ayu need to make a handshake event again for promoting her album
lol

She's going to get charged with something again unless she does the event in some huge event space and not the middle of the street, haha.

Earlier this year she was at 49.9X million, iirc.

^ that was just by oricon.
You have to also count the fact that they dont count all sales.
Accounting for everything, bringing in Avex's numbers and oricon I would think it's somewhere in-between.
She hit the 50 million mark years ago.
If you count her over sea's sales she hit that mark even quicker.

and with the single discussion.
As long as you have the few that are successful, then you are going to have others that try it.
Singles are here to stay and are amazing cheap/free way to promote.

If we think of Namie and Seiko they gained popularity thanks to singles (60s70s80s and Anata ni Aitakute ~Missing You~) so singles are needed in Japan if you wanna be popular again.

Ayu needs to go back to what she used to do back in 2005-2006 and stop releasing albums with no promotion and stupid best albums with the same songs over and over again...

Avex counts shipment numbers, Oricon counts final consumer sales... Selling 50million copies to stores is far different from selling 50million copies to the listener.

Promotional tracks such as How beautiful you are, Love Songs or Microphone are the same as singles, they just don't get physical releases... As Namie and Utada proved again and again, you don't need a physical single to have a hit.

this is true, but the ones ship could be sold.
And it still doesnt change the fact that Oricon still doesnt count all of the sales.

Sales at concerts are counted at a 1/3 corrected?
Plus, Oricon doesnt count ALL sales throughout Japan. And from that we dont even know what percentage of Japan Oricon counts.
It could 60%, 95%, or even just in major cities.

Thats why i say a number between what has been shipped and what Oricon has counted would be a great number.
Also for the fact that digital sales are not included.
The fact remains, ayumi has passed the 50 million album sales a LONG time ago.

Still, Oricon numbers are considered to be the official ones... Without it, she can sold 100million copies, there will be no actual proof of it

On a different note (which I'd like the opportunity to talk about for just a moment), what you just stated is exactly why I compared Ayu's and Kumi's releases. The bolded words are exactly what I was trying to say when I was talking about it before. But you said it so perfectly that I couldn't resist replying.

Anway, onto the next topic. As was said before, a good single at the right time may spark interest in Ayu again. Personally, I'm looking for a piano-driven ballad lol

^^ they are only official to oricon.
The reverse can be said about that too.
They can only choose to report 20 million copies sold. (which they do pick and choose how they want to show how many copies have been sold, example from the concert sales again.)
Oricon is just one company, they cant track everything. Which yet again I say its best to chose a number between the two companies.

I also think a good single would spark interest.. I mean look at what Blue Bird did.
Japan loves that single and it came from ayumi in the middle of her declining sales.

I have to agree with this. Her albums suffered from early-released singles that did not fit the eventual concepts of her albums. Party Queen and Love songs have been her two most cohesive efforts to date. Even though Love songs had singles, they were written in quick succession and released close to the album's release, while Ayu had a concept in mind. I prefer this to season-themed single releases anyday.

If she released You & Me as a single, it would have to be included on her next album. Maybe she doesn't want albums with "summer" and "winter" songs, rather, an album for any season.

Ayu's artistic integrity comes before sales anyday. Stop *****ing about sales and enjoy the music.

Again, the same can be said about Avex... they can announce bigger sales than the actual ones... in the end of the day, that's why Oricon doesn't consider all the concert reported sales.

I still don't understand why that song is/was so popular in Japan. I find it quite dull at times. I understand why SEASONS was so big, though.

With the winter season coming, Ayu needs that ballad. MAYBE something like Days, but with better arrangement. I mean, Days is a great song, but something enjoyed in small doses.

^ Because its an amazing song.
Season on the other hand... I could ask the same question.


actually, it wouldn't be beneficial at all for avex to lie about how many copies they sell.
If they sell more then what they did it only hunts them on the books for profit margins and taxes.

if anything, it would make more sense for them to report less sales then what they actually did sell.

Days's arrangement is effing flawless. The arrangement on many of her recent songs on the other hand...

^ you know, days wasnt a hit for me at first, but I will say that it has grown on me, in HUGE amounts.
Now I like to listen to it with any ayu mix I make

Blue Bird was 2006 O_o she was still fairly popular then :laugh


I think Days arrangement was the only thing that kept me from hating the song. Cause it's sweet. I just dislike that composition.

I don't think there's any single, besides maybe a super popular winter ballad, that is going to give her a boost in sales. Maybe if it gets drama tie ins, and actual hype and promotion.

I think she also needs to stop being so on her own. Doesn't mean she has to go do collaborations...but just mingle more...so people can see that she's a person, and not some plastic diva ***** lol

Considering the amount of time a lot of people from her fandom, you included, spend discussing her sales, and how she have overall monster sales, and if she sold or not 50million copies, I would say it's very beneficial for them to lie about it.

