Huge drop, again. At this rate, it's not gonna sale more than (m)u.

Is Secret still charting?

^ I thought that was kinda obvious for a while.

Huge drop indeed. But at least both of them surpass 600k each and counting. I wish for both albums a very good luck and keep on selling consistently for weeks to come.

I just realized that the albums combined have sold more than Black Cherry. I remember that was one of my wishes concerning the sales of this release. Now to remember if I meant -BLACK- and -WHITE- each or combined. :P

what is the sales of black cherry and m(u) to date?
still at least hope each album can hit 650k!
btw, does ayumi have autograph sessions in japan? most singers organise autograph sessions since fans want their idols' autograph desperately. this way, sales may increase!

mika's single totally flopped. T___T and kuu's new single is so hot. really more people should buy it, just to get the ultrastylish PV. @_@

concering ayu... what was secret's third week sales? forgot.

^Nah she doesn't. I don't think it'll be much of an increase though, as you can only sign so many copies before physically wearing out.

(m)u so far has sold 877k
BC so far has sold 976k and will probably break the mil. mark soon.

I don't care if she has a huge drop...I'm just glad that she was able to sell a million.....

No, no, not only ayu would know, because it's obvious and unquestionable. We human beings are able to tell if someone's work was done with effort and dedication or whether they were a total lazy bum. Ayu did put some effort in releasing A BALLADS while she was a total lazy bum when she made this A BEST 2.
In A BALLADS she made a very great PV with loads of acting, etc. In the song RAINBOW she selected several messages from fans and created the song. It's rather obvious that she had a lot tougher moment when creating the song RAINBOW and its PV than when she made the mediocreness of "part of Me" song+PV. Not to mention, she RESANG You, A Song for XX and Who... . What else did she do for A BEST 2? she just sang part of Me, acted standing still in the PV, and that's all.
Now to make things even worse, look at A BALLADs covers and compare them to the A BEST 2 covers. For real, there's absolutely no doubt a BALLADS covers demanded a lot more work than the "bored ayu" face cover from A BEST 2.

These sales aren't that bad, i just hope she lasts longer on the charts. If she gets above 40k again this week i'd be bery happy:D

still 2 & 3 huh? cool.......

and this time my reaction is done carefully... wehehehe.

I like, actually love, both the song and PV, but they both can't ever be compared to the grandness of both song and PV for RAINBOW. It's a fact.

I was comparing the release of A BEST 2 to A BALLADS, not A BEST, reason why I compared covers. I do know the intention was to make the A BEST 2 cover to somehow look like the A BESt one. However, that has absolutely NO relation to which of those covers actually had much more work either for ayu or her crew. A BALLADS covers were a LOT better worked than those other two.

a simple cover can be more artistic because art can be simple. But I'm not talking about art here, so don't branch things to a point I wasn't even commenting about LOL I was talking about effort and work, and it's obvious the A BALLADS covers demanded a LOT more of those than A BEST 2 covers. Also, to be quite honest since we got into this subject, A BALLADS covers are a lot more artistical than the A BEST 2 covers. You can look at those pictures and wonder "oh why there are two ayu's embracing each other? what's the meaning of that?" Art makes you wonder and appreciate the scene and make several different interpretations out of it. A BEST 2 covers just have a bored make up face. You look at it and just think "Geez, ayu was not in the mood for releasing this album". There's nothing else to wonder about it so bland and unoriginal they are. Period.

The fact you prefer to eat a fast food hamburger over a grand cuisine chef's finest premier dish doesn't mean the hamburger had a lot more effort and dedication when it was made. There's a huge difference. i'm not talking about personal tastes, though yep, I A BALLADS covers had both effort and they shone in what they were supposed to be. A BEST 2 cover is just some creepy face with loads of make up and no real photography talent at all.

For real? Guys, can't you really tell when somebody doesn't do their jobs well? Do you guys have any critical sense? Honestly, you can judge works and tell whether effort or not was put in them. When somebody cleans your house you can tell if they did a rushed job or if they did everything perfectly. There's not any difference to ayu's works, we can tell when she's (for she I mean her and her staff) being a total lazy bum [i.e (miss)understood covers] or when she's indeed flowing with talent and dedication [RAINBOW covers]. To think you can't judge that is in my opinion, being totally naive.

ImpactBreaker, when did you become the supreme judge of effort and quality?

D:

Can i just say. Does it matter that it wont beat the sales of a different album?

