Actually I think Ayu is seen more now than she was a couple of years ago. Not as much as her peak period of course. Right now she is actually on the 109 building (I saw it yesterday); its the cover of Jelly magazine. She also has been more visible when passing magazine racks again and in billboards that are put up around the train stations; I think I've seen her more in Tokyo over the past 2 months than I have in the past two years. Unfortunately though it didn't seem to translate that much into higher sales for the new singles.

Yep, I meant older not old. Sorry.

@bluegie
Don't worry, I see you're male so you're not. Women over 25 that aren't married/taken are leftover christmas cakes.

from here


Never heard that about the 31st, but now Ayu even passed that age. :rolleyes

Ikr? :o Ayu is ayu. She's established enough for other girls to be labeled "the next Hamasaki Ayumi". :P

The Christmas cake expression is quite interesting lol. I wouldn't mind if Ayu were my Christmas cake at all, there certainly wouldn't be any leftovers though. :lech

I don't know about the Ayu and cake thingy but it makes me wanna eat cake :)
Any updates perhaps? :D

3rd Day
Position: #8
Sales: Later
Total Sales: Later

You know what, Utada Hikaru has the right strategy I think. She releases every so often, and tours once in a millenium or so... but she doesn't over saturate herself. Avex of course wanted to cash in on Ayu being regarded as the best thing since Yoshinoya in Japan, so in her early years (Especially 2001), they had her EVERYWHERE, I mean you couldn't go anywhere without seeing her face... even in countryside, they had posters of Ayu in some shops.

Because Utada's marketing made it so that they only focused on her music, her face wasn't that important. On the contrary, in the beginning, many people would make fun of her eyebrows or her nose, and of course most people regarded Ayu as MUCH more beautiful than Utada. But Utada's schedule was perfect in that there wasn't a chance for her listeners to get tired of her, and they didn't see her face everywhere...

But Utada's popularity with singles has also taken a major dive. In just one year, her single sales dropped more than 500,000 units. (Flavor of Life vs. Heart Station/Prisoner of Love). But her albums continue to sell more than Ayumi Hamasaki, due to a kind of hit and run tactic with Utada Hikaru... She releases something, and then kind of goes back into hiding.

Anyways, Utada is Utada, and Ayu is Ayu, and what works for Utada will not work for Ayu, and vice versa... but I think we are forgetting that in an era where only Johnny's can get over 200,000 single sales, 90,000 or 100,000 is not at all a bad number to be staring down. Ayu's solid, and yeah her sales are fluctuating a bit, but she is still one of the strongest artists out there, and consistent. The era of female idols is over, and I think the era for male idols will soon come to an end, with the exception of Arashi. People don't just like one artist anymore, or they don't even like the artist, just the song. "I like this song, but this song is bad, so I won't buy it," kind of thing. The era where one female idol's face is seen everyone is probably also over... for a while.

IMO female idol era is about to restart again, look how awesome AKB48 is. haha

Yeap, ayu sales are doing great considering everything.... Magazines and companies still are interested on her, her singles are far from selling bad, so are her albums and her tours are getting bigger instead of getting smaller...

Even if the image thing affect her on a bad way, that TV special about her lives, the lower tickets sales on A-nation'08 cuz she didn't performed on most dates, that TV show where she talked with Gaga and her tours becoming bigger over the years are IMO signals that even if she is not the hottest thing in the world anymore, she still is seen as a strong pop performer to Japanese people... And I always say this: When I watch Koda or Namie concerts, there are mostly teenager girls and young female adults on the audience... While Ayu's audience is getting more and more diverse... There always is younger and older people of both genders (well, on DVDs and photos people post over here)...

Imo Utada created for herself a musician image, while Ayu created for herself a performer image... And both women are making tons of money on their own way :P

2nd Day
Position: #6
Sales: 1,843
Total Sales: 74,640

3rd Day
Position: #8
Sales: 1,569
Total Sales: 76,209

it's just falling & falling... :(

wish to have greater sales than M/B

Well, it's not like it had any chance to rise xD

Hope it ends selling at least 90k...

