I think a lot of people have hit a lot of different factors on the head here. First of all, I want to say that for the current economic situation, Ayu's sales ARE very good. No, not as good as Mr. Children or DTC, but good.

While people do enjoy entertainment more during a recession, I do think that there is another factor in Japan that people aren't thinking about much. That is CD rental. I've been talking to some of my Japanese friends, and right now they are saying "I don't have the money to buy, I'll wait for album ABC to be released for rental." Every major Japanese CD release is available for rental about 2-3 weeks after it's released for purchase. Many people wait and rent. They don't buy it physically or digitally, they rent it and copy it that way.

This means that people who are my students age (high school) d/l one or two songs they really love to their keitai, and rent CDs later on. Same with people in their early 20's, from what I've heard from friends. The people who buy physical albums are typically skewed older - from their late 20's and up. Why? Because they have better paying jobs, and are used to buying physical CDs. Therefore, bands that appeal to an older crowd, such as DCT and Mr. Children, sell well, while Ayu, who skews younger (aside from her established fan base) won't sell as much.

Ayu is still popular, some people call her an oba-san, but most people say she is still "kawaii" and I have heard GREEN played from a student's phone between classes, as well as seen the A symbol attached to a student's bag. One of my HS classes even actually sang and danced to Inspire for the school festival.

In other words - don't worry about sales in terms of Ayu's popularity, she's still going strong. Not as strong as 2002, but she's not going to disappear anytime soon. :innocent

One thing the recession is definitely affecting is the advertising industry, which may be the reason for Ayu's lack of presence in TV lives/magazines (although I must admit that her declining popularity in Japan is not really helping (IMO)). Since demand for goods and services are decreasing, the need for advertising is almost useless. It's definitely the top cost-cutter for a company and I think it's most logical to believe that Avex and all the companies in the world should be doing. I'm currently interning in a paper company and our top customers are American and Canadian advertising companies. To the least, our company is doing quite poorly during this quarter.

I agree with SunshineSlayer that we cannot place the blame totally on the recession since these sales do not accurately reflect the whole story. Other factors include popularity, technology advances, other advertising gimmicks, etc. With regards to the current 2-day sales, one thing I must say is that Ayu's 3-versions+usb gimmick is a nonachievement.

One thing about this 'economic crisis' is that I thought with NEXT LEVEL being so carefree and non-stressful, people would buy it to relieve themselves.

It's too early to say if my thoughts are right or wrong, but we'll see. Sales are still really good at this point, so oh well.

OT... but will people say hikki as oba-san nowadays? :P or they still have nice words to her like they do to B'z and Mr. Children?

I always feel that Japanese artists, especially the females, have short life spans (as artists). Once a female artist hits 25 or something like that, she will be oba-san to the teenagers..

And to be honest, I have already accepted the fact that ayu isn't that popular since 2005 or so. Most artists encounter the same fate: once you hit the top, you start going down. Some artists are not even lucky enough and never be at the top. So at least ayu has her own statue in the music industry (and so does hikki). I'm happy.

I dun think ayu's recent stuff has had that carefree and non-stressful type of music. Next Level was okay but nothing spectacular. There's much better stuff that's out right now that's prolly worth buying before this album. That's just my opinion tho.

But anyway, I quoted you two because I think AVEX were in the wrong for overpricing the albums. =/ That might be a reason as to why it's doing "bad". I mean, AC had the same amount of content and both versions were cheap and set at a reasonable price. I just think the price they are asking for is a bit steep and sort of a rip-off.

^ I think they have always been overpricing albums. In the case of A COMPLETE being cheap it's because of "tenth anniversary price" that AVEX had planned.

Damn..that was a drastic fall.

Well..we'll see how the rest of the week turns out.

Oh I didn't pre-order the albums, so I'm not too sure of the prices... but is it only for Ayu's albums that they're overpriced?

If it's so, then it feels like avex is just greedy for money (evident that they rushed NEXT LEVEL before the end of the Finance year). This feels like the Japan's AIG scandal~ lol

^No. It's not just ayu's album that was overpriced. IDJ overpriced Utada's lastest album as well. 3000 yen for 10 tracks. I mean, come on. You don't know have to know how to count money to know that's a rip-off. I think someone said Exodus was sold at a much cheaper price. They didn't even try to give people reason to buy TITO. :dead Not only Utada's album but BoA's album as well. I just dun think her best album was really worth the money either.

It's funny how everyone is still arguing over the sales! xD;

Sure there are a lot of factors that lead to them being what they are, but the fact is 99,200 people bought on (by) the first day, and 48,318 people bought it on the second day (give or take the ones who bought multiple versions). I don't know if Oricon counts every store in the country. But it is what it is.

I was actually one of the people who thought it would sell 700-800K copies total (or 800-900K I can't remember). And I hope it still does, but if it doesn't, it's not the the end of the world. Ayu already wrote a song about that and "If NEXT LEVEL doesn't sell well, the world will stop turning" is no where in the lyrics y'all hahaha.