No it dosent, If you like the music then good - You shouldent think 'oh noes she is failing' because she is still selling, and the music is still good to you - so forget sales

I wait for a smartarsed responce

It really doesn't matter at all.

IMO, she's doing really well for a solo artist with almost ten years in the biz to be doing a dual-release best..

Has any soloist done this before Ayu? :O

Oh okay, A BEST 2 covers were the best piece of work ever made. Look at those angles of photography. Completely expert. auu had to be in complex pose for the photoshoots, it looked extremely hard to do. Her hair and make up look extremely well worked and almost impossible to be ever repeated in any photoshoot ever again.
"part of Me" song was extremely hard song to be made. the melody is not cliche and we hear a lot of complex elements added to ayu vocals since her voice doesn't definitely stand monotonal throughout almost the whole song. It sends shivers through my spine since I've never ever in my entire life listened to such a fantastic and origimnal work. She put so MUCh effort into make a song like that.
I'm sorry but aren't you really able to judge a work? I'm not saying I'm the supreme judge, and it's absurd that you're twisting things like that.
I'm really sorry that you aren't able to see something and judge whether effort was put into them or not, because sorry if it makes me "supreme" but I have a critical mind that can make that and it's not my fault if you can't judge a work then.

And please don't tell me the (miss)understood covers had hell a lot of hard work because the answer is obvious and it doesn't need anybody to be "supreme' in order to deduce that.

Huuh ?? xDD
Sorry, since when it's a fact ? xD
It's still your point of view in my knowledge, I can present you 1.000 people who will disagree with you, I personally prefer part of Me than RAINBOW, is that still a fact? =)

And if you prefer RAINBOW song/PV, does it mean that the part of Me song/PV is "mediocre" ?
I prefer faaar better CAROLS than A song is born, I LOVE both but I wouldn't say A song is born is mediocre...


I don't know how you can do that, personally I can't!

But to say if we have any critical sense, sorry but this is another subject, as I respected your point view, respect mine please.
I didn't use words like "No I don't agree with you" "You're 100% wrong" "Are you crazy to think like that" I just posted my point of view responding to your way of seeing this work, so please keep those "Do you guys have any critical sense?" comment things for yourself.
It's not because things seem 'obvious' to you that it's the real truth, I didn't say I'm right in any way, or as I'm talking to a child, I really respect you, there's no problem with you, not saying that in a sacrastic way but in a friendly one, or this subject whould have turned to something else long time ago seeing how reactions are in total disagree here =p

Back to the subject, Ayu may look a little "stupid" on (miss)understood covers for exemple, yeah~
But can you say it didn't got any good job behind this "stupid-look" cover ?
(miss)understood covers surely hide a secret message, it can be something like "this is an other of my personal albums, It really reflets Ayu her-self" which may explain the simplicity of the covers.
For the weird look, still she wanted to show some more natural faces, not the diva (MY STORY), the secret artist (Memorial address) or something 10x more artistical (I am...|RAINBOW)
Only Ayu knows the effort & the meaning of these covers =)

Also, what you can find boring, some other people may find it interesting.
What you think "Geez, ayu was not in the mood for releasing this album", some others can think "Oh, what is she thinking about ?" "What is she expressing ? Angry? Dreaming?" "What does she want to say, by looking to us on that way" "Oh man, those covers are weird but can anyone tell me if there is a secret meaning behind those huge eyes?"

You see, what you can find 'obvious' isn't really THAT obvious in reality =)
Everyone has his imagination, his way to interpretate a song/PV/picture ^.^

PS : We don't ask you to say her work is perfect, I find your point of view interesting, if not I wouldn't respond to you in any way, just read your post and pass my way, but you marked some interesting points that needed to be discussed.
If you find this BEST work not satisfying, then it's your point of view, not a reality or a fact, not everyone will agree with you so they don't have or a criticla sense ;)

LOL. That is NOT a fact, its an opinion.

See, while I respect your opinion, when you say it's "obvious and unquestionable" then it seems like what you're saying is fact, when it's not. Sometimes people really can't tell "effort" from "laziness". I've turned in enough last minute projects to know. :P

She certainly did put a lot of work into A BALLADS, but I feel that she made an equal effort with A BEST 2. I mean, how can you tell how much thought Ayu put into the album? Maybe she had been thinking about a second BEST ever since the first one was released. Maybe Ayu spent nights debating with herself over whether or not she should re-sing her songs. Maybe she didn't. If I ever meet her, I'll be sure to ask. ;)

You can think Ayu is a bum anytime and you can think A BEST 2 looks "bored", just don't try to make a fact out of it.