^

yep =( but looking at the numbers I don't think so...

lol ahhh, depressing! :(

You are always acting like the singles will chart for 3 weeks xD
Relax, it will most likelly sell over 90k... her single chart live tends to be between 8-12 weeks....

I'm just not used to this nowadays ayu's sales...

Well... she is selling something between 90k and 110k right now... what is good actually, considering overall sales^^

Well, duh. Ever heared of a song that just kept rising and rising? XD

I'm kinda surprised that today's ranking is lower than yesterday. Still the sales are not bad :D.

We're not talking about ayu will become "the next blah blah". More likely it's about how ayu will do to herself in the future. We compare Matsutoya Yumi and Seiko Matsuda (two important figures in Japanese music history). The former seems more highly respected from other people. No offense to those who love Seiko, but I feel odd to see her dressing like a teenage girl on cd covers. I hope ayu will concentrate her music, making new directions, etc., instead of trying to capture her youth while she's in her 40s...

What? The age border for women has changed to 25 nowadays? Oh well even I'm male, I guess I belong to the x'mas cake group then :no. Why can't I just be a beautiful x'mas cake? Single isn't a bad idea. Look at ayu! She looks fine being a single lady :yes.

I think FOL is kinda exception. Since Dareka her single sales were never good (BML 80K on the 1st week, Passion <50K, Keep Tryin' <70K, etc.). I gotta admit though her digital sales are far better than her physical sales (many of them are million sellers in digital). But I guess you're right. Her hit and run tactic works really well on her. Not everyone can do the same thing (e.g., Mai-K).

ayu is ayu. age is pointless. her music is amazing and she's a good person.

@bluegie @Mai82Go
Die old people! Die! :P
Nah... I'm 22 and I find it strange to image someone my age married... Also do if the person is 25... Eveyone at their own pace^^

We have a saying here in Brazil: "Panela velha é que faz comida boa", that would be translated +- like "old pans make the best food" xD

I almost thought it's "old pans make the best BoA!" j/k xD
But yeah Japanese culture is special and as long as you are a female you are "better" younger.

The reason AKB48 is doing so well on Oricon, is because the fans buy so many copies of the CDs, because the number of CDs you have means the amount of handshakes or autographs you can get at AKB48's meet-and-greet events they have so many times. The marketing strategy of AKB is really good, so they sell really well on Oricon, but they are not popular with everyone. Mostly just Akibakei and some young girls. But of course, they are making more money than Ayu in cd sales, so we cannot say much against them. Now, we can really notice a renewed Korean Wave in Japan, so I think Korean groups are getting popular once again.

This... and still, Matsutoya never acted like a bachan cuz she got old... She still holds energetic lives, releases creative and modern music... She accepts she aged, but never stopped to evolve as an artist... I personally don't mind a older woman having a sexy image or showing energy... But I do have problems with a 40 years old woman acting like she a member of Morning Musume x_x And even worst (IMO), the older she gets, the higher she sings and the fluffier she dresses >_<

ITS FALLING IN RANK BUT SALES SEEM REALLY CONSISTENT. :)

AKB48 needs the high sales.. I mean there're like 48 of them lol

$20 handshakes, lol... Kind of gross.

haha, the secret of AKB48's sales is out~ God that's a soulless marketing strategy. I don't know why I'm so surprised that the label'd pull a stunt like that, though. Faith in people has once again been ruined.

WHAT THE!? :thud

Okay, so it seems not only Arashi is playing some unfair competition, but also AKB48 as well... I did not even know about that... $20 for a handshake!? That's just NOT a good value for me...

^Female idol groups have been doing handshake events in Japan since forever, so its not really something new. As far as I know, Johnny's groups don't do them though.

As much as I don't like them, they ARE popular outside of Akibakei and 'some young girls'. They are everywhere in Japan. Elementary and junior high school kids of both genders in general love them right now. I know because in my job I have to put up with the AKB fever on a day to day basis. :) I do think that now female idols do have a chance to make a comeback more so than over the past couple of years, I just wish it wasn't AKB leading the way.

