i would prefer a single.
I dont think she would do another album this year and if she does release something it would be like Love Songs and released in 2010, but doesnt chart till 2011.

Any format to release the new song is OK for me (album, mini, or physical single) but please, i don't want a digital single

4th Day
Position: #2
Sales: 8,154
Total Sales: 67,274

STABILIZING! no weekend boost but its still strong :)

finally will sell over 50 million~.~

I don't know what I want... only good material is what I ask... if it's a whole album I want everysong to be good if not : give us a mini album or a single...
Because her mini albums are usually really good IMO

Pretty disappointed with the sales...but hoping for longevity... :/

Yeah, I cannot get over the sales, a BEST album should be selling a lot more than this. :(

this is sad.

For an ayu BEST album...a summer best, but still...I still kinda wanna blame promotion, but can we? I've seen the pics of promotion.

Maybe because lots of people are buying it digitally? It IS #1 on iTunes still...I just wish we knew how much it was selling digitally!

ASB is more like A BALLADS so it definitely will sell less than A BEST. I'm not happy she release ASB at the the end of summer,its kinda outdated

Weekend boosts if there are any are usually on Sunday :)

I'm really hoping Ayu will manage to get a No.1 for this year *finger crossed*

she doesnt need anymore number 1's.
But I am sad about the sales.. the fact that it was sold out in so many places most likely mad the sales lower then what they should of been.
That might be why so many people are downloading it.
Also, those people buy turn around and buy a copy when it comes back for sale...

This is a season-specific best album that isn't really like the others. If this were A BEST 3 and it were selling like this then maybe being 'sad' would be appropriate... but this is meant to be a fun little release, not some sales juggernaut.

Makes me wonder though, it it WERE A BEST 3, how much it would be selling...

Sales are still bad. It should have at least outsell Party Queen. It's BEST album and we are talking about JAPAN. At this rate it won't sale much better than PQ.

avex is still making easy money with it, so I guess they are happy.

^^Exactly! I'm shocked. I know we should expect some sort of decline for sales, but not THIS much. She is still ayumi hamasaki.

but shes been around for so long!
Its natural for her sales to go down...
I wish she were still on top, but being number 2 is still amazing for how long she has been in the field.

^^Did she get #2 weekly? I'm out of the loop. I'm fine with that...I just wish the sales figures were higher.

I mean, look how many followers she has on Twitter! If each one bought one album...wow lol

^Means only 30% of her followers still support her. Well well well. :(

I'm not even sure if people are excited about her 15th year. Unless avex will make it big, promote it big, expose it big, then maybe people will again give attention to their true megastar Ayumi Hamasaki. :shrug

^I don't think she'll release another album THAT quickly...but who knows, she tends to surprise us. I see a single or another freaking collection for the 15th anniversary. I would much rather have an original album for the 15th anniversary though. It could be themed and everything.

To be honest she should have left the best albums for the 15th anniversary and did it properly. BESTs have potential to sell well if done right. Kumi screwed up her last BEST, tho it was on her 10th anni, it was paired with another album and the setlist was crap - it didnt sell as well as a BEST should. They really needed to leave this for a proper major release like A Complete was and the promo it got

If Ayu releases another Best collection, I'm gonna order ASfXX online.

Lol I don't think I understand your post...

LOL neither do I.
I was trying to imply that ASfXX is better than any future Best collection. That, and I'd rather support "old Ayu" than "new Ayu"
TBH I listened to the album recently and I quite liked it.
But if Ayu releases new material, I'll be all on it.

I think we will see an A Best 3 during her 15th year...
something she should do is maybe package it with a new album.

that would be pretty cool.

^Seems rather ridiculous and pointless to release A BEST 3 now, or even next year. Wait until the 20th anniversary and do a HUUUUUGE release.

Tbh for next year I prefer an Asia-wide tour for a new album. THAT WOULD BE EPIC. :yes

^That would actually just really annoy me. LOL she has already done that. If anything, she should do shows in places she has never been before. Avex can do some kind of poll and find out where the most fans are outside of Asia. Then she could possibly do a show in NYC or something.

It's definitely sad if not shocking to see that ASB is selling much lower than Party Queen

Granted that I shouldn't be comparing both of them since 1 of them is a best album while the other is a studio album but I thought by right , best albums should be selling much more if not better than a studio album ?

