"Labrador Retriever" (ラブラドール・レトリバー, Raburadōru Retoribā^?) is the 36th single by the Japanese idol girl group AKB48. It was released in Japan on May 21, 2014 by King Records. This single was first performed at AKB48's concert in the National Olympic Stadium on March 29. It was the best-selling single of the year in Japan, with 1,786,825 copies.

The lyrics were written by Yasushi Akimoto. In this single, Mayu Watanabe returns as the center of the main song after the release of "So Long !" 1 year and 3 months ago. The main song in this single, "Labrador Retriever", was revealed to the public on March 29, 2014 during the encore session of their first concert at the National Olympic Stadium.

This single will be released in five types; Type A (Normal / Limited Edition), Type K (Normal / Limited Edition), Type B (Normal / Limited Edition), Type 4 (Normal / Limited Edition) and Theater Edition.

The first presses of the single came with a ticket to vote in the AKB48 37th Single Senbatsu Election (to choose the members to be featured in the next AKB48's single, to be released in the summer.)

AKB48 has been releasing a summer-themed CD in May every year since "Ponytail to Shushu", which was released in May 2010. 36 members were chosen to participate in the A-side song "Labrador Retriever", which has the same number as their 2012 single "Manatsu no Sounds Good!", but 4 more than last year's summer single, "Sayonara Crawl", that featured only 32 members.

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Wikipedia