It seems it will reach 700k! =D

At the time RAINBOW was released the opinions seemed a lot more energic than the ones over "part of Me".

Well, partially the fact I say those things about part of Me is because of it's blandness. The song isn't mediocre just because I don't like it (I actually said i love the song, but sorry that I typed that quickly and it really made it look like I was justifying that for that reason). It's mediocre because it's generic, because there's nothing new added to the song. Because if you ever listen to H/\L with H/\LNA discography you'll see how much that song is overly recycled and unoriginal. When something has already played in your ears for years and years, when it's compiled into yet another recyclation, the feeling I'll have when listening to it is: oh please, this again? i wanna listen to something new and striking.

Well, it's not my fault then. i can tell when someone cooked something pretty badly or didn't put effort on any other work they should have.

It's just because whenever I come with a different point of view, people will wonder how I came up to certain conclusions. The world is not a fairy tale book where everything goes perfectly in the end. Sometimes, people make it seem like that by saying "How are you sure she didn't put any effort?". Honestly, because it exudes, because it's possibly to tell when something was done without much interest and effort. Not all works in the world are perfect and iyt's definitely possible to judge whether something was poorly done or not.

Sorry but that's nothing more than an excuse. Those covers were bad, rushed and in bad taste. Of course we can always get a piece of junk and say how absolutely fantastic they are (TO BE lyrics actually talk about that hahah) but well, those covers were mediocre and horrid,and most people were actually not satisfied with them, with a reason.

Daydreaming is not a concrete work. And sorry but if work and effort to you is going around in circles and doing absolutely nothing than "WOW", i really wanna have such an amazing job! :)


With all honesty? It is a fact ;)

Sometimes a good concept doesn't equal to "more effort".

A BALLADS concept is like the new ayu facing the old ayu (or in the pv ayu's facing her inside). That is why there were much more efforts --> Making covers showing how two ayus are connected; how ayu had to chase the other ayu (to face oneself?) in the pv; etc.

A BEST series concept is just showing the simple side of ayu. I'm sure that ayu and her crews must have discussed "how A BEST 2 should point to" for many times until they come up with this conclusion. Yes, there are much less time devoted on making the covers (like she didn't put a wig, she didn't have heavy make up, she didn't really have to pose), but the covers really fit A BEST series. When they first showed up on AHS, I was a bit surprised, but at the same time I really like how it connected to A BEST, and the way they express the message of A BEST 2. Yeah there're other A BEST 2 pics used on magazines and stuff, and they may be prettier than the ones on the covers. Yet there must be reason why ayu choosing those four pics as covers.

And for the pv.. I dun really think we can judge how good the pv is by how many actions the artists did in the pv. For example, there're lots of factors making why ayu's standing still most of the time in the pv, such as the Japanese tradition and culture (if you watch some Japanese old movies/dramas you'll know what I mean)... I can't really explain it here (since i'm suck at explanation), but to me I like the art of this pv.

So my conclusion is that we can't really judge on efforts of something based on how much time/energy people devote on. Sometimes too much effort doesn't necessary meaning good. Of course, I'm not disagreeing with you ImpactBreaker. You do have your point of view towards and I'm sure someone must have similar points with you. There's no such thing in the world that every single person will love it.

...

Why dun we stop arguing (or expressing opinions)..? The weather is very good now.. (dunno what I'm talking about LOL):P

I think it will :D, let's say this week sales is around 50000, then A BEST 2 WHITE should reach 630K then. I'm sure it's not too hard to get 70K more copies in the end :).

It'll probably stay at 40k for a while. :D

Daydreaming is not, but visualizing a concept that will later be realized is. Daydreaming makes it sound like Ayu sits around all day imagining what she'll do when she's Queen of the World. XD

But lol, I've already stated my opinion. I'll post again when I have something to say that's relevant to her sales. :P

I say ~25k next week, so that would put it at ~640k.

LOL. Yeah, I think the thread starter should fix that to #6, 7.

right okay...

I think Ayu is doing fine. If this is the CD that she wanted to put out, even if it was avex's decision (i mean if she didn't want it released she could have done something), these are her covers, her songs, her albums, if she's happy with it, I'm happy with it.

Until she comes out and openly says "I'm disappointed with my sales," I won't be. Ayu is ayu, nothing about her greatness will ever change, no matter what sales "say." All they tell us is that there are about 600,000 crazy ayu collectors in Japan.

I wonder if Ayu would still be singing today had her career not been as successful as it had been.. [Like, she loved singing or w/e and that's what kept her and not the money.. which is probably the case now :D]

And would new talents even have gone to avex, with them making a LOT less income without Ayu's high sales?

#3# - x44,239 (#3) - x46,634 (#2)
A BEST 2 sold: 1,235,462 copies (611,650 black / 623,812 white)

Why do i have the feeling that every week equals to halving of the sales?
I really hope these albums will hit 700k at least...

A big drop today.

WHITE is #11 and BLACK is #13??????? wow!! a big drop, from position 6&7. but both A BEST 2 sold 1,235,462 copies, and i think it's good..

^By the end of the week it SHOULD rise....

Honestly, I think people are just so against ImpactBreaker beacuse they think its their job to unquestionly defend their one and only idol. I mean, look at the comments aginst Kuu from these people. Any threat is quickly dashed without reason.

Honestly, A BEST 2 was a huge letdown for me in terms of production. They ommited three of my favourite singles, made a mediocre, unoriginal new song and PV, boring booklet and tiring tracklist. They could have done so much to this album such as new vocals, more effort into the new song and more creative photoshoots (I mean, come on. How many times has that mirror technique been used in this past year alone?). I reckon both BEST ~first things~ and ~second session~ were better products than A BEST 2 -BLACK-/- WHITE -, but that could just be me.

edit: Whoops, forgot about the DVDs. Their all good :P. Ayu's concerts are always great and the idea of a documentary is interesting, but they're only additional features, not the main feature themselves.

I'm not disappointed with the sales so far. If we look at it in a different angle, Ayumi is very successful in Japan this year. This album is currently the 3rd and 4th best selling album of the year and it's very possible that it will stay on the top 10 till the end of the year. She's doing better than 90% of the artists out there. I don't see how that's disappointing.

i think its dissapointing for Ayumi ... she is the goddess of Japanese music. She should be getting 1 million ~ 2 million in first week sales like she used o ... but i know thats never going to happen X__X

Are you serious??! Nobody can sell 1 million in a week, can you imagine a week? Ayu can't, but Koda, Hikaru Utada, Mr.Children, B'z, KAT-TUN can't either.

Back in 2001 when Mr. Children did their dual best, they sold 1 million of each..


But Ayu sold 2.8 million in a week with A BEST that year too, so..

Thats my point. A BEST sold almost 2 million in a week. it dissapoints me ~~

But A BEST also sold almost two million during a time when a million wasn't exactly a hard goal for popular artists to reach..

Look at Hikki's sales from 1999 -> 2003.. D: So scary! Now she's not doing as well with albums..
Had she released her best album a little earlier, it would've sold a lot more than it did..

A BEST sold around 1.5 million copies on the FIRST DAY, and over 2.9 million copies on the FIRST WEEK... :P

I misremembered lol

http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/music/41057/

It's pretty insane how Hikki got no.1 that week..
But thank goodness Ayu got no.1 the week after, cause if I was an Ayu fan at time.. no.2 with 2.8 million would've made me want to smack someone LOL