^I have a feeling that it may take a few more years to see this coming...

Ooohooooh... you're brave :thumbsup. I did compare her with the momosu, but just before I posted, I deleted that line LOL. She is trying SO HARD to hold on the golden youth as long as possible... :P.

^ Whats interesting is how so many people in Japan actually like that. I know several 40 something women here who act and dress like they are still in their 20s. By western standards that's weird, but in Japan it seems fairly normal and accepted.

I personally don't see anything too wrong with it. Unless you're talking like, micro mini skirts or something:p
I don't think you should have to start wearing 'old lady' clothes just because you're getting older.

Which is ALSO a problem in Japan as several idols (noticeably in Hello!Project) who have hit 20+ start to wear old lady clothes because they are now "adult." (i.e. Aya Matsuura. Poor girl, what happened to her? ;~; )

I'm not just talking about the clothes they wear, but their entire demeanor in general. They put on a very cutesy demeanor and voice (ala Seiko Matsuda), even though it doesn't really suit their age. And yes, sometimes a micro mini accompanies it. :)

Well, I'm a Madonna fan... I have no problem with older women wearing mini skirts, or even less...

But I do find it weird to see someone older than 12 wearing this:


Maybe this is just me being biased towards western culture... And I don't wanna offend any of Seiko fans... But I do find it strange... not only the outfit... but the way she is singing, her body language, etc. I know Ayu, Koda, Otsuka and (rarely) Namie does those kind of stuff... But usually u have a cute look and a sexy choreography, or a song filled with innuendos (mainly Otsuka), etc... For 2, 3 songs of a concert, not all the concerts for 30 years @_@

No I want female artists that are more talent than AKB48 or momosu. Just like back in 2000 - 2003: ayu, hikki, ringo, misia, aiko, etc.

I think nowadays people are more interested in listening to slick and catchy music, with some cool dance moves, more than anything else. Not just in Japan, but everywhere. That's what I've been noticing the past couple of years.

that's the sad thing... ah well. But you're right; everywhere in the world, music is coming to the point where it would only sell if the song is catchy, hot, cool and all that jazz... albeit I'm a victim of such music too but yeah~

Neither do i...=X it's kinda sad

Avex is basically doing a mini-maxi with ayu since Next Level. It's basically the least amount of work for the greatest amount of profits. Of course, ayu says its because she doesn't have time... but really Avex is the one pushing her to do concerts around Japan.

If you want ayu to have the sales of Arashi and other boy bands, Avex have to invest way more money to get better tie ins (it's avex job to help promote it, and no DBZ evolution and tinkerbell crap) and Ayu will be releasing songs like days 2.0, sunrise 2.0 etc etc. Do you guys really want more days and sunrises (digital hits)?

Otherwise, I'm happy with the sales. If anything, it should be praised for consistency.

^^ no need to feel sad, ayu is still making a shiiitload of yen every year.

honestly as much as I think ayu has left a bigger mark,
I think utada has been consistently more popular.
marketing blah blah w/e but the numbers stand, people want them some hikaru

but i do hope ayu's next best album blows it out of the water!

after hearing Utada's new song, I'm pretty sure Japan would much prefer Ayu over that :laugh

I'm wondering if ayu could do something catchy and hot in the future. Something like Namie Amuro??
Last Angel is a different song, but is too pop yet and there is not a lot of promo from avex.

Well, no need for avex to try to get tie-ins, we're already standard Japanese songs from Ayu... the 47th-50th singles have nothing "special" or different except Last angel; the lead songs are all typical J-Pop ballads, so we're still getting the standard songs from Ayu.

I mean at the end of the day, we've to realize where Ayu stands in this industry today. No point whining that her sales suck compared to her past when it obviously isn't her prime or era now.

@ero-kakkoii Well, every Hikaru album oversold Ayu's released on the same year... Even Ayu's best selling album was oversold by Utada... So, I'm pretty sure u don't really now how much power the woman has xD

@TeddyGrahams You are just saying that cuz people over her praise Ayu for everything they like and blame Avex for everything they dislike... Bad news for you: She makes more money touring than selling albums and singles... and even worst: more money from concerts goes to her pocket than money from albums/singles...

