Something that has a strong melody and good vocals, like Beautiful Fighters would be high quality for me.. :yes

Well it just depends on when she's releasing. If avex makes a wrong move, she can easily be #2. (ie: if she released vs. B'z or any of the popular Johnny's groups)

Well said!

I'm just glad that we're all still concerned about her music that we're willing to discuss about if so fervently here. Even the very fact that people say she's going "downhill" shows that they're concerned about her career.

I worry for her sales as well. I agree with what SunshineSlayer has said about her decreasing trends in sales. However, when nmskalmn reminded us that she's still making it to #1, I think Ayu's sales would be an indication more so of the J-pop scene. You might not just pit J-pop artistes again each other. It seems that English songs are very popular as well. Cultural erosion? I don't know.

For me, as long as she produces and releases music, I'm happy. (So that there's something for me to critique about!)

The whole "Ayu's popularity/music is going down" mentality is unfortunately inflitrated and propogated by tabloids, leading to people believing in it and adopting mentalities that yar, she's really going down. I don't agree at all but what can I do? These mentalities are inherent in the media and I think overall, people just start to lose faith in her music because they believe what the tabloids are saying. I'm not saying that people who think "Ayu's music is going downhill" have this mentality because of tabloids, but it's the tabloids that have introduced such a mentality that has in itself, affected people's judgment on her music.

^^do they really say things about her like that? I mean I know they would have to say something, they probably use the same reasons all of the fans use.

Ayu's sales are low...but she's still number 1. Doesn't that mean that sales are just low everywhere? It's a definite fact that her sales are low for someone like her, or does it just mean that her sales during the A BEST era, for example, were really inflated?

I don't know...I still think that Ayu is going to do whatever she wants to do, and if that means showing us how much she likes American culture, let's say, then she's going to do it, and it's only going to add to the overall effect of the music and what it says about what kind of person she is.

Who knows...maybe she's trying to go in a new direction and it's not working. Maybe she want's to be like Kuu...who knows. Does it really make a difference? Will that stop all of us from being her fans?

It's a combo of both. Yes, sales are down for several other artists as well (except Johnny's groups really) but the reason that she is still continuing to get #1 is because Avex is releasing her stuff on weeks where it is almost certain that she will get the top spot. Any other week this year or last fall and she more than likely would not have gotten #1.

Yeah, I kind of agree with that. No one can know that "this is the kind of music she wants to put out." If it is something that she composed herself, then yes, that is what she wants to put out. You can't say that she wants to put Blue Bird or Beautiful Fighters out more than say songs like Endless Sorrow, M, heartplace etc (the ones that she was more heavily involved in the making of.)

I know it seems mean to say you want something from your favorite artist to flop and for Ayu's sake, no I don't want it to flop. However, if it does I would hope that it serves as a wake up call that she needs to either:

A) Take a break.
or
B) Assert herself 110% into the song writing process and give everything the proper amount of time that it needs to become something memorable.

She got lucky 2 times, once with HEAVEN, the other with B&D/Pride. It all comes down to which week she releases. and it doesn't necessarily mean that sales are low across the board, it could just be Ayu/older more established artists.

what do you mean she got lucky? How much did they sell? I mean, did they sell more than others?

^I think she got number 1 by barely few thousands. I know for B&D it was like by 5K or something...

Assuming this is correct, in 2005 only 2 female artists had a higher sales number for a single than Ayu. I don't think that's just getting lucky.

And for Heaven, it was beaten for the number 1 spot by kanjani8 in the first couple of days, but edged them out to be #1 for the week.

But that is for 2005. We are talking about her releases starting with B&D which does not count for the oricon charts in 05. And yes, for Heaven in 2005 she did get lucky.

In the end HEAVEN still sold more CDs than the other female artists.

Music that actually means something. Real instruments, strings- not over-synthesized garbage that sounds like every other artist. Lyrics that have meaning, and aren't recycled themes, words and phrases used before.

There's a reason I went from listening to her 95% of the time to about 2%. There's a reason nearly all of the users on this forum from before 2004 aren't around. Her music sucks. Plain and simple. Luckily enough for me, I've found real musicians with talent who know what they're doing.

Like Phantoma said, and Brian has emphasized on occasion after occasion, Hamasaki is predictable; which isn't a good thing.

Ayumi isn't going downhill. Correction: Ayumi went downhill.

I'll worry about ayu when everybody (and I do mean everybody) who is a fan of hers stops liking her not just people on ahs and not just tabloids ...

I'm not gonna give up on her that easily

But that is not what is being talked about. It's who is number 1 for the week, not who is the top selling female artist. But, if you want to talk about that, this year so far in sales for female artists, Ayu has been beaten by:

Ayaka - I Believe
Koda Kumi - Koi no Tsubomi
Koda Kumi - You
Otsuka Ai - Freinger
Yuna Ito - Precious
And based on the first week sales, it is quite possible that Ultra Blue will sell more than m(U) unless it really drops like a rock next week.
That's already worse than last year and the year isn't even over yet.

Ayu just wants to be the original ayumi hamasaki.Be herself.no matter go downhill or up .She doesnt care now.U can figure out from MU to now.She already been the TOP for many years.nobody could keep it forever.And its tired to keep it.Ayu wants to rest.Just like Madonna.Ayu is not the most popular one in japan.But nobody could ignore her exists.Real fans wont care about the sales,the PVs.how cheap it is ! Real fans just would wait there for ayu new songs.listen ayu's music.care about what she wants to do.Just support her ever.otherwise.U are the a fake fan like those millions who dropped ayu from A-BEST till now.Be real fans.otherwise shXt up plz.

^ ^ Oh geeze. :rolleyes Far be it for anybody to want Ayu's products to be better.

I'd rather Ayu sell 1 000 000 copies and be number 2 than for her to sell 50 000 and get number 1 by having no competition. :)

Yes, I do think ULTRA BLUE is indefinitely going to beat (miss)understood's sales.

Well that's what I mean - Ayu is selling relatively low and still getting #1 because of lack of competition.

Maybe after BLUE BIRD, it's bound to change? So far promotion for BB has been good, so I think we can see a sales rebound.

Yeah, there should be a sales bump considering the promo compared to the promo of Startin'. If there isn't a significant bump though, then Ayu definitely has her work cut out for her.