i didn't meant that there will be a connection in this 3 singles.but overall,i don't see these 3 releases as a 'project'.but i am happy that at least the songs are good.just that the way they execute this project is abit ....lame,IMO

L for Lame? lol
Didn't Ayumi say that they were supposed to be linked in someway? Is it her lip gloss thats linking them?
This lack of organization is what I was complaining about before. Imagine if everything was organized well; no last minute cancellations and backtracking. I mean L is her best single in I don't know how long and it could have had amazing and memorable promotion had everything been planned. And of course she's equally to blame. She does this to herself. Too bad.
Whatever, L redeems her for all those mediocre singles and I just want the steak to be secured so I don't have to worry about it anymore.

LOL.i didn't say that.hohoho.
she did said that they were suppose to be linked?
i think we can now put all the attention on L already since its pretty much confirm that she'll get the first ranking for weekly rank

The singles are pretty much linked by their sound anyway... Ayu never released such cohesive singles on her entire career...

What we mean is that avex didn't organize well enough to celebrate "the road to the 50th single". Like I said previously, -vogue-Far away-SEASONS- was well organized (from pvs to covers). kuu's 12 single (in 3 months) did quite well in spite of some tiny stuff I dun like.

M/b, crossroad and L are not too disorganized, but the hype just don't up the level it supposed to be.

connection among these 3 single project?

6th day
Rank: #2
Today's sales: 2 992
Total: 72 398

why do her sales eep going down ~~! ?

#1 on fifth day!!!

It is kind of strange that they haven't atleast remained steady over the weekend. I hope there'll be a boost when 7days special starts.

who get the first ranking?

it's weird no weekend boost at all

6th Day
Position: #2
Sales: 2,922
Total Sales: 72,398

1st Week
Position: #1
Estimated Sales: 72,398
Official Total Sales:

Well, is not bad at all, but it could be better if the drop hadn't been so fast, maybe tomorrow gets 75k, but...

i think exile got number one for today...

I'm happy that finally she tie in with seiko record...

next will be L...so excited...finally the moment of truth is here...

crossroad's sales will probably plummet down now that L is just around the corner. However, based on Kuu/Namie's sales, it should still be certified!

I know a lot of people were expecting things to run smoothly for this single project but in the long run, Ayu delivered on her promise. She said 3 singles in 3 months and that's what we got. Some people didn't think we'd be getting L until December, yet here it is. No matter who's to blame, we got the music. And it is DAMN GREAT music. Yeah, the planning wasn't so great but seriously who cares. It's just been an off year, but if that's the biggest downfall of 2010 for Ayu, I'm super satisfied because she has yet to let me down where it counts: her music.

In my opinion I think part of the reason for the disorganization is JaeJung. I'm pretty sure there would have a PV for blossom on the actual single and then crossroad to be released a month later and then L during September. But once they added him in the mix things got pushed back to the extreme. I'm not blaming him at all but I think he played a major part in it.

She has had a weekend boost in the last 3 years or so. Rarely anyone does, I don't even know why do people still talk about the weekend boost as we really rarely get to witness it lately.

yay..congrats to Ayu!

Haha..who got first today??? I'm sure we'll have some oricon article tmr lol

YAY!!!

Ayu Beat Seiko! Ayu Beat Seiko! Ayu Beat Seiko!!! :D :D

Is this a tie or the big win?

its the tie :)

i'm glad ayu sold +70k :heart !!!
now it's L turn to shine!

Congrats for ayu getting another weekly no.1 :D.

Now... let's go straight to the L battle lol :).

Yay!! Congrats to ayu!! In 2 days, we'll see the last battle!!
Edited : who is her competitor in September, 29th?

Ayu haven't beaten Seiko yet, though. They're tied.

yay now ayu's tied to seiko, good luck with L!

i'm so happy about another #1 week!!

Yes, congratulations for the tie with seiko matsuda!

The next target is #1 for L and then we finish. :D

It's already amazing that she tied with seiko though!

We're ready to break the record next week!!!

EXILE got 1st daily there (last week's release).