The most stupid it is, some people only followed her and bought her stuff because she had big sales... Even on this forum some people seen to be like that.

It's official - SMAP takes #1 weekly spot in the Oricon ratings over Ayu that we don't even need to talk about it here:
SMAP’s new album takes top spot on Oricon’s weekly album chart - Tokyohive

Um, you are missing the entire point of why it's NOT beneficial.
Just because people talk about it doesnt mean anything.
Someone saying: Ayumi has sold a trillion copies of something does nothing for anybody.
Yet again. Reasons why its not beneficial in avex's case is profit margins and tax fraud. If they lie about it its tax fraud and messes with their stock, which would piss off the board and throw off how much money they are actually making. Not even going to go into the problems about the stock market (ENRON scandal anyone?)

So no. It is not beneficial for avex to lie about stuff like that.

eh?? it says "Whoops, something went terribly wrong." "The page that you are looking for no longer exists (maybe it never did)". What does it mean?

^ It means ayumi has had enough, killed SMAP and claimed number one for herself. :D

LOL!!! Love your post!!!!

Here's the link that's working - http://t.co/iSbObXvg

GIFT of SMAP probably outsold ASB by almost 2.5/3 : 1 in the 1st week , bummer

what they report on their taxes and what they tell the public are two different things lol

You might not even be able to tell any of this information..

although I remember looking at one of their budget reports to the stockholders once...and I think it had information relevant to ayu's sales. I think it had percentages of their profit.

Great point on Mizuki Nana, but with AKB you're a bit off. They have PLENTY of mainstream music-loving fans, and they're all over the place. They're very popular here with not just otaku, but teenagers, children, some young adults, etc. It's just that the otaku are, like you said, the ones who go crazy and buy a million copies of each version so they can vote for their favorite members or whatever the promotion is that single.

Namie and Utada may have proved that, but Ayu hasn't. None of those songs were hits for her, as they generally weren't very good choices to hook casual listeners in (with the exception of HBYA...maybe, and that clearly didn't work).

1st Week A SUMMER BEST
Position: #2
Total sales:83,363

Second week 1st day position: #4

im glad about the sales.. =)

Sales are not that bad :)

Not bad, not bad! Waiting for 100k!!

You not understanding either I guess.
What they tell the public effects them. They wouldnt lie to negatively effect them and telling people that they sold more then what they actually did negatively effects them.

It's bad business. They wouldn't do it.
Although the way avex has been handling certain products I would be all that surprised if they did shot themselves in the foot every once in awhile.

We will certainly have gold certification. Perhaps our expectations are just right. 100-150k. :)

^ I dont think Party Queen has been Gold certif yet.. :*(

^ It has.
I have the website url with the proof saved via copy/paste. Am I allowed to post it? Sometimes, forum rules make no sense to me.

80k?!

I don't know... I expected more...

^^Then let's just post another thread lol

http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113456

Even though it's kinda trashy, Party Queen is still the best album of 2012 so far for me. :love

I posted about that in this thread before

http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113456

^ I thought it was too. Then Angela Aki graced my birthday with an album. I love Ayu, but she had no chance with Party Queen XD

Anyway, I'm kinda indifferent about ASB hitting 100k. I kinda want it to hit 100k because I like Ayu. But then, I kinda want it not to hit 100k so that it's a huge wake up call.

^Well inevitably it'll definitely hit 100k :innocent


but isn't the certification the number of total shipped units to stores, not the total sales?

i'm happy with the first week sales! :)

Sales not so bad, so long as it gets 100k I'm happy :)

Yeah, its shipped copies.
Which i dont know why i was thinking it was 150K for gold...
it has hit gold. :thud

83,000... Hmm...

What about SMAP? How much did they sell? And how popular is it even to the younger people, compared to Ayu?

200k+ i think?

GIFT of SMAP sold 210,407 copies in the 1st week

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/w/2012-08-20/

This's their 20th album so it definitely is a big milestone for them . Let alone , the album includes Sakasama no Sora , the theme song for NHK drama Ume-chan Sensei , Angel Heart , an answer song to their previous hit single Lion Heart & MONSTERS which's a collaboration song between Katori Shingo & ex NEWS's leader Yamashita Tomohisa

I'm pretty sure they still have a lot of middle-aged women as fans they've kept since they debuted. As far as I know, SMAP aren't popular at all with the younger crowd.

Wait a minute...SMAP loses middle-aged women fans less than Ayu? How come SMAP isn't popular with the younger ones?

And 210,000!? That's quite a lot - 2.5x more than Ayu...

Second week 2nd day position: #4

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2012-08-14/

2nd Week

1st Day
Position: #4
Sales: 3,546
Total Sales: 86,909

2nd Day
Position: #4
Sales: 4,044
Total Sales: 90,953

They very rarely put sales index for #4 I suppose?

I'm glad it didn't drop.

hoping for steady sales to keep it going!