Well, actually... I can't say that Avex is wrong for overpricing the album. In this current fluctuant economy, prices are very fluid and unstable. Avex may be testing the market to see how much selling power they have, but I guess we now see the poor results. It's actually quite common during booms and recession since the paper company I'm working in is doing the exact same thing. Prices are constantly negotiated due to competitive pricing.

Yes, that is another good point. A lot of people in Japan rent from Tsutaya nowadays. Tsutaya also has a very good second hand cd market goin on. Often times when I'm in Japan even I will buy albums second hand from Tsutaya. For new albums the price difference is usually only 500-1000 yen, but hey, better than nothing.

Tsutaya releases its rental rankings online, so we can check to see how Ayu did. However, I don't know of a place that releases the actual rental figures, just who is number 1, 2 etc.

You make some excellent points as well. But even though they haven't been doing much promo for Ayu, they have been for other artists. Tohoshinki has been getting a lot and Koda Kumi seems to have been on tv almost non stop since December.

For some reason, Hikki always seems to get a special pass for that kind of thing. Probably because people consider her more of an "artist" than an "idol." Although it would be more fair if she took her share of the obaasan comments too. :)

I love Namie, but please lets not get into a big Namie vs. Ayumi fight here. No one will come out the winner.

Lol @ you trying to do a Namie VS Ayumi thing. Just slide on back to your corner listening to nothing but Namie. You're always trying to butt into ayu threads to say something about how Namie is better. Give it up.

Hmmm it's quite a drop but still when we live in an age where you can practically download it anywhere it's still good to see it selling. I bought my copy so I did my small part :P Although I still haven't received it ; ; Hurry up mail lol :D

Anyhow it's nice to see it's #1 but still the music matters most so even if Ayu came in #2 or #3 as long as the musics good I really don't care. I mean, it's "nice" to have another #1 but as long as I'm enjoying Ayu's music and she's happy with the work she's bringing out then I'm happy :)

i am seriously laughing at everyone in this thread who was sure to call TRICK a flop because of it's sales. also the same people who called other jpop albums flops, because of their sales. yet when ayumi sales the same way, she's doing soooo good?

i think i need to stay away from AHS. overdramatic, you people take that word to a whole new level.. or should i say the NEXT LEVEL heghehehehehe

just enjoy the music and be thankful your favorite artist is still funded enough to release music

Thanks to everybody who shared the NEXT LEVEL sales figures! I didn't know JBOOK had such a nifty real-time ranking system. I've also read the many comments in this thread, many of which got me thinking.

It seems Ayu is still in good standing! I'm satisfied with how NEXT LEVEL is selling but admit I was hoping for more. I think sales are as they are not mainly because of the recession but rather older factors, such as the saturation of the music industry and the trend towards digital downloads. I doubt Ayu now commands the same share of the market she did eight years ago, but I too would like NEXT LEVEL to be the top-selling album of the week because I like it very much. It's a cohesive, stylistically different and well-presented album with Ayu's trademark straight-to-the-heart lyrics. It can hit #1 on pure merit, and I hope it tops the weekly chart!

However, I'm not sure if a #1 will mean much to me, considering the sales strategy, which might have been anyone's idea—Matsuura, another senior member of avex or even Ayu herself. Multiple-edition releases mean big bucks for the record company and nice numbers on paper, but frustration and disappointment to fans who have come to expect quality and variety for what they're paying. When Ayu was informally labelled the Empress of J-Pop years ago, she was crowned for her staggering unit and dollar sales as well as the huge amount of unique content regularly released. With new and original material less forthcoming despite the rising number of collectibles, I'm afraid all but the most devoted of her fan base may eventually be eroded. It's nearly impossible to find out, but I'm curious to know how many unique individuals bought NEXT LEVEL in any form, for that sounds like a more accurate measure of success and popularity.

I don't feel the quality of Ayu's music has dropped—quite the contrary! To me, her music and star are still going strong after eleven years, which is highly commendable. It's also understandable why Ayu would like to celebrate her success with the fans who've made it possible. In fact, I'm grateful and happy she's doing so. It's just heavy touring keeps Ayu away from the studio and the television, which means she has less time to focus on and publicly promote her music, to say nothing of the immense stress on her mind and body. Ayu rose to fame with her music and I believe it should be the primary ingredient in her recipe for success. Quality over quantity, yes; but quantity matters, too! I hope Ayu will continue to release good music for years to come.

Nobody is talking about TRICK. Nobody is mentioning Koda Kumi. And nobody was mentioning Namie Amuro until that one stan showed up. So, I suggest you stop trying to bring her into the discussion. She has no place here.

The sales are horrible and people have every right to be upset.

blahblahblah. blahblah sorry tl;dr

the sales are horrible? lol ok but just wondering, do you live in some place where a majority of the albums sell over a million in their opening week?

Nope. But this is Ayumi Hamasaki. It's expected for her to have decent sales. These are below decent, they are terrible. Going to take that break from AHS now? :)

a name doesn't mean anything. her sales are normal for what's on the market right now... you're just over dramatic tbh

and nope, i think i'll stay and keep you company. you seem very lonely! :yes