It's a pity & supporting ayumi for so long now , it's real unfortunate to see the way things turned out to be

Also , I feel she should not release A BEST 3 so early , leave it to next year in time with her 15th anniversary . I feel that when you release a best album , it should mean something

Not when you release a best album for the sake of doing so , like just because other artistes are releasing 1 , you should do it too , it shouldn't be that way :no

its really the only thing that makes since for her career right now.
A best 3. New album
new singles.
of course new remix albums as well

The only reason why I believe she'll release an album or mini-album this year, it because she just seems to be over singles. :/ One more month, and it'll be 2 years since her last single.

To be honest, I don't think it's Ayu's use of promotion that is the reason behind these sales, it is her lack of singles (which I guess are promotions in itself). I mean, yeah, TV lives and such are important, but Ayu hasn't released anything consistently to keep herself prominent, so she's slowly slipped. She hasn't got people going, "Oh, I liked Ayu's last two singles, maybe I should buy the album as perhaps she has recorded similar quality songs!!!" You know, it's surprising when you see a band, or an artist's CD in a shop, and you think, "Wow, they have a new album out? I didn't know..."

I think this is why Ayu isn't selling, or is as popular as she used to be.
Singles = TV lives (throughout the year), album setlist/quality promotion, magazine covers and interviews throughout the year, new fans.
No singles = No TV lives (except when album is about to be released), lack of album setlist/quality information to the public, no magazine covers/interviews unless near the time of an album release, absence of new fans.

I want her to come to canada!~~
If she goes to NYC, I'll go. Even if its an exam day. I'll have broken limbs for 48 hours or something.

my gut feeling still says that she's already done with releasing singles & probably decide to head onto the whole no singles just album releases route

If not , why she released Party Queen without the backing of any physical singles ? & frankly , quite a lot of songs on there have the potential to be released as singles themselves , such as Return Road

since both her #1 streak for both her studio & best albums are now gone , why tampered with her #1 single streak ? :x

^ Yeah, I think this too! It explains why she no longer desires to release singles. That, or she feels as if she has proved herself (which she has, fifty singles is no small feat).

But then again, I always imagined Ayu going to 60 singles.
Perhaps I'm tapping into some kind of psychic channel? :D

Party Queen was a one-time thing, for now. Until she does it again, I think it's safe to say that she will eventually release more singles.

I think the only people that care about her number 1's is this forum.
if Avex wanted to get a number 1 album they would of released ASB last week.

she doesnt care nor does avex..
its not like they get anything for it.

Yeah, Avex, ayu, and I think most of Japan has accepted that she's way past her hey day. I don't care about charts at this point, I just want ayu to keep releasing new songs.

that's true
There was a japanese article circulating which spoke about ayu's current career state.
Apparently she's going to get major budget cuts or something like that.
Her CDs no longer break even with promotion costs and such (is what I read).

lol I'm not ayumi so I'm not in the position to say anything about this xD

To me frankly , #1's ain't everything . Heck , I support so many artistes & even my most fave artiste BREAKERZ doesn't have any #1 to speak of in their discography but does this bother me a lot ? hell no

I just feel that this year is quite a weird year for ayumi in all aspects . Already with no release of singles for the past 2 years (even longer than the gap between BLUE BIRD & glitter/fated) & then releasing an album without any physical singles , it's so unlike her

Now I'm just waiting to see what will be her next music move will be . Hopefully after she's done with the tour & a-nation performances , she can start to properly release music in the manner that she has been doing all this while

LOL, major budget cuts... I dont think something like that will happen..
manly because the japanese business doesnt run like that.
Not that she has been spending a lot of money on anything anyways... lol.
Plus, she sells more then most people in the music career right now, and thats saying a lot. She still brings in lots of money for avex just being Ayumi..
and the fact that she owns a small part of the company... well she can do just about anything she wants.

I definitely believe that the quality of music >>>>>>>> chart positions.

^ that is true. and most good works never get to the top.
Ayumi was just an exception... lol ( i mean look whos going to get number 1 next week... -.-)

EDIT:
and I forgot about koda kumi and Hikki

Yeah, I do feel like sometimes the artists that DO sell so much and make it to #1, are EXTREMELY undeserving of it. Although I know that's subjective.

