Yeah, Southern All Stars. :eviltongu

Ayu getting 'unlucky' #4...better than Colours, but then again I don't know what the view is regarding the physical sales.

2015 is not the same as 2012, 2010 or any other year, that's for sure.

Just think, she sold 20k more copies this year than her one time rival ami suzuki

6th day -#5

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2015-04-12/

Southern All Stars could rank #2 overall now on the 2nd week , they sold 17,087 copies yesterday oO

^ gosh '--' everyone's sales went up =\

What's Ami Suzuki even doing these days? I used to love her. There's still a few songs by her that I listen to occasionally

Tending to her strawberry farm.

I wonder if it has passed the zutto single yet...

It will probably pass it on the 2nd week for sure.
And you have to write the whole name of the single!
Zutto.../Last minute/Walk please, on every type!!

j/k lol. ;)

^LOL I thought about it but I'm like...that's too much!

Lol for real? I wouldn't be surprised as I heard sifow became a rice farmer:p

I'm dead serious, lol

edit: Receipts

She was selling special commemorative 15th anniversary strawberries.

https://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m...fhi2o1_400.gif

Queen of strawberries
When will Ayu.
At least Ayu has an oricon chart position. The queen of strawberries has been N/A for a while now.

#3 ONENESS - miwa (50,255)
#4 A ONE - ayumi hamasaki (34,692)
#5 Fantastic Funfair - Mimori Suzuko (18,051)

#4 but sales < Colours :no:no:no

BUY THIS ALBUM U JAPANESE PPL IT'S PERFECTION

No matter how good the album is, if she doesn't do tons of tv lives/force herself into the japanese public eye (in a good way, she needs to make up for all her 2012 scandals), she won't sell.

A ONE is ranked #4 overall & Barks wrote that she has set another Oricon record again :O

Supposedly most number of Top 10 releases attained by a female solo act ?

http://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000114638

^So, Ayu keeps breaking records even when she fails? Good!

Oh dear why is the sales worse than colour?!

2nd Week
1st Day: Position: #6

Well, at least she got an achivement XD

I wrote it as -Solo artist with most albums (48 Studio/Mini/Compilation/Remix) in top 10

correct me if it's wrong.

A ONE definitely should have sold more given that this time round avex ramped up the promo a lot more than Colours

Even though it couldn't get #1 , hey at least there's another Oricon achievement attained which's not so bad

Those Oricon achievements are kind of laughable...

this shows that Colours wasn't that bad in public eye :yes i thought it had low sales because of the style of the album but this is the proof i was wrong

Because sales don't ever really go up from one album to the next. The last time she outsold the previous album was probably Duty 15 years ago (if you don't count compilations since those always sell the most).

I wonder how much A BEST 3 would sell (IF she decides to release it).

That scare me a little bit :( Maybe she can release A best of her "more dance" track (with new vocals or versions)

That's so awesome. And super random. Ami still looks great! Must be all those strawberries.

I can't remember any artist who actually likes to release compilations of his work, but the point is if she will or not care about holding a huge number with it. She won't easily sell over 100k with a compilation promoting it only on radio stations and internet.

Queen of record setting.

Well MY STORY sold more than Memorial address and there still should be a drop between mini albums to studio albums released afterwards (like FIVE>Party Queen). =P

Regardless, depending on how you count it, it was 10-15 years ago lol

Is it a huge drop ?

tbh I kind of felt that this album is more of a promotional tool to promot AT2015.

^ and she ended up only performing 3 or 4 songs from it :(

+-4k sales... Her lowest drop ever, I think.

At least it's quite consistent since Feel the love, eh? I wonder if Japanese don't use social media often so they tend to rely on TV appearances for new releases.

I'm quite disappointed at the numbers. 34,692 compared to 39,295. :(

Oh, why does this have to happen!? (What's even more surprising is Southern All Stars - they stole #2 away from miwa! I heard miwa also had quite a drop since her last album 'Delight'; her drop was much more than Ayu's. :caa)

Small win there, but it's meaningless when she gets overshadowed by Masaharu Fukuyama, miwa, and even Southern All Stars...

I'm not sure why. What happened to the Ayu fans recently???

I think it will not sell more thatn 42k copies

ayu pattern from 2004 - each next album sells less and less, and quality doesn't matter

2nd day on the 2nd week - #16

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2015-04-14/p/2/

The general public does not really care about Ayu.

They are. But AKB fans are just too excited about beating ayu in each one of this records...

If the album was released today it would be #2 ^^

Yeah, since the time she stopped selling 200k+ copies you can say she's been relying on her fanbase, but now with her sales dropping and dropping can we assume that her fanbase is getting smaller and smaller ?

