again im gonna say this: singles were popular back then. singles r slowly becoming unpopular since its much more realistic to just buy the album w/the songs from the singles in it.

I know that. That's why the sale numbers were posted, to compare sales then and now, you don't have to state the obvious.

It always been more realistic to buy the album w/ the songs from the single in it. Singles sales are declining because of download.

And BTW, album sales are still declining. In 2003 more albums were sold then in 2005.

Actually, it makes the record companies less interested in investing in new artists, because the old ones are "safer".

Maybe people just wanna save money? I know there are music programs in Japan that people can get free music off of.

Combined total sales of the Top 50 albums of the year:
2005 32,320,732
2004 29,259,465
2003 29,732,880
2002 38,316,120
2001 56,368,710

2005 albums sold more than 2003 albums by about 2.6M

Combined total sales of the Top 50 singles of the year:
2005 17,623,441
2004 16,299,111
2003 19,174,236
2002 20,765,120
2001 32,463,340

2005 singles sold more than 2004 singles by about 1.3M. if single sales were really affected by DL, then y would we have an increase this yr? yes, i do admit DL is part of the problem, not 100% n when u compare it to other countries, japan's DL "problem" isnt really that big

link: http://www.jpopmusic.com/forums/view...=asc&start=225 [its in 1 of the posts]

i mentioned that cos u mentioned this:
y mention the obvious when we can c that SMAP'S 181,908 achieved #1 in 2005, while it can only acheive #6 in 2000.

btw, its "Seishun Amigo" not "Seishun no Amigo"

Look at the numbers of 2001 and 2002, there's such a huge gap between! What happened in 2002? :o

It wasn't suppose to be. I was just showing her best selling singles

What happend in 2001 was Ayumi and Utada selling over 4 million copies. In 2002, nobody sold that.

Oh, OK, I tought it was interesting :)

i see

thats crazy how much that "shuji to akira" single sold! i loved the drama and all, but the songs werent all that great...

Utada Hikaru kicks butt.

1. Automatic / time will tell > Sold Copies: total 2,063,000 [1998]
2. Movin' on without you > Sold Copies: total 1,227,000 [1999]
4. Addicted To You > Sold Copies: 1,784,000 [1999]
5. Wait & See ~リスク~ > Sold Copies: 1,662,000 [2000]
7. Can You Keep A Secret? > Sold Copies: 1,485,000 [2001]

WOW. The difference between the sales in the first post with the sales are now are just WOW.

Yeah, Dustie. her singles used to sell like CRAZYYY.

People are just getting too lazy to move their butts to get those singles. :laugh

I miss those good old days...

yep i blame internet downloading....i hardly ever download music and keep it. i usually keep it for a few days just long enough to see if i like it, then i buy it. but since online sales don't count, the music is suffering even more because a lot of people cant go to the store and buy it (think of me, living in kentucky, wanting an Ayu cd) i spend 30 dollars that doesnt even count.

interesting, according to ORICON, Addicted To You is Hikki's best selling single. I always thought that was a little strange.

^I think it's because of the 8cm CD + 12cm CD additions?

^Yup, the official explanation given was that the 8cm and the 12cm releases were considered as two separate products, and hence the appearance of both on Oricon charts.

A part of the reason is also the decline in number of teens and youth which were the core consumers of bubblegum pop/popular music and culture. As the population ages, CD sales decline. Old people buy less music.

Right now, the japanese economy is considered to have one of it's most promising years in a long time, but CD sales this year aren't as great.

CD sales haven't ever been as high as in the 90's, and might not ever get back up, as legal downloads and not so legal downloads are getting more common. CD is definetly outdated in some ways, like the LP became outdated by the introduction of CDs. Of course, the sales of virtually any goods, including CDs may increase in China, but as chinese wealth raises, it will probably have more impact on the amount legal downloads than on the CD's sales as Cd's will e old news already.

If the sales are to incease elsewhere, the birthrate will have to go up, or some music shopping craze must hit the older generation, and that will probably rather increase the sales of enka. :P