@waterballoonThis would be a valid argument if 90% of her biggest hits weren't among her most generic tracks... Actually, besides M and Evolution, all of her big hits are pretty much generic jpop...


People over here should stop talking like she was an Avex doll o.O She is always releasing the kind of music japanese people don't like (her rock tracks), she is always recording pvs japanese people don't like (all the pvs people over here love) and she seens to be very damn happy with her tours! She is not a ****ing doll, she is not Avex puppet, and she is pretty much doing whatever she wants! People over here is complaing she is not selling like Arashi, well, thanks God she is not trying, or we would have a new version of her post 2001 albums every year ~~'



Let her do her thing... her singles are selling good, she is in fact overselling people who peaked after her! Her tours have more dates every year unlike other former top acts that needed to take dates out and tour on small venues like BoA... So, why so much complain! She is not searching for food on trashcans or something, she is pretty much among the top earning female stars every year since her peak! When she is not THE top earning of the year x_____________________________x

utada is already all over tokyo with her pepsi commercials and stuff... is a bit annoying lol she looks gorgeous though

i even saw a big video of her with pepsi in shibuya


so somehow i feel people are getting spoon-fed with her image.

Utada has always had really smart promotion. She always seems to get the massive tie-ins for her songs etc.

I don't think Ayu has really cared about that kind of thing in YEARS. It doesn't seem to bother her that all of Japan doesn't worship her lol
And hey, if I were in her position I'd rather have fans that genuinely liked and respected the music I make (and myself as a person), than have a lot of off-and-on fans.
Ayu seems way happier recently than she ever was when she was at her peak.

Thank you!
xD

power she has? or the power that great marketing and sales tactics is made of?

not saying ayumi isn't heavily marketed or whatever, but utada's new song isn't groundbreaking or anything compared to ayu's new music IMO, and to hear it's being "spoonfed" to people... hmmm.

She could be releasing a track made totally from farts... Considering this Single Collection is almost totally made of strong singles, IMO it will sell very well
Only 2 of it's 13 songs didn't sell over 1 million on digital charts, and one of those 2 was very close to it... 3 songs sold + than 2 million, and one, more than 7 million digital copies...

Yeah ikr, her most famous songs like Days, BLUE BIRD, SEASONS, Sunrise are all your standard J-Pop fare, which is why I don't think it's like she stopped making "amazing" music just because she doesn't have good tie-ins.

Btw, you're right that Ayu goes against the trend by releasing whatever she wants and all that, but if we've noticed, her recent singles have all been 'safe' songs...

- Days/GREEN
- Sunrise/Sunset ~LOVE is ALL~
- You were.../BALLAD
- MOON/blossom
- crossroad
- L

Almost all the songs in there are ballads/pop songs, so it's like yeah she's going on the safe route; maybe to ensure a #1 weekly for her streak, maybe to keep the public moderately interested in her, I dunno either lol.

Her "unique" stuff are mostly always album tracks or at most B-Sides... alterna, ourselves, Don't look back are the 3 songs off the top of my mind that are either B-Sides, not the main song in a maxi single or an album track. Even for Last angel on L, which could arguably be the "different" song, also isn't the main song on L. Heck it didn't have a PV.

Also, her last single with a rock song was... Mirrorcle World? But that's a 10th Anniversary special single, so if we disregard that, it would be talkin' 2 myself, which was like 3 years ago lol.

Nothing wrong with her going down the safe route, but I think everyone should at least understand why she's releasing singles in this way and genre lol

^Uhh.... ourselves was the lead A-side of &...

And also Rule was a rock song paired with an Sparkle, which is arguably very "unsafe", and that came out just last year in 09.

