She still has a large fanbase, she relies for the most part on it now to sell...
I think that's why she manages to reach the top 10 when she releases something.

Not every person in Japan follows charts, or even famous artists/bands :P

Music is not everything really xD My friends aren't really crazy about any singer in particular, apart from the ones I've met who liked ayu of course lol

Really!!? As there are a lot of music programs at TV I thought it was really important.

Ayu isn't every where as she used to be either, there was a time she released more music, more singles, was on tons of magazine covers, was on several TV shows, etc. As she aged, I think her style changed and now she's promoting and advertising her music less.

When I was in Tokyo for AT09, I didn't see much being promoted (granted nothing was released around that time in October 2009). She had her own spots at HMV, Tsutaya and all, but there were no big posters, her music wasn't playing in the stores, etc.

The only time I saw Ayu related things and fans was before and after the shows on October 21st and 22nd. That's it. Other than that, there wasn't much about her around.

^ I heard Trauma in a shop in Akihabara when I was there. It was pretty cool to hear an Ayu song live. I also saw CDL ~10th Anniversary~ DVD stations being promoted.

Not being everywhere has more about to her than anything, IMO...

The pace of her releases made her career age really fast... at 13 years, Ayu has the cataloge of a 20+ years old musician... What is good, for her as a imortal icon, and bad, for her as an active artist, at the same time.

Not beeing everywhere reduces the feeling of being tired of seeing her superexposed some years ago. If she tries to promote herself by forcing her music, videos and concerts on people, by releasing 8, 10 singles a year, by going to every tv show to promote, etc... Well, them her sales will really die... Considering some artists didn't step back at all promotion-wise even facing falling sales, what made their sales fall even faster (not gonna say names, but there's a girl that released TONS last year and saw some of her strongest products sales falling by half of what they used from a day to another) I guess it was Ayu the one who took the iniciative to appear only the necessary

I might be criticized for what I will say but I don't mind lol.

I'm living in Japan and well... to say it briefly, except for the fans and the ones who are following Ayu... she's OVER, that's all. In Japan, promotion/TV shows/CMs/etc = being famous (even if the sales are bad).
If I talk about Ayu with a non-fan he will automatically speaks about her with past tenses...

And since she's always changing "face" (I mean style, make-up, etc...) even if she appears on some magazines or promotion posters in CD shops... no one pays attention the that fact that this is Ayu... For example I passed by the Tsutaya in Shinjuku yesterday and there was a poster with the FIVE cover saying they were taking reservation, so I said to my friend "Look that's Ayu's new mini-album" and his answer was like "OMG is that Ayu?? really? Are you sure? Didn't she stopped releasing music since it seems she's married...?"
Ayu's career is only relying on her fans.

Regarding the issue of ayu's age, let's just face it. She has reached her 30s and married. Been in the industry for 13 years. She is seasoned singer!

Regarding the issue of her popularity, I would say that it's a natural thing for singers to reach their peak and then slide down. But ayu remains as the LEGEND of J-pop. Her name will be in history many many years later for being the first to ....... and the list goes on.

Ayu is a hardworker! She is sincere and nv let her fans down, constantly having new works yearly. Much better than those singers (not pointing any fingers) whose career has to be disrupted due to unplanned pregnancy or affected by things like alcoholism or crime. -_- I think she is a good role model at the very least! :)

Well... it's not like people outside Madonna's, Britney's, Beyoncé's or even Gaga's fanbase are aware of what they are doing and releasing...

My father still don't know who Lady Gaga is and never heard about Amy Whinehouse before her death, still, he don't know even one of her songs... People outside the artist following usually knows music that played so much, everyone will be aware of it, liking it or not... And that's why, for example, when Michael Jackson died, media kept playing like... the same 5 or 6 songs from him, cuz those were his songs everyone knew... And we are talking about a legend, the king of pop, the guy with the best selling album ever made^^

After the peak... only the fans will take notice, and the artist have a chance of hitting the mark here and there..

edit: Not criticizing what you said, just saying it's natural^^

Well I think her peak lasted longer than most. I mean, yes there was a definite peak but she didn't drop as drastically as most. Look at Ai Otsuka - she was huge wasn't she?? I remember even reading in magazines she was the new "Ayu" in Japan or looked to be heading down that route. Then her sales took a dive and now she doesn't release anything.

Damn your grandma must be HOT then :roflmao

I'm just messin with you ;).

But eh, I think the only thing I have EVER heard about Ayu, & please correct me if I'm wrong, is that I've heard Ayu has had a reputation for being greedy. Now, I'm not sure if I believe this as she was a huge donator towards the disaster in Japan that just took place this year....but that's what someone once told me who had followed Ayu really closely & had lived in Japan for some time. I have never really seen any evidence of it though personally...& even if she is, well, too bad it's her money right? She should be allowed to what she wants with it after all :irked. Plus, I heard she was known for buying people drinks when she'd go clubbing or whatever, but of course I also heard that was part of her trying to 'flash her cash'..which I still find stupid, it's like...how can you not know she's rich :laugh? Just goes to show that people read into things in whatever way they want to lol.