This. :yes

I wouldnt say they are undeserving... i mean everyone that goes into the industry works hard at what they do.
Its just all about the right time and right place...
I just hate that there is generally good music out there that doesnt see the light of day because what is popular at the time is over shadowing it.
(Crystal Kay VIVID, Ayumi Party Queen, Koda Kumi...) The list goes on.. I could even name some people that have great music, but hardly ever chart.

^EXACTLY! ESPECIALLY for VIVID...that album did horribly and it shouldn't have.

^ YES! I know.. I am in lvoe with that album right now...
Rising Sun makes me want to write!! I love it... ! ::cries for the injustice::

Agreed :yes

Seems like ayu is one of those artists in my list this year that are "struggling to stay afloat"... :(

holy crap people... lol
its not the end of the world that she gets a number 2.
I mean... start worrying when her top spot is 15 and then disappears after the first week.

as of right now, she is still selling lots (compare to a tone of other artist). and I have been told she is number 1 on itunes??
this is the digital age.
plus, as long as she is in the top 10 the company will still fund her to make as much music as she wants.
although she may not be able to do those 1 million dollar videos.

#1's ain't all that for an artiste & doesn't mean every single artiste that gets #1 all the time on Oricon really if not truly deserves so

you should ask yourself , you support an artiste just because he/she keeps getting straight #1's on Oricon ? that's so super shallow . I support an artiste because of the work he/she does

just think of how many artistes out there that produces extremely great music but can't get their releases to debut at #1 if not chart at Oricon to begin with

every year theirs something like this. True or not, ayumi's name will always sell stories

:yes:yes:yes:yes
I think the same

But it's me that adopted the idealism that everything that has Ayu's name on it will surely and certainly be a grand slam. I'm sorry but I'm just used to her being no. 1 in whatever chart/aspect there is. :(


Oh well, guess I should embrace reality now.

+1
Ayu is an old singer. When I see that she was number one during so much time I'm surprise. Her longevity in the chart is really long for a solo artist.
I feel like people think that she'll be number one forever. But the most important thing is not the chart. It's the fact that she's number one in our heart.
Oricon is not important & doesn't mean good music. Watch the top 30 of each week & really, you'll see that there is few good music, people.

5th Day
Position: #2
Sales: 6,861
Total Sales: 74,135

If there won't be an increase tomorrow then it will unfortunately won't outsell Party Queen.

Quite sad, but still it's not a flop for a release. For a best, though, it is. :dead2


Still hoping for a miracle! :)

I kinda thought this will sell a lot but it looks like it's not. Oh well, #2 is better than #20 anyway, so I'm not that worried. :)

I actually thought that it would sell 80,000-100,000 in total but at least it will exceed my own "bad" expectation lol.

I'm still happy she can make the top 5 even if it isn't number 1.

me too.. i thought it would sell like 60k on its debut week..

It could stay in the charts for awhile... we dont know.
Because it was sold out in a lot of p[laces, people my buy a lot of copes the next week.
While it wont get number one... it might get number two or 3 because of this.

well, actually it sells normally. there was almost NO promotion for this album. yes, we have 2 billboards in Shibuya, 2 buses riding in SHibuya, 3 magazines released with her on the cover and only one tv-live. is it enough to make it sell well? I doubt so. I'm in Tokyo now and I hoped to hear You & Me in the shops and etc., but all I hear is LOVE CHASE by Yamapi, Kaze ga fuiteru by Ikimonogakari, Gingham Check by AKB and ANDROID by Tohoshinki. also some new songs from Kuwata Keisuke. that's all. no ayu. no ayu at all! I heard her songs only in Rainbow House.

oh, and I saw the CM of ASB on TV right after she performed on FNS.

idk, but nobody actually cares about this Best. and btw, I've seen SMAP's new album ads in conbini and other places. I also saw lots of billboards of Kuwata Keisuke's new album.

I believe, that if there was more promotion, this album would sell well. Ayu herself and avex.. I guess, they don't care about sales and no.1 strike anymore.

even if tv-programmes don't invite her anymore, I'm sure she could perform there if she wanted to.

Maybe this will be a signal to Ayu and Avex that they shouldn't be sloppy with her releases. This album is definitely not worth my money, and neither was Party Queen.

Avex definitely cares about sales. My guess is, they aren't promoting her more because they don't see the returns in sales; its not worth it to spend tons of money on promotion if the sales aren't really going to change.