Well, I agree her post Next Level era singles are pretty much very safe (considering that on NL we had a lesbic PV, a rock track and a electro pop track, besides the bondage video), still, her album tracks with pvs weren't safe at all, and RnRC had some of her most risky videos on the same album... And the album tracks are showed on TV, so, it's not like only who bought the album listened to them

This era has Moon/Blossom as a very safe single, but I don't know If I would consider the other tracks all that safe, considering they lyrical themes and that they have little to no teen-appeal, something she always had on her summer and winter singles...

Ayu's marketing strategy right now seens to be close to Namie's, actually... a more commercial single, followed by an album with more creative tracks and tour as main promotion

oh **** I mixed & and H up ><" sorry about that and omg I forgot about Rule too! Ah I'm so sorry... well my previous post was invalid then; Ayu's a brave woman :laugh

^No, I think your argument is very valid; I just wanted to point that out though.

Never forget that! :P
Actually, she is just mixing her heavy stuff with comercial stuff, so, the message goes to her listeners without she being bashed to death and ignored by the public...
Japanese people hates their pop divas to have a brain

This is natural after big crisis... People were and are worried about it and when they get the chance to listen to some music or watch a movie, they wanna forget the problems and relax

Thank you! :D

:laugh that's true!

Anyway yeah but it's funny to me how her 48th-50th singles belong in the safe genre... pretty smart move to further ensure her #1 weekly; even if the lyrical content might be not so mainstream, the main genre of the singles are still the Japanese people's favorite lol...

Oh I just remembered that even if she released rock/non-conventional singles like Mirrorcle World & Rule/Sparkle (since they're the most recent ones); they're usually linked with a special event/tie-in... MW with 10th anniversary, R/S with the Dragonball movie which although sucked balls but Dragonball is still quite popular/well known in Japan I guess, so that kinda ensured that proper sales for these singles...

And it's hard to not release standard J-Pop songs in Japan anyway... I think Koda Kumi is a good example; where when she released Gossip Candy, the sales were much less than Suki de x3 which was a 3 A-side ballad single.

Japan eats singles... :laugh

That is probly true. Although back between 1997 - 2003 or so, the economy in Asia was pretty bad, but lots of genius acts came out during that era...

But I agree that ayu's playing safe on her singles for these two years. Then she makes bold stuff in her albums (I guess the album streak is gone so she doesn't need to worry anymore). Then again, she's only making half of the albums in danger zone.

The USA is pretty guilty of that as well. Or rather, they love to assume that all pop stars are brainless puppets so it gives them something to rant about on TMZ.com . :laugh

seems like 2nd week will sell less tha what M/B did.

hope not...i took a look to youwere/BALLAD sales..omygosh they were surprising! Anyway i'm satisfied of how the sales went

Well synth pop is what's popular these days and not really really Ayu's brand of "power pop." The single sold good considering that genre is not popular these days, Ayu is the only one in this genre that actually sells good and gets top chart positions.

Actually, Japan is still quite different from the US in that ballads are still the predominant form of popular music. While an artist like Lady Gaga can be popular with just dance beats, almost all of the famous artists in Japan (popartists) have had their biggest hits in ballads.

While the Japanese love the dance-style in Western artists (they eat up Lady Gaga and Kesha) they don't seem to want it in their own...

4th Day
Position: #6
Sales: Later
Total Sales: Later

L keeps fighting back for top 5! :D

yes it's back to no. 6 :)

yay a climb!

Yuhu top 5 ahead

Well, at least in USA their sales might improve if their are vocal about some controversial subject... While it will pretty much just drop in Japan xD

There are puppet popstars in every pop market of the world... Japan just seen to be proud of having it... Even here on AHS there are people who sometimes seens to believe that Ayu is just doing whatever Avex makes her do....

I find it funny cuz everytime I read about here career, they always says that being in charge of everything is what makes her different from your everyday idol, while her own fans treat her like a brainless doll that sometimes might have insightful ideas for deep lyrics :P

well, i'm not into western music at all, but it really turns me off when their songs are about controversial subject like... ok, whatever.. :innocent

i quite agree with you about how some ayu fans treating her as that.
But seriously, how do we know which of the things Ayu had done are being arranged by avex or decided by Ayu herself. Shouldn't we just see it as it was Ayu who took charge in whatever she wants to do and release? :headache

I don't think Ayumi is as involved in every aspect of her career as she was before. In fact, she herself said that she had delegated tasks to people she could trust, and then we got the work of art that is S/S ~love is all~ and some people got fired. We have no idea what it is she is still controlling and what she has delegated and what Avex determines.