I know we're like super off topic now...but I think this is something that a lot of fans just can't grasp.

I think Ayu's sales sort of plateau-ing around 300,000 is a big indication that, that's probably as big (at best) as her loyal fan base is.

and really, 300,000 people in Japan? That's not a whole lot...

But Avex is still going to put her out there cause, that's still a pretty hefty base compared to most other artists and she has serious seniority at Avex. I wouldn't be surprised if she has a huge portion of their stock.


@Zeke...yeah when I first got here, there was a sort of "war", not too big, but, everyone was always arguing about who was gonna be the next Ayu, and it was always between Ami Suzuki and Ai Otsuka...and well...we all know how that went :laugh

I don't think there will ever be another Ayu. Maybe in a few years when everyone gets tired of groups or something...

The age thingy sounds incredibly dumb considering that B'z, Takeuchi Maria, Mr. Children and many many others who are ever older still sell and release music regularly including Namie Amuro.

As someone already said, Ayu's off TV. She isn't over exposed and it's a miracle she still sells relatively well.

Considering the path the Asian music industry has taken I doubt we'll see "the next" Ayu in the next 10 years or so. After Hikki's and Ayu's peak we had BoA, Ai Otsuka, Koda Kumi, Mika Nakashima, ayaka (and many other) and a while ago Nishino Kana of which all but ayaka, who has practically retired, have climbed to the top and declined. Though Kumi is still hanging and Kana has yet to touch the bottom BoA and Otsuka had touched already.

physical sales are such a bad factor to measure anything in this day and age. also, I think people will have a whole lot of other things on their mind in the next 10-20 years than music.

Totally different standard for guys though is the impression I've got when reading similar topics about on the internet.

But surely they were all "the next Ayu"? Their sales may have decline more than Ayu's, but like it's already established, these sales just show core fanbase now. Ayu is just another artist in this line of peaking and declining female artists. She peaked suddenly, then her decline and levelling of sales overlapped a lot with the other artists mentioned, to give the impression she was the big player still. Maybe she's already hit the bottom by only attracting her core fanbase and not the public? I don't know. I can't hypothesise properly as I'm not fully aware of the sales, and the extent of popularity of the other female artists.

I guess it depends what you look at... popularity as a whole, popularity because of sales... and now it's even harder with digital sales, with some artists failing on one chart but soaring on another. I guess each one shows different demographics though? Core fanbases/hardcore fans/the really in thing on Oricon and casual/everyday/general public on digital?

I don't know. This isn't even that relevant.

I don't think there will EVER be a "next Ayu" since really she did so much for the Japanese music scene. Yeah there have been the new "it" girls (Ai/Kumi) but in terms of overall domination and practically changing and/or making part of the music scene itself, I doubt anyone in this day and age has the power to do that. People have the power to look for their own music interests now, not just what's thrown in there face or plastered everywhere. Yes, that still has an impact, but people discover and look into different artists on their own.

I know but even before that with her last album it really was a dive, wasn't it? I love Ai but I thought the album was pebbles compared to LOVE COOK.

They tend to be harshier to females... Some, like Takeuchi Maria, can still sell well... but most of the acts that goes on selling well for decades are composed by men...

Still, the marketing focus also play a huge part... Ayu is very image oriented, so, her age matters a lot more than Hikki's, for example, whose career was made to make her a voice, not a pretty girl...

Still, it's not like Hikki was selling much more than Ayu...

^Only because Hikki didn't release as much as Ayu, lol. If she had, they'd probably be on the same level.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying though. Ayu IS more image-oriented, while Hikki was famous for her voice, her compositions, and all the background work she did on her music.

Even Hikki's sales took a dive though - granted it was on her Second Singles Volume Collection - but still it was a huge drop off.

Yet again, we have to take in factors like the economy and things like Itunes.

Yes Ayu's sales have dropped physically, but they don't really report digital sales, do they? She could be selling a whole lot more digitally for all we know.

I remember when there was a lot of excitement surrounding Hikki's Flavor of Life and everyone was like "oh physical sales were this, not THAT amazing, but still pretty good" and then we heard that the digital sales on ITunes were INSANE (like 7mill+).

That being said, I have a feeling that when we hear she only sold like 300k physical copies, she sells a lot more digitally.

I know that what I do with artists is that I will listen to parts of each song on Itunes, then buy the tracks I really like from the artist. People could be doing this with Ayu's music too.

Also the economy is just craptastic, and with the giant earthquake that hit Japan, Japan's economy will probably suffer even more. That being said, I won't be surprised if sales for FIVE are even lower than expected.

Once we resurface from the economy fail - which I don't know what the predictions are for your countries, but here it's predicted we won't recover for YEARS - i'm sure music sales will increase again.

I don't really know if any of what I just said makes sense - I will admit I tend to ramble - but I think her reputation in Japan is still pretty high, all of these factors considered.