+ AKB48 can't break ayu records because they're a group (and a huuuuuge one) whereas ayu is a soloist.

Numbers don't lie and ayu's fan base getting smaller is one of my biggest concerns. Last/zutto/walk got a lot of attention so there's hope. Aren't akb48 the primary 48 but there's like 5 other 48 girls groups? Just wondering.

To be honest AKB48 sounds to me like a bunch of sheep screaming under a Christmas tree. They can get as many awards and break as many records as they want For all I care xD

LOOOOOOL SCATTER MY ASHES TO A FAR-EAST WIND; I AM DEAD

2nd Day Position: #16

Not that bad.

Will it cross 40k?
At least now the gaps between albums are gonna get smaller and smaller. Even if the next album's chart position is N/A it'll still be smaller than other gaps.

Never have I imagined living in a world where ayumi hamasaki struggles to sell 50k.

[shrugs]. At least quality-wise I'm very satisfied with this album.

Quality-wise her albums sell 20,000,000 each and are the best selling albums in Japan for all I care, same for her singles and DVDs/Blu-rays :laugh

She still attracts 300k+ people to watch her live every year, between Arena Tours, CDLs and festival performances, and she is only behind Namie on that department nowadays if I'm not wrong.

Younger generation doesn't care about her recent releases, and people who follows her (and watch her live) are over that age you buy everything an artist released just because it has their name on the cover... So, she isn't having massive hits or selling loads of copies, but she is far from being irrelevant or even at risk of getting there.

I still believe she would benefit a lot sales-wise of stop having yearly releases and tours.

These things don't that matter... It's more for the fans/avex rather than ayu herself (as she is swimming in money anyway and still earn loads of tours/tie-ins/goods sales and other stuff - and also for these decent sales). Of course she uses avex for what she needs though.

"I’m not scared of losing what I had anymore" - WARNING.

She can do whatever she want without fear of losing fans or selling less.

^I don't care about declining sales as much. It's been a trend since like 2002. As long as she keeps producing music and is true to herself, I'll always be a fan.

People should also take into account that perhaps people simply download Ayu's songs and albums nowdays.

^That's true. Also, oricon doesn't count international sales anymore so, even if the international copies sold aren't that many, the "official oricon numbers" aren't at all looking at the whole picture.

And Oricon doesn't count copies sold on the venue of a concert, no?

Ayumi Hamasaki is a really popular artist in YesAsia every year, and for being J-Pop, she sells at level of Kpop group in that page. Specially her concerts.

It would be interesting if Avex can give the real number of sales for their artists. They should know what they sent to shop and what remains in their stock!

They count a percentage of the copies sold at concert venues--I can't recall if it's 20% of copies sold or if it's that 1 in every 3 copies sold is counted. Can someone clarify?

I feel like I remember seeing her sales numbers according to avex released in their annual shareholders' reports, but I haven't seen one of those in a long long time.

The day is fast approaching where people no longer buy physical albums! That's a scary thought to me :( I love owning physical albums; they're some of my favorite possessions! whahah

1/3 I believe^^

That's what I feel too but on the other hand, if her sales continue to worsen then she might not be able to release music in the future

Thanks. Not bad, it seems.

She can release music as long as she wants to regardless of sales (as long as there is avex).
Just look at other artists who were really popular and don't sell well nowadays (and they still tour in arenas) like seiko matsuda for example.

btw the achivement ayu got is because she passed matsutoya yuming's record of a solo female having the most top 10 albums (47) and ayu has 48.

Well yeah, but ayu is too deeply embedded in music for that option. Even then, nothing last forever. I hope she continues to make music, even though I don't always love everything she released. Hopefully, this album have some legs. It deserves better sales.

3rd day on the 2nd week - #10

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2015-04-15/

I wonder how 's about Namie Amuro's sales ?
Don't know why Namie can have the high sales although she and Ayu is all the great Diva !

It's way better than yesterday ♥

4th day on the 2nd week - #11

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2015-04-16/p/2/

I think the sales just reflect the time we live in. Agreed she doesn't have the biggest fan base she had but also they don't include her digital sales. I think that if it did, her position would be higher as it is a more convenient way for everyday music listener, more so in Japan too. Physical sales are nothing compared to digital sales nowadays, but the music industry still holds onto the whole physical side more. They also don't count overseas purchaces too

The sale of any singer can increase from by this logic ... It doesn't change nothing...

I think she used to sell more tickets so Saitama Super Arena configuration for her shows was bigger, and for the current tour its capacity was reduced to Yoyogi numbers or even less.