There is a reason that people think that Avex controls much of what she does. Weren't Next Level and TRICK released just in time to add to Avex's sales before their annual stockholders meeting or something along these lines? How much promotion did Next Level get? And even back when Ayumi was in full control of her career, Avex still forced her to release A Best.

At the end of the day, this is all speculation but most of all, I don't see how one would consider an artist that is controlled by their records label as a drone as you seem to be implying; isn't that how the music industry works in general? I don't think there is any correlation between the two.

From wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jpop#Avex_group), with font in japanese :P


Max Matsura already said Ayu should be credited as a producer cuz she have creative control of everything she releases... So, her music, her image and her performances: her decisions... Considering we never had another A Best incident, I would say they aren't really forcing her through releases dates she feels unconfortable with...
All of her singles that aren't generic winter ballads, generic summer songs and cutesy up-beat pop are pretty much risky... considering she usually only has 1 of each kind on her albums, even if it's Avex controlling her (what I doubt), it's very little control...

Being in control of everything doesn't mean doing everything yourself (doing everything yourself is stupid, by the way, nobody has enough knowlegment to produce every single aspect of a pop culture fenomenom)... If she has a staff made of people she trusts and still aproves what is going to be used and how is it going to be used, she still is controlling it.... About NEXT LEVEL being released to add sales to Avex`s before they stockholders meeting is pure speculation... And considering the tour was already announced when the release date of the album was announced, I doubt it was the case (cuz u need an album to start a tour that will promote an album :P). You can watch the making offs, you can read Vivi's article about the Naked Talk thing... you will still find Ayu *****ing around people to make sure she likes what is being released...

Being it good, being it bad, still is her fault... Or people around here should just stop praising her for everything they like and bashing Avex for everything they dislike... If Avex is controlling everything, let's praise Avex for her lyrics, concerts and good music too ;)

Where did you hear that someone got fired over S/S? I don't remember hearing about it, but that doesn't really mean anything. I feel like that would be a drastic step-- has she lost so much control over her image that she doesn't approve an image before it gets shopped and produced? I highly doubt it; she may delegate tasks to trusted advisors, but that's a rather major aspect of her career.

Very plausible
http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=100091

Again we can all doubt and argue but since we don't actually know its all speculation, but I think we can all are agree that S/S's covers were bad.

4th Day
Position: #6
Sales: 1,290
Total Sales: 77,449

This is so true and so sad :(
the actual integrity and beauty of the music isnt as valued as before.
Oh well as long as ayu releases music ill be happy :)

Think about it in the eyes of the industry though. If Ayumi said that she had no control over her music and her image, what would she be? Maybe she is saying it this way because there is no other way to say it?

Her sales are lower this week, i hope better sales tomorrow ^_^

If you pay attention to what other Avex artists are doing, and the stuff Ayu does...

It's pretty noticeable the aspects of her career that might be influenced more by them than by her.

I don't think people really understand what it means for an artist to have no control, and similarly for an artist to have full control...especially for people who only know Ayu.

I personally believe, that Ayu has a great deal more control over her own image and music than many other artists, and I think that when Avex has suggestions, she takes them.

I think she's created a nice balance, and I really doubt that, at this point in her career, Avex has to "tell" her to do anything.

Ayu is a very special artist, and honestly, I don't see the rules applying to her as much as they do for other people. In any case, I think Ayu knows by now what needs to be done, and that she doesn't have to be led or told what to do.