Congrats Ayu for the tie!
Just 1 more week and she'll break the record :D

woot :D have to thanks to umizaru for helping in exile sales

but then,i'm happy that ayu will be the no.1 in weekly ranking.

Oooh well done. One down, one more to go. Now I actually get nerveous for L. What if it would fail? Lol. It's prety heavy to work up to that streak again... :P

What's Ayu's competition this week??
I was more worried for crossroad but I'm glad that's done!!
Go L!!

^^yeah...it's just like neverending story, but i really can see happy ending...and the climax will start 2 days from now...
GOOD LUCK AYU!!!

Can't wait to see Ayu beat Seiko's record ! ^^! wish the best for u ,Ayu .

This is so exciting! So many years of talking about this record, and the moment is finally arriving!

I'm getting pretty nervous, tbh...lol

I'm so happy for ayu! "L" basically has no competition though right?

Her biggest competition is SID and they've basically been about 20~30k off from her first weeks for the past 2 years. (Even more before that, but they only started gaining popularity in 2008)

SID & flumpool are probably her main competitors this week but I don't think they will be much of a threat

they generally do sell well for rock groups but obviously not as much as estalished ones like GLAY & let alone B'z

Nackar_91 - before SID went major , they were already popular in the indie music scene & they used to be visuel kei too but they ditched that totally some 4 years back

I know that, I've been a huge SID fan for years now, but even though they were already popular their sales weren't near the level they're at now, which was relevant to the discussion.

So crossroad's officially #1!
oricon released the article!

ayu has 24 consecutive #1 singles, thus she in tie with seiko matsuda!
Female & Solo artist with most consecutive #1 singles along with seiko.
She also has 36 #1 singles! =)
Congratulations ayu!!

Crossroad's official first week sales are 73,500~74,500!

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/confidence/80460/

Congrats Ayu! We knew you'd do it! (Well there was some serious doubting going on, but still XD)

Congratz Ayu!! :D
Im so nervous!!! ;p
I ordered crossroad and L together
so my order will help crossroad second week and L first day :)
gooo AYU!! :D
This record is so close !;p

Go AYU!!!! Woooooot!!!!

;)

(Better) promotion.

Everyone is a marketing expert on AHS xD

But tons of promotion always help, hit singles like forgiveness and talkin' 2 myself prove it!

Yay congratz Ayu!!

I wonder if Seiko watching somewhere, scheming....

But seriously, I wonder how she feels about her legacy almost being eclipsed? Disappointed, bitter, indifferent, happy for Ayu's success?

Honest question, how does that even help you personally? Does that just make you feel better to see her on a TV screen or in a magazine? I mean she already has a lot of magazines lined up and she performed crossroad at a-nation and on TV, plus she has the 7-day live... what, this weekend??? Seriously, what more do you want? :laugh That truck to drive around with her face on it or what? LOL.

Don't know how will Seiko react - maybe congratulate her?

By the way, she released another compilation album called "Touch Me, Seiko II", but she was out of the top 30...

^ Ouch! After Seiko's record. I wonder how long Ayu will continue to get #1 singles... What if Ayu's new record is unbeatable...?

^That will be coool!!!
I'm glad for ayu, she works a lot for this record, just another No.1 single and she is gonna be the winner!!

L is the one that breaks the record now :) what an epic moment

It's cool that by coincidence the record breaker (presumably) is also her big 50th single. I can't get over how perfect the timing is.

Yeah... isn't that more than a coincidence? :P

No, I want lives on Music Station, Heyx3, etc. It doesn't "make me feel better", whatever it was that you were implying by that. But as long as I've been listening to Ayu, TV lives have been part of the new single out excitement. I love those shows, especially Msta seeing favorite artists together and interacting and then performing their new songs. Ayu performing live is one of my favorite parts of there being a new single out. What's wrong with that? :/

Don't really care for her being on magazines constantly, and I'm not in Japan so I don't care for trucks rolling around with her face on them. But I get it that Ayu is SUPER busy and she has a lot going on, but in any case it isn't like she's the one that books the lives or anything; I just feel these singles should've been performed on TV more, that's all. The Music Station performance of crossroad made me love and appreciate the song so much more when I didn't care for it much. At least it seems to me, a good way to promote your songs is to perform them on TV which leads to this clever comment:

Wow, L is going to be a big single for Ayu. Let's all hope for the best!