Nothing last forever, except Matsuda Seiko's career :laugh she is like the ayu from the 80's still releasing things even if she's not selling that well anymore ;) so don't care about ayu, she will never be in misono's case

This. This. This. :yes

I did notice a decrease as well!! :(

It's getting to the point where CD sales do not matter. Ticket sales and things is what is going to count.

Agreed so.

I have to wonder...when will Japan start to make its 'final', 'big' change to digital? I know Johnny's artists won't release music on iTunes, hence those sales numbers, and AKB48, despite they're on iTunes, those handshake tickets that they covet...!

But yeah...eventually CD sales might not matter very much. I mean, there's this recent trend of digital music downloads in FLAC format, which is starting to gain some traction...

In Ayu's case, it really changes a thing. A One debuted at #3 on the digital chart of Japan, just behind A BEST and Southern All Stars album. miwa debuted at #5 for example. Since the A BEST domination last year, she gained a lot of presence on the digital market.

Of cos the money generated from the current sales... it's too little to be a major factor. But IF the sale is still 300-400,000. It's a big deal. Being on the chart is actually a big matter as endorsement comes from current popularity. No brand would want a old, unpopular star when they could get a popular star instead.

Unpopular, yeap, you are right, but old no. The star a brand uses for promotion must have appeal with the public the brand is aiming for... Kana Nishino, Kyary and AKB48 doesn't sell for women over 50, but Seiko Matsuda, Akina Nakamori and Matsutoya Yumi do.

Speaking of the whole Oricon achievement, Seiko didn't manage to beat Ayu on that? She's released over 100 albums of material, and more than half of them didn't chart in the Top 10?

Apparentely no, Oricon would no as they are oricon.

A BEST was #1 weekly on recochoku albums charts last week. Wow! It's really timeless there!

Seiko sales sinked HARD during the 2nd decade of her career... She even had a massive hit single that didn't really translate into album sales. Ayu at her worst still is on the same sales level of most soloists

I wonder why digital sales are so low in Japan. If people stop buying physical copies, aren't they switching to digital downloads? And the piracy policy is strict in Japan which should encourage legal downloads.

^It seens like recent acts benefit a lot more of digital releases, but idols cause made it unbalanced by making up reasons to convince their hardcore fandom buying several copies of their stuff...

I mean, how much of AKB48 physical sales aren't just from people trying to vote for their favorite girl or meeting them?

Umm, physical sales are the bulk of the Japanese market, especially when it comes to album sales. Everyday music listeners are inclined to buy singles online (and by singles I mean the single's title track only), but not albums. I mean only one album has been certified digitally by the RIAJ (the Frozen soundtrack which was certified Gold for selling 100k digitally).

If we're talking about singles, the digital market definitely matters, but for albums it's a completely different story.



She is the new Seiko.



Can you even buy FLAC digitally anywhere in Japan but OTOTOY?

I think a lot of people are thinking that the circumstances in the Western market are the same as the Japanese market but this is false.

I don't think that Oricon will include digital anytime soon. I mean if anything, digital has been put on the back burner by the industry these past few years in light of the discontinuation of the RIAJ Digital Track Chart. They said they were going to retool it a few years ago about but they killed it instead. Since then all we've had to go on are charts from different online stores and RIAJ digital certifications.

5th day on the 2nd week - #10

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2015-04-17/

piracy is still pretty high in japan due to the strictness is to uploading, not downloading. You hear more stories about people who have uploaded things then the masses of people who have downloaded them.

Not so bad

United World Chart - 1st week - #19

http://www.mediatraffic.de/albums.htm

(Colours was #17)

6th day on the 2nd week - #11

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2015-04-18/p/2/

out of top 10 this week :headache:headache:headache

Her tour dates actually increased for a while with some of the longest tours she's ever done up until like A BEST LIVE or around there.

You have to take in count that the rental CD shops are a big deal in Japan, you can always rip the CD without paying the full price

I see, I didn't know about it, thank you for telling.

7th day on the 2nd week - #12

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2015-04-19/p/2/

I can tell I have grown up because I used to be obsess about Oricon numbers 5-10 years ago. Now it really doesn't matter to me. I love A ONE and can listen to it all day. It was cool when Ayu was on top, but a #1 album doesn't mean anything about the quality! I will always support Ayu regardless of how much she sells! :)

She's #14 today.

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2015-04-20/p/2/

2nd Week
Position: #12
Sales: 5,845
Total sales: 40,537

3rd Week
1st Day: Position: #14

Thanks brener, not so bad!

Yeah, numbers are still good ;)

I don't get why she's #12 because to me she's been switching between #10 and #11 the whole week.

I hope she can reach 50 000 :c