In any case, if you know anything about Ayu, you know that she isn't going to be jerked around or made to do anything she doesn't want to without a fight lol Stubborn, she is :P

/endlongpost

me too, I want so much that this single reaches 100k

I agree with this, Ayu is far too powerful within Avex to have no control over anything to do with her image but in some areas she would take Avex's advice if it's given to her. After all, she's no marketing executive and despite her experiences in the industry, she has a worse idea of what would be popular and accepted within Japan than, say, someone who's studied popular culture and marketing at university for 5 years and has that as their career.

I agree that S/S was a photographic disaster but people getting fired over them? Let's take a step back. Ayu posed for those photographs. Do you think that if she thought they were that ugly she would have continued the shooting? I think she would have posted in her TA diary if the shoot didn't go well and dumped the staff way before S/S was allowed to happen.

Ayu liked the S/S shots, no matter how horrible we think they are. You can suggest that she had no choice because it was too late to change the covers but movies, albums, books....they get release dates pushed back all the time for all kinds of reasons. Ayu would have changed them if she had wanted to.

Ehh, back onto the topic of this thread, I want sales updates, darn it! xD I want L to sell over 100k in the first month~~~~~~

5th Day
Position: #6
Sales: Later
Total Saler: Later

I don't even frequently read news about Ayu but I do know she changed her creative team.
There are other possible reason for firing people maybe she wanted something new, and personally I think it's a good change because you can't work with the same people without being redundant.

ohh she hasnt able to hit the top 5 yet?

5th Day
Position: #6
Sales: 1,195
Total Saler: 78,644

It deserves loooot more...

Sory to quote a post so back but i havent been keeping up with this thread and when I came in, i was lost haha.

Yes, I think Japanese LOVE their form of happy-sounding jpop and generally, kawaii, feel-good, radio-friendly music which can go along way. Personally, I've never really felt that any pop song in Ayu's single discography as something not pop..it feels like, yes like what others have sad "Power pop" because they are definitely stronger than the general JPOP. I mean, as long as singles are being sold, we can expect something not too strange and beyond the Japanese audience's type of music. it NEEDS to be sold.

While for albums, I definitely see Ayu being very creative. songs like until that Day..., 1 LOVE, Marionette, Microphone, LOVE'n'HATE...these are songs that I wont see them being huge radio hits and common favs among the GENERAL audience. But Ayu releases them.

She could really just release a whole of "You were..." and "MOON" and "M" and "Days"...because its a safe zone of music coming from Ayu herself. I still think her ballads like MOON and M are something that is unique from Ayu and no other artiste honestly.

Yes I definitely agree. Ayu HAS the power. I mean, being a kpop fan as well, some songs are just plain ridiculous but they can be huge hits...and I really wonder if the idols themselves singing these songs truly...have any say over what they want to sing.

leaving kpop aside, some jpop artistes as well seem to be overpowered by their company...esp those currently being sidecased. And seeing Ayu participate in the production of her material thru documentaries convinces me that she has a Direction.

=========

on the side note, im actually really happy with L's sales...it's much more stable compared to her other recent singles. it just goes to show that there is still a main fanbase :)
of course, being a 50th single, i wished it would hit 100k at least but well, i blame it for the lack of promotion really

some random news from taiwan...
L is #1 on the g-music j-pop/k-pop chart with 14.64% of total sales from that week

crossroad only got #2 with 12.46% on its week, but it was up against SNSD's GENIE and taiwan is experiencing a huge hallyu wave right now just like japan, so its still good

6th Day
Position: #8
Sales: 1,286
Total Sales: 79,930

i agree..considering her long career she needed to change an renew or she could repeat herself

so around 80k sales total after second week,
not so bad >.< still deserves more

80k in the 2nd week and had an increase today *-*

lol This sounds VERY familiar, this is also a common occurrence in the fandom of a certain westerner pop diva that I love. The fans are always raving over the control she has but whenever something goes awry or they dislike something, the blame automatically goes to her label and they'll try their darn hardest to argue that she's dumb as a rock and "didn't realize what was happening" though all signs point the other way. It pisses me off but it's hilarious at the same time how people contradict themselves seamlessly to fit their own POV. :roflmao

^Curious... who? xD

she should try working with producers/directors she has never worked with before.