The AKB48 members participating in the single were determined in the rock-paper-scissors tournament held on September 20, 2011, at Nippon Budokan, so called AKB48 24th Single Senbatsu Janken Taikai. The 16 members from the group who advanced into the semi-final and final rounds of the tournament are those that were featured in this single. From this, the Top 8 were chosen to be the main vocalists while member Mariko Shinoda, who came at first place in the tournament, is in the center position.

The single's title song was announced to be "Ue Kara Mariko" on October 29 at the Flying Get handshake event at Ajinomoto Stadium.

The single was released in 4 versions: Type A, Type K, Type B, and Theater Edition.

It has sold 959,280 copies on its first day and later on sold over 1 million by the end of its first week making it the fourth most successful single from the group to sell over a million.

The name Mariko in "Ue Kara Mariko" ("Mariko from Above", "Mariko from the Top") refers to Mariko Shinoda, the member of the group whom the single will be centered around for the first time, having won the rock-paper-scissors tournament. This is also the first song by the group with a member name in the title. The words "ue kara" ("from above", "from the top") might be seen as referring either to Mariko being the eldest or the tallest in the group, or both.

It was also revealed that title song was originally planned to be "Hashire! Penguin" ("Penguin, Run!") but was changed to fit Mariko Shinoda's image. "Hashire! Penguin" was instead sung by Team 4 and appears only on the Theater Edition of the single.

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Wikipedia