I don't know tbh. Personally I think Kuu's team/RZ isn't smart enough to do something like that but we'll just have to keep our own opinions on that matter I suppose.

I also apologize for my outburst as the same happens to me when I'm tired. :) I'm just really use to seeing some Ayu fans pick on Kuu whenever they can and just got tired of the consistent comparison between them for the past ten years.

For those who are interested in chart position and total sales for all Ayu's releases, can see from here:

http://www.generasia.com/wiki/Hamasaki_Ayumi

Wouldn't Colours have gone #1 if it were released like 2/3 weeks later? I know it would've been second to Kyary if it was released a week later, right? I know positions aren't that important but it would've been nice to see the album at #1 if it were released in a weaker week. :P

I remembered I read somewhere that Kuu's WOML was supposed to get released on 4th March but because of B'z , the release date was changed

Perhaps avex still wants Kuu to keep her #1 streak for her albums ? I don't know but I'm sure that doesn't apply to Ayu anymore since she already has accomplished so much at this point in time

Does Ayu really have younger fans though? Wouldn't most of her fans be around 30 now?


Oricon does count fanclub and mu-mo sales. Soundscan doesn't.



OMG someone gets it!



But didn't everyone think he was going to get #1 from jump though?



Is it though? I mean Shiina Ringo came out the same year as her and regularly does it. And Masaharu is celebrating his 25th anniversary this year and he's beating Ayu.

I don't mind miwa selling more physically tbh but it bothers me that she does it with an album that is way worse than her last one. Delight had a lot of great songs (Delight, Hikarie, 321, sparrow, whistle, miracle, LOUD!) and this one only has oen good single IMO (Faith) so it bothers me that an album that is IMO a lot worse than A ONE is selling better ://

KuuXAyu-fan, I wouldn't reply to this message if I wouldn't see the words "luck" and that you will hold your opinion up.
Rythme Zone (which is an avex company) have proffessionals to do the job of finding a release date to release where it's best! It's called "analysts". They are a proffessional company and they know what to do regarding strategies, marketings etc. You can't say they are not smart enough to have analysts, especially after what they did with kuu all the time (since 2004) and another great example would be EXILE. They very much know what they are doing, and each date kuu released an album, they chose it extremely carefully, Karenpang's post above is just an example, just don't let your love for kuu make you blind of these things, kuu doesn't work since day 1 in her own independent company where she doesn't know anything or don't have budget for promotion or marketing. No one gets anything by luck, even though ayu and her had some competition from time to time for their #1s albums or singles.

She has more dates than last year (even though it was a really short tour), but the fact that this tour was meant to be 18 dates and is now 22 is a great sign. Also she tours more than most other artists in Japan, popular or not.
Just in 2012 she was the top solo artist with most attendants for that year.

Besdies sales which avex probably know how ayu would do, people always seem to forget that she still does great money for avex from touring, goods, endorsements (when she gets), tie-ins (like Step by step) and sales/digital sales. ayu probably has a good budget but besides a minmal promo, or promo that ayu agrees to do, it doesn't seem they bother (both ayu and avex) with more than what needed. That's how it looks like anyway. I'm not sure if the tours are great enough to pay for everything+pay for the next stuff promotions but it's probably a lot of money. If seiko sold just a few thousands for a long time and had a budget for her arena tours, so can ayu have budget for her stuff. Even if it's promo and not tour related, question is how much promo they believe she needs and how much promo she or them want for her.

A ONE reminds steady at #4 on the 3rd day of release

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2015-04-09/

^ thank god, i hope it can manage to jump to higher positions on the weekend

I'm afraid that Southern All Stars will get #3 place on Weekly Albums T_T

Honestly I rather A ONE get denied the #1 spot by someone established instead of a Johnny's or girl group , even though I'm a big Johnny's fan by nature

Since the tour will start tomorrow , I'm sure it will help sustain A ONE in the chart . Hopefully it can chart longer than Colours

On a side note it's hard to believe Budou is Southern All Stars' 1st album in 10 years but yet they still can sell really well . 300K in the 1st week nowadays is such a rarity number to get

If Oricon started counting digital sales, Ayu would probably be at the top. You can't ignore a popular format like that and still expect to see accurate numbers.

For sure, just look at who attends Ayu's concerts compared to the people that go WILD for Fukuyama. The fact that Ayu is #1 and #2 digitally means a lot. There are probably lots of closet Ayu fans :cool

LMAO :roflmao

I think Billboard Japan does count digital/physical/streaming numbers so she'll might get a higher position there ^^

Even though it's normal these days, I can't wrap my head around the numbers...sigh. Like oricon even means a damn thing anymore anyway since they still act like it's 2002

From what I remember Billboard only collects from specific branded shops.

why? digital sales are almost insignificant in japan :rolleyes

except for a few acts like Kana Nishino or Utada

you know RIAA counts 10 digital songs as 1 cd sold? and ayu songs nowadays barely sell 100k digitally, that would be just 10,000+ copies sold

I agree with you.
The only album ever gotten certified digitally for Gold (100,000+) is the Frozen soundtrack (which sold over 1 million physically btw).
Digital sales aren't that high in Japan like everybody is thinking.
It's great that A ONE is #1 at recochoku and such, but actual digital sales for it probably aren't that high. So I don't know if combining digital and physical sales would make a big difference at all. For anybody.

4th day - #4 again for the 3rd straight day

http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/ja/d/2015-04-10/

I wanted her on top 3 =\\