Yeah, I don't think promotion is going to do much at this point in her career. Could a lot of promotion help sales? I guess there's the slight potential. But I think people are just over her and I don't think there's any use trying to shove her down people's throats when they don't care.

She's only released two mini-albums though... Lol.

ayumi is going the way of Seiko..
she was always be making music, but its only natural for her not to be on top for forever.

But I don't see the point :shrug. Artists need promotions to gain sales and attention.

If you don't promote your product, who would buy it? Nobody. I feel it's like avex don't know how to promote Ayu properly and thinking instead: 'well, she's ayumi hamasaki so we don't need any specific promo for her'. That's wrong. It doesn't matter if there are billions of trucks playing her latest song around Tokyo or big billboards in Shibuya. If the promotion is not good, the sales would be the same.

I agree that she needs promotion, but I think that if Avex resists promoting her forwhatever reason, she should step up and do something about it. I find it hard to believe that she has no say if they refuse to promote her but I think it her or her team that isnt doing a good enough job. So what if she has to ask to be on shows? After her unprofessional behaviour with MS then can we blame music shows for not wanting to book her? I think it's her who is expecting to be able to sell without any real promotion or effort. I mean, It just boggles my mind why a summer best that only needed ONE song to be recorded, ONE PV to be shot and a handfull of pics only gets released when summer is nearly over.

Worry not guys. It's Ayu we're talking about here. She never failed to surprise us, and she's been doing that for almost 14 years. Who knows? She may have something that can again shock the music scene.

Does that mean Ayu is gonna release compilation after compilation?
Just look at Seiko's discography: (Bible, Bible 2, Bible 3 and Complete Bible. Bible 2 to Complete Bible was a span of TWO years give or take a few months).

Because going the way of Seiko also means to release anything. In 20 years, she released over 30 bests.
I don't want to see any more best albums until after 2-3 more albums.

^ even though she releases so many best, the woman also releases about an album every year.
And most of Seiko's best albums are from the peak of her career.
Also, you dont have to buy the best.

"well, she's ayumi hamasaki so we don't need any specific promo for her'. That's wrong."

I think if that were the case, AVEX would have figured that out a couple of years ago.

She still got huge amounts of promotion up until after A Best 2 and her promotion slowly started dying off after that and I would imagine that it was because despite the obvious huge amount of money avex put into promo and into really lavish PVs, her sales were not rising, they were not even remaining stable really. So from Avex's perspective, why throw tons of promo behind her if the sales aren't going to go up? Also, honestly the promo for A Summer Best was not that bad. That billboard position in Shibuya is one of the best and I would imagine is the most expensive place to have one. Plus there was a tv performance and magazines....It's not a lot of promo, but that's honestly more than what most of her releases have gotten in the last couple of years.

ayu used to be known for her remarkable marketing strategy in Japan
it was written in many articles
she used to be called as an avex product

but since 2010 her marketing team starts going down hill in promoting ayu

many Japanese people had been tired of her n starts leaving her..

n as i remember correctly
tv station doesn't blacklist her
i remember when ayu tweeted when she released FIVE she got many invitation from tv station but she end up not performing anywhere...

I agree with the promos. Her last well promoted album was RnRC. Love songs barely made it because of the 50th single anniversary project but without those that album could have been flopped. FIVE we got ToX tie in, some CMs, some billboards, that's all. And I don't want to elaborate about Party Queen. :dead2

I really don't care how she sells. The only thing that matters to me, is the quality of her music.

Which I guess depends on her funding by Avex. Which in turn comes back to sales.

Which means I should care about sales.

It's just one big loop!!!!

um i think promoting might not bring that much of the new audience and bigger sales for her in this case, cuz she's been in the industry for so long. Maybe just people who used to like her but forgotten about her after a while. Of course every bought copy counts but, i dunno if she could get new fans. *shrugs* Plus all people who already are fans most probably have all her albums and bests, if not for the continet of it then for the heck of collecting.

I never realized that. Good one. :laugh

I agree on these two. I think her run for going at the top is already long enough, give the others a chance! And based on the trends surrounding the Japanese pop music, we're far off away from the peak now...

Yeah, this is quite something that I am missing now... Ayu performing on TV shows very barely... (and I still haven't watched her FNS performance yet!!!)

