46 3rd Year Birthday Live at Seibu Dome, Nogizaka46 announced plans to recruit the first generation members for their new project. The new group's name was Toriizaka46 (鳥居坂46), named after the Toriizaka area in the Roppongi district of Minato, Tokyo, and the recruitment was started on July 28. The final stage of the audition took place on August 21, the same day Nogizaka46 was created four years earlier, and 22 were selected out of 22,509 candidates. At the same time, the group's name was suddenly changed to Keyakizaka46; however, its reason is unclear. Furthermore, two members, Mizuho Suzuki and Mayu Harada, left the group before their first performance, bringing the total number of members to 20.

Similar to Nogizaka46, Keyakizaka46 began airing a television show on October 4 titled Keyakitte, Kakenai? (欅って、書けない?) on TV Tokyo. On November 29, the show announced a new member, Neru Nagahama. Nagahama had passed the auditions but did not join due to her parents' objections. She debuted as the first member of a newly-formed subgroup called Hiragana Keyakizaka46 (けやき坂46) and auditions for more members started soon after.

On December 16, the group gave its first live performance at Fuji TV's music show FNS Music Festival. The center position in the choreography was held by the youngest member Yurina Hirate, being 14 at the time.

2016–2017: Early success
On April 6, 2016, the group debuted their first single, Silent Majority. All members except Nagahama were selected to perform in the title song. It sold 261,580 copies in the first week and ranked first on the Oricon weekly chart. The single also broke the debut week sales record for female artists, previously held by HKT48 with their single Suki! Suki! Skip!.

Between April and May, eighteen people auditioning for Hiragana Keyakizaka46 live streamed on Showroom as part of the audition process. Eleven of those passed and became official members, joining Nagahama. The expanded subunit debuted with "Hiragana Keyaki" as part of Keyakizaka46's second single, ''Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai. ''

Keyakizaka46's first featured drama Tokuyama Daigorō o Dare ga Koroshitaka? premiered on the TX network on July 16, 2016. Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai was used as the theme song. The group was also featured in KeyaBingo!, a variety show similar to AKBingo! and NogiBingo!

2016 marked the first time the group appeared on NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen, an event that the group participated in every year since. Additionally, Mizuho Habu became the first member to make a runway debut, appearing in GirlsAward 2016 Spring/Summer. Three more members, Hirate, Yui Kobayashi, and Risa Watanabe, would later make their debuts in GirlsAward 2016 Autumn/Winter.

In January 2017, Yūka Sugai and Akane Moriya were pointed as captain and vice-captain of the group, respectively. In July, Hiragana Keyakizaka46 added a second generation, with nine new members. The subgroup was featured on Re:Mind, a TV thriller series aired on Netflix. In August, Keyakizaka46 made their first performance at the Rock in Japan Festival, and have appeared in every year since.

2018–2020: Member departures and rebranding
In November 2018, Yui Imaizumi became the first member to leave the group, intending to pursue other forms of entertainment. Afterwards, Nanami Yonetani, Manaka Shida and Nagahama also left the group. Meanwhile, on November 29, 2018, Nogizaka46 and Keyakizaka46 held a joint audition, where thirty-six people passed. Out of those members, eleven went to Nogizaka46, nine went to Kanji Keyakizaka46, one went to Hiragana Keyakizaka46, and the remaining fifteen became kenshūsei (研修生) that are not assigned to any group. Shortly afterwards, Hiragana Keyakizaka46 formed an independent group known as Hinatazaka46, and released their debut single, "Kyun", on March 27, 2019.

During this time, Keyakizaka46 still held multiple concerts, including their largest one September 18–19, 2019 at Tokyo Dome, attracting roughly 50,000 fans per day. On September 24, a rhythm game titled Uni's On Air was released that featured Keyakizaka46 and Hinatazaka46.

Keyakizaka46, for the very first time, applied the senbatsu (selection of members) system for their 9th single during Keyakitte, Kakenai? on September 8, 2019. The senbatsu included 17 members, with Hirate at the center position. The single was originally set to be released at the end of the year, before first being delayed due to production issues, and then further delayed with the sudden departure of Hirate in January 2020, the 9th single's planned center.

On February 16, 2020, the kenshūsei members were assigned to their respective Sakamichi Series group through Showroom, with six of these members becoming part of Keyakizaka46's second generation.

On July 16, 2020, Keyakizaka46 live streamed a concert titled Keyakizaka46 Live Online, but with YOU! The concert was the first one held since their Tokyo Dome concert in September 2019 and the first without Hirate. During the concert, the group unveiled their last single "Dare ga Sono Kane o Narasu no ka?", which was released digitally only on August 21, with every single member being featured in the song. Additionally, captain Sugai announced that Keyakizaka46 was ending its five year journey and its members were starting over under a new name, with a final concert planned in October. On September 21, Sakurazaka46 was announced as their new name, with the change occurring after their last concert on October 12 and 13. Sakurazaka46 is named after Sakurazaka street within Roppongi Hills in Minato, Tokyo, located next to Keyakizaka street. Sakura (cherry tree) is written in the kyūjitai form 櫻 instead of the more common 桜.

2020–present: Restarting as Sakurazaka46 and 3rd Generation
Following their farewell concert on October 14, 2020, the group officially changed its name to Sakurazaka46. Their weekly variety show Keyakitte, Kakenai? was renamed to Soko Magattara, Sakurazaka?. Their first single under the new name, Nobody's Fault, was released on December 9, with only 14 members performing in the title track. Additionally, this single saw the creation of the "Sakura Eight", the eight members in the first two rows. Members featured on Sakura Eight appear in every B-side. "Nobody's Fault" was performed in the 71st NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen.

On January 4, 2021, Rina Matsuda replaced Moriya as vice-captain of the group; Sugai remained as captain. On March 14, Matsudaira Riko became the first second generation member to leave the group. On April 14, the 2nd single "Ban" was reIeased. In June, the group held a three day concert called Backs Live, in which non-Sakura Eight members performed without the Sakura Eight, taking their positions. In July, Sakurazaka46 held their first joint concert with Hinatazaka46 (since Hinatazaka46's rename), W-Keyaki Fes 2021 at Fuji Q Highland. In October, Moriya and Rika Watanabe announced their departures from the group, and left on December 19 after their final concert on December 10. On November 9, 2022, Sugai left the group after their first Tokyo Dome concert as Sakurazaka46 and Matsuda succeeded her as captain.

On June 5, 2022, Sakurazaka46 announced the auditions for their third generation members, which were held from July to December 2022. 11 members passed the auditions and 9 of them were revealed during January 2023. However, due to academic commitments, the remaining two members were revealed on March 1 and 2, 2023.

Controversy
In 2016, Keyakizaka46 was criticized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for wearing outfits resembling the Schutzstaffel military uniforms of Nazi Germany at a concert. Sony Music responded with an official apology.

Members
Since its founding, Sakurazaka46 has had a total of 70 members from five generations, including members from Hiragana Keyakizaka46 (now Hinatazaka46). 27 of those members are still in the group.

If second generation members are marked with an asterisk (*), it means that they joined after the initial second generation members on February 15, 2020.