Yes! Maybe we'll have 100k by the end of the week?

wow, the sales went up.. coolness.

Second week 3rd day position: #4

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2012-08-15/

Seems possible for ASB to be at #4 in the 2nd week overall but looking good so far for her which's a good sign !

^

that would be great!

Second week 4th day position: #4

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2012-08-16/

Guess this means ASB looks set to be #4 overall in the 2nd week now , that's good to know so

ASB is doing good!

#4 *2,408 copy
all in this week *13,640

im glad about it

4th Day
Position: #4
Sales: 2,408
Total Sales: 97,003

2 more days to pass 100,000 :)

Thanks Cornie.

your welcome, i'm happy:)

they loses less because most of their fans are girls , most girls fan of idols stick around a long time

they aren't popular with the younger people because JE already debuted their replacements aka Arashi, now they are on SMAP level like they used to be back in the day

nice sales... another gold album.

She's doing better than I thought she would...

Second week 5th day position: #4

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2012-08-17/

looking for at another top 5 album!

Things definitely are looking good for Ayu. I wonder if this'll be her last gold certified album...

so 100k here we are..

^^ I hope not. We'll see anyway :)

Am I the only one here who thinks she's going to make a comeback soon? :D

I'm hoping that these are her worst sales yet. It might persuade her to be a bit more ambitious with promotion next time.

Doubt it. This release is a waste and I think a lot of people see that. When she releases a popular single followed by an album that's at least decently promoted, we'll probably see even better sales than this.

Second week 6th day position: #3 *2,750

Yup yup! And that ToX song should make the way. :lech

If she want everybody (especially to casual listener) to listen what she "have to say" in her music, at least she sing on TV to promote it...not just doing tours...where everybody is already a fan of hers~~ sorry for my English~~

6th Day
Position: #3
Sales: 2,750
Total Sales: 99,753 + x

Thanks!

should be around 103,000-105,000 for the 2 weeks :)

I hope this is not the last time she hit 100k >_<

i hope this album charts till december...

^ that sounds not gonna be happened and 2 weeks left for summer. 4 months in the chart would be very good I guess.

thanks for the updates!
I wish this had done better. :(

Me too, but let's be honest, this is nowhere near her her greatest collaboration CD. I honestly think that the DVD saved the sales on this one.

hoping for a new single with lots of promotion soon..

I dont know... a couple of friends and myself listen to this album on our road trip and rather liked it..
the faster side... the slower side kinda put us to sleep... lol

I think for what this was (a summer compilation) it did very well!

Summer in Japan extends past the last day of August. Stays hot until at least the end of September. So I don't think sales are going to magically drop off come 1 September because the weather suddenly snap freezes.

I was there the first week of October and it was still pretty warm too :thud

LOL the summer's heat=consistent sales? :laugh

It's the same here (israel), starting to be cosy only on October+

At least Japan's winter is probably more winterish :P

7th Day
Position: #4
Total Sales: 99,753 + x + x

best albums always confirm their success on japanese market, I undertsand why Avex keeps on proposing them

The sales are not bad! I really enjoy the packaging for the compilation even though I own everything already. It would have been nice if avex released ASB earlier, maybe early July, because I was really excited when the album was announced and it was kind of an afterthought when it finally came in the mail.

Anyway, I don't think we have seen the last Gold certification for Ayu. She needs to stop releasing things every year! She should take some time to conceptualize her albums and create partnerships to showcase her songs like Hikki and Namie did in order to get big hits and sell large amounts of albums. :]

the sales are a little to be desired, but at the same time, its a themed best and not really a best... so they could be right on par.

^what if they truly wanted ASB to be a no.1 album?

^ then i think they would of put a little more into it then what they did.
A few billboards.
little to no CM's.
No tie in.
No lives (besides the concert)

they could of done more if they wanted a number 1.
They could of even released it a week early, where there would of been no compention whats so ever.

:yes:yes:yes the slower side is a bit boring, but the faster side is awesome

I'm pleased with the sales :)

The promotion was limited to Shibuya.... i.e.only 2 billboards in Japan and one truck (running in ONLY in Shibuya streets)
For me that's no promotion lol

To be honest I think the main reason of releasing ASB is You & Me , I think they don't want Ayu to release a summer single when her sales are declining , So the chance for No.1 single will be harder , And they don't want to break her number one streak , The album did more than well for avex's needs and made a very good profits :yes , why they would want a single with low sales and profits and breaking her long record ?

Please guys don't judge , after all that's my opinion :laugh

A SUMMER BEST
2nd Week

Position: #4
Sales: 22,709
Total Sales: 106,072

3rd week
1st day

Position: #2
Sales: 1,903

YASS! At least ASB's second week's sales 're higher than PQ's one!

yayyyy for 100k! :D hopefully longevity!

it went to #2 !??! wow..

wow #2!