most likely that's true. It's kind-of impossible to rise in sales in this digital era, with low general sales for CDs. ESPECIALLY if you've been the queen of pop like Ayu has for like 13 years.
But.. This only means Ayu has to work increasingly harder so keep in the top10 of yearly music sales.
I can only expect her to release loads of singles and albums, remix, dvds and such in 2011, and do LOTS of touring. 1 album with 200~300k sales simply isn't enough anymore ^_^

Wow duh Ayu is gonna beg the #1 position lets' not get too surprised here.

ugh I hate this! AVEX is gonna milk her even harder :weep

I think that the smartest move right now would be to reinvent herself once again, but I'm not talking about just changing her hair, but also her musical style, pvs, etc. I think Love songs is just another step to musical perfection :O

What I mean is that for example, Madonna is been around for 3 decades, and ayu still has more albums and videoclips than her. Ayu is done what Madonna is done in 3 decades and more in around 1 decade only! Which is just mad :laugh

Ayu's music has a style that is very familiar to us all, and we get "bored" or used to it, but if we heard these present songs a few years ago, We would have been so overwhelmed :thud

Ninki only goes up to 400 doesn't it? 200 still is a VERY good result!

me too.... >.< though it's sad...

Haha yea Ayu has more albums than Madonna. Isn't that fantastic? ^_^ But.. I think that if Ayu REALLY reinvented herself, a lot of fans would be disappointed.. PLUS, it's hard to get new fans, cause everyone already knows the name Ayumi Hamasaki, and whether she makes good or bad music, they already 'like or dislike' her ;p... Gradual change is safer.

Like Dream On.. Ayu is testing a new genre. But not in her own single, but in someone else's. If this fails, it's okay. If it's a success, I bet Ayu wil think about doing this genre solo too :)

No.

If re-invention means singing the same stuff Namie or Kana do, then plz no. We have enough generic pop princess singing tra-la-la R'n'B-wanna-be songs about relationships. And in my eyes Dream ON was an epic fail, so once again - no, plz. If anything Ayu should dig into rock more.

No at it only going to 400 or it being a good result? If the latter:
Why? Most artist's releases are somewhere between 20 and 150. If Ayu has her album, her SECOND album of the year without very much promotion, at 200 IMO that's very good. And even if that ends up "only" translating to like 150k album sales I'd still call that very good.

YAYY for big bro and lil sis!!

Yes. Check arashi's NINKI, they usally go above 400 points.

Hm...where does it stop then? 500?

Of course she has more albums than Madonna! Madonna takes no less than 2 years for each album, and Ayu is one each year NON-STOP. Her level of work is INSANE! She has been working her ass since she started! Also japanese system is very different from the rest. The way to release singles before albums and all that kind of stuff... Ayu must be the musician that has worked that much in history!! She has never stopped! She deserves to be a LEGEND!! Oh wait... she already is... :D

Not really sure tbh, there should be 400 people taking the poll, still there might be indexes and stuff the points get multiplied with.

I hope 'Love songs' sell well.

Ayu already does enough rock. She mixes rock with pop more than any other genre. Rock wouldn't be something new or progressive, it would just be more of the same old. If you want more rock listen to a rock band. :innocent

And making Dream ON-like tunes would be new and progressive now that those kinda of songs have been *****d for years in Japan? If you want more stuff like that there is plenty to choose from. I'd say she does what she's good at instead of trying to please the masses with stuff everyone else's already doing :innocent

Now see, I didn't say that. I'm all for Ayu doing what she wants to do instead of doing stuff to please you. :innocent :rolleyes

i smell low sales for Love songs although NINKI doesn't really show anything ! ^^!wish the best for u,Ayu !

We are all used to it now arn't we?