I bet Seiko Matsuda doesn't even care.

Hopefully L will sell well~

^Japanese is really competitive country...i think seiko does care about the record...not that much...but i think she know about this thing going on with her almost breaking record

Ok. Ayu is about to break Seiko's record. after that, here's the hope for her to supress Mr. Children with 29 consecutives

^and how many more to that?

edit: ok so with L..it'll be 25 consec?..she may achieve it in 2 years time..but thats saying if MrChildren stops hahaha..thats impossible right?

She's at 24 right now. L will be 25 (fingers crossed). So, 4 more.

Problem is, Mr. Children is still releasing, still insanely popular, and not going anywhere anytime soon.

lol is not like she could do anything about it anyway

maybe buy 100k copies of crossroad??

I think she'll be able to break their record as well...

Well, Mr Children doesn't have a record... in order to break a record, she should break's B'z: 43 consecutive #1 singles

^ it's not about to break their record being the 2nd of most consecutive #1 single.
I just realized, Kinki Kids and Mr.children have 29 consecutive singles. Ayu needs 3 or 4 more years to do that, imo
If Daybreak never exist, she definately surpass both of them

Cuz breaking B'z record is nearly impossible anyway

awww the L pv's are so nice, waaay better than crossroad LOL man that ugly cgi explosion made me laugh

I have a feeling I won't get my singles for a while lol....the November 2010 Vivi is apparently waiting on a stock delivery...waah!

Lol, we've all been looking forward to this so very much, and now she hasn't even broken the record yet and people are already talking about new records XD.

Personally, I'll be so glad that this is all over and the stress of her HAVING TO GET NO. 1 being gone.

they're monsters really..(in the good sense)

anyway, fingers crossed until tomorrow

It is quite the coinwinkidink isn't it?

Already knew it but congrats to Ayu on her #1 anyway.

So the B'z record is 43? She can probably shorten the gap between them in the next 5 years as she's definitely not going to stop releasing anytime soon but unless they retire or pick a horrible week to release, we're probably just gonna have to be content with her having Seiko's record (which is still pretty damn remarkable on it's own). You can argue about Avex's marketing gimmicks and the picking safe weeks to release or whatever but there's only so much you can do in that arena, the rest falls on the people that support her. As much as this woman pumps out year after year, for 8 years she's managed to have a #1 single. Almost a decade. :shakehead

Not only avex doing that. B'z company, the Johnnys', Mr. Chlidren's company, etc. are doing the same thing. I dun think B'z can maintain the longest streak if their company doesn't choose safe weeks for them. Groups like AKB48 can totally blow the streak apart.

So, ayu streak will keep on until one day when a new artist kills it off (SCS is a good example).

1st Week
Position: #1
Estimated Sales: 72,398
Official Total Sales: 73,691

2nd Week

1st Day
Position: #3
Sales: 2,139
Total Sales: 75,830

^
Not bad, not bad :)

It would be nice if in the first week she would reach 75k, but is OK, at least the sales are higher than MOON. I hope she gets more promotion for L, cause she is not doing very much to sell more with the last 2 singles xD

Nothing is wrong with that I just always wondered why people get so bent out of shape all the time over promotion. I guess it's because I'm content with Ayu's music alone? :shrug Maybe I ignorantly thought that since we're all big fans and we all get all the information we need by following her, what do you need more promotion for? That's what I meant by "feel better." Does it make you feel better to see her out there more and to see word getting around more about her music. I didn't mean anything by it, I was honestly just curious to why that is xD;. But if you're a fan of TV lives then naturally lack thereof will be upsetting. Considering her schedule, you can clearly see why she's not performing much this time around though.

Clearing the range for "L" soon!

Eh...Kiyoshi Hikawa took the front today, agreed? He's an enka singer, don't care to have that...

Does anyone know the records in other countries/world for female solo artist consecutive number ones? Or is Japan the only one that really cares...