Agreed as well :yes

6th Day
Position: #3
Sales: 5,660

Total 6 day sales - 79,795

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2012-08-12/

ASB's 1st week sales will be slightly higher than the NINKI no. given (79.90) but still , this's really unfortunate :no

A best album should have sold more than a studio album & not the opposite D:

i really missing SECRET, NEXT LEVEL AND ROCK N ROLL CIRCUS era !!!

^ couple years late for that...

looks like this is the end of the road...my only hope for her get back to popularity is through A BEST 3...

i will be more realistic from now on...i keep my faith on her...i still see her fans love her...and still well known (i know this when i took a picture in front of Rimmel poster, many people saw that and said...ooo..ayumi...ayumi).

It's hard to stay on top...but Namie can back to the top...i don't see why Ayu can't do that...

ASB not doing that bad, but really-really low for my expectation...to see the number...is really hard to accept..very sad...just so sad...

i love you, Ayu...i will keep support you no matter what..

People actually want a single.

Yeah, this is quite unfortunate... :(

The recent trends of ayu (over the past year or two) has recently made me focus too less of her and more of Sayuri Sugawara/miwa/Leo Ieiri/AKB48 for me... :(

the sad part is because she hasnt released a single in two years!!
TWO YEARS!
I cant believe it...
she must be planning something big for her 15th anny.

I wouldn't expect more than A BEST 3 hahaha XD

Or maybe she just doesn't see a point in releasing singles anymore. Come to think of it, the only reason to release singles is promotion really. She's proven to us that without singles, she can release much more cohensive (-> better) albums.

Maybe people don't want to buy the same songs they own over singles, multiple bests and albums...

Don't people get it? This is a Kuu-style COMPLETELY unnecessary best album, just like A COMPLETE. That's the reason this isn't selling well. Sure, promotion comes into play too, but I've seen a lot more for this album than I did for Party Queen. Party Queen had a few tiny billboards and that was it. But still, this is a complete waste of time. Ayu's my favorite singer and I have absolutely no desire to buy this, and I doubt it's gonna grab casuals either, because chances are they have most of these songs already as well. If they don't, they can always get the other bests for much cheaper used or something.

There's no need to say "this is the end for Ayu" based on this album's sales. It's obvious her popularity has declined, but everyone still knows her. How long exactly does anyone expect her to have stayed on top? Even Britney Spears can't sell as well as some newer, more popular artists now (and I think she debuted around the same time as Ayu). Her sales have gradually declined, and they'll keep declining, with a few decent hits here and there. She isn't going to have a million (or even 500k) selling single or album again. But what does it matter? We don't listen to her for her sales. She's going to keep making music probably for at least another 10 years, so I don't think anyone needs to panic...unless of course the music goes to **** (which, apart from FIVE, it hasn't).

Promotional tracks have the same promotional potential of a single.

Maybe if Ayu were to release a single...

^ yes.

I don't think she needs singles.

Why should she?

When you think about it, singles barely even make sense. Why buy something just for a few songs? And considering how much Japan loves to download everything...where's the incentive?

It's just for her fan base of collectors now.

Anyway. I really don't understand why people keep saying this is "A BEST". No, it's not really. It's not the same. It's a summer best. It might as well be like Koda's summer remix album. It's just a mix of summer songs.

^ Thats what I said about the "best." This isnt the best of her disco. its the best of her summer hits.

Anyways... the the whole single debate is mainly because the Japanese public loves singles.
May it be physical or digitial, I think singles keep people fresh in their minds.
I mean, look at AKB and their sister acts.
Or all the boy acts.
Singles are very relevant in the Japanese society.

They are, but they're becoming less so for anyone who isn't immediately popular.

They're going to have to address one day, that there are very few groups selling well with singles, and even less solo artists.

I think you could say the ones doing well with singles are mainly the ones known for "obsessive" fans, especially otaku fans. And especially the ones that use promotional tricks like "buy one to vote for your favorite member!". Nana Mizuki has seen a rise in single sales rather than a decline and is now one of the bestselling solo females in that area - and it's obvious a big part are her otaku fans. AKB48 are ****ing gigantic - and they seem to almost only have otaku fans and use promotional tricks like crazy to promote buying several copies of the same single.
That's how you sell singles now. To hardcore fans and by making them feel they need to buy them - not to casual listeners, you sell downloads to casual listeners - and you can usually download every song of an album individually, hence little need for singles when you have promotional songs.