Nikkei Entertainment
http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO80101170V21C14A1000000/?df=2
The days between each idol group's major debut and Budokan concert.

Morning Musume '14(844)
AKB48(1033)
Momoiro Clover Z(885)
TOKYO GIRLS' STYLE(963)
SKE48(1360)
NMB48(647)
HKT48(39)
SUPER☆GiRLS(902)
℃-ute(2512)
Berryz Kobo(3559)
Nogizaka46(688)
BABYMETAL(417)
Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku(711)
Dempagumi.inc(1533)
S/mileage(1512)
9nine(2702)
Team Syachihoko(667)
babyraids(814)
Bis(721)

^ Yeah....that's what I'm thinking too

I get that Budokan is supposed to be an iconic milestone and all, but when you've already held concerts many times larger than that, it seems more of a formality than an achievement at that point.

Even in Nikkei Entertainment's progression chart they did earlier this year, they only put Budokan above medium-sized halls and even below arenas, not to mention domes and stadiums

Particularly in Momoclo's case, they held gender-specific concerts at Budokan, which is considerably harder. If they really wanted to rush it, I'd argue that they probably would have been able to hold a concert there early 2012. It's actually quite funny really, since holding a Budokan concert was one of the goals they set out to complete along with the NHK appearance. I'd have thought management would prioritize this a bit more, but I guess Momoclo blew up faster than they expected.

I expect it's more of a formality than an acheivment for the new 48 groups as well

And it's also missing the E-girls, which again I doubt would have any trouble holding concerts there.

fishpockets said:

also BiS never played Budokan?

Yeah. IIRC it was their goal to play Budokan, but I don't think they made it...

It doesn't matter whether venues are big or not.
Budokan is nothing but a simple check point for them.
But it is not easy to give a concert at Budokan.
Because Budokan is a popular venue, all weekends are fully booked.
Therefore, almost all groups must gather about 10,000 fans on weekdays and the degree of difficulty is high.

[TV] Enkatsu!
エン活！ KISS&ももクロ (20141216)

not reallly a big thing, but section 3 idols got a new homepage today (they were under the same page with other section 3 talents before)
http://www.stardust.co.jp/section3/idol.html

individual talent profile pages still retain the same URL, and the profile entries haven't changed a bit... since 2008

momomofu said:

UST
December 19 or 20
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/momoclotv

Can anyone confirm the date/time? I don't want to miss this! :)

Yes! I'll be awake for that! *^*