^
France: Mylene Farmer with 5 consecutive #1 (also the most consecutive #1 overall and the most 1# singles too)

USA: Whitney Houston with 7 consecutive #1 (also the most consecutive #1 overall)

Australia: Delta Goodrem with 6 consecutive #1

But they don't really make big deal of it

That's because the numbers aren't big :P

It's easy to keep big numbers by picking only dates where low pop sellers and indie bands are going to release xD

I respect many of her archievments, but this one is just plain stupid IMO xD

If it was THAT easy everyone would be doing it, yet they can't. You have to at least have somewhat decent sales. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't care less about it, I am just saying that it's not as easy as it may seem.

It's easy for established artists to do, but for the new people who sell 10k per single/album they're stuck :laugh

wow a lot's pined on L! I have faith in her though <3

congratssss ayu!!! now letz hope for L!!

i don't know where you got the usa one LOL
it definitely is not whitney houston- here you go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboa....28All-Time.29
and i'm sure the consecutive thing has trumped as welll...

it actually does matter, whenever a record is broken, even a minor one it's in articles and the artists adds it to their "records broken" collection

@njanjayrp and @ero-kakkoii

Still, it's not like all of those consecutive #1 were hits... and it's not like she has the biggest selling singles... Even if some of those singles were huge hits, I do find it strange that some unsuccessful songs are regarded as hits just cuz they were released against weak competition...

I just wish she breaks this record so she can release her stuff according to her mood, and not according to the chances of getting a 1#...

The key word there is "consecutive" ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...umber-one_hits

Among people with more 1# than Whitney:
The Beatles had a 6 singles streak
Mariah had a 4 singles streak
Elvis had no streak at all (but he released like... 10 singles a year)
Michael Jackson had a 5 singles streak
Madonna had a 2 singles streak
The Supremes has a 5 singles streak

The reason that it's so much easier in Japan is because the market is entirely different. More young people, more hardcore fans that RUN OUT to get the single on the first or at least the first week. That's why Japanese singles SHOOT UP the charts and then fall down pretty quickly. It just works differently. Not trying to diss Ayu, being no. 1 is still an amazing achievement, but it's not fair to compare it to other countries where singles are generally bought over a much longer amount of time.

^^ oooh true LOL my bad i got ooowned

Remember that, I'm always right! u_ú

jk! :P That's ok xD

Its just... People seem to regard this as if ayu has accomplished with this...absolutely nothing....as if every other artists in japan can do this. As if ayu just cheated her way to this her whole career
But don't mind me. Im just observing.

I hope L gets number 1. It would be nice I think. I just see it as something to be happy about. Not to prove why ayus better than anyone or whatever.

And I wish crossroad wouldve sold 75k the first week. But its there now so its good.
Hmmm...I wonder how L will sell

That's the obvious truth, but without careful planning those wouldn't happen. I don't think they are regarded as hits just because they reached #1 :P

Yeah, I know that's why I said if the B'z get a bad week or something then Ayu has a chance lol. But echoing what Strawbari and njanjayrp said, you just don't get a streak like that strictly through the efforts of your label. You have to have some sort of selling power, less established artists do plenty of promotion, special events and their label offers lots of bonuses and LE's or whatever but they just barely scrap the top ten. Even big sellers like AKB do marketing gimmicks like that and release on quiet weeks at times but it doesn't take away from their accomplishments. At least, I don't think so. Maybe I'm just being naive or just easily impressed since a streak like that is pretty much unheard of and would never happen here in the West. But that's just the way I feel about it. :P

On-topic: I've already forgotten about last week lol but when can we expect midday sales for L? :P

Thank you!
So Ayu will become female with the most consecutive number ones in the world?

I don't think the ENTIRE record is bs because she had to get #1 and stay there in the first place. It's not like Avex was like OMG LOVE~DESTINY~ GOT #1 LET'S KEEP IT THAT WAY. At some point her popularity over all plays a factor, especially at her peak. And if it were SO easy, Ayu would have SMASHED the record already had it not been for Daybreak. So I don't blame them for treading a little softly now a days. That #2 reminded everyone that Ayu isn't invincible and GUILTY's #2 reminded us again.