I am... was anything but burned out.
It's her best work to date and she probably will never do anything better then that album. (a little basis because that's my favorite album.)

I agree for dearest because it's a ballad but Never ever :thud This song is far to be banal I've never hear a song like that even in her discography this song is unique ! I guess it's a question of taste ?

I don't really agree with you this time lol If you compare these ayu's electronic songs at that time has nothing to do with the dance/ electronic music of Tetsuya Komuro 1 or 2 years before !

I don't understand the word generic what does it mean ? (It's just question I don't attack you lol) Because for exemple I can find moments generic but a lot of people can say it's an unique song ! I mean it's pretty subjective to say if a song is generic or not. What other artists have done songs with the same style at that time?

^ generic just means it sounds/looks/taste the same as everything else

WHATEVER sounds like an Ami Suzuki reject, but it's not bad.

I am... had some blips (A Song is Born is just trash). In my playlist, I removed ASIB and added the single version of Endless Sorrow
I can never give an Ayu album perfect because some songs are just.. awful blips. Memorial Address is the closest, as No Way To Say is the only song that drags it down.
A Song is Born drags I am... down like how Namie is dragging all the jpop chicks by their weaves. It's an awful song which ruins an otherwise amazing album. NEVER EVER is MILES better than ASIB, is it not? I agree that NE is acquired taste, but it isn't a crap song at all. I mean, it ****s all over ASfXX.

^ the song or the album...
Also.. are you talking about the single version of ASiB or the album version... because i find the single version much better with the two voices working together.
Both songs are good I think, but I do have to say I love the remix something like 10x more.. lol

I can't even call Ayu's 'golden era' generic or anything. I'd rather call her latest works with that name

The album version
Is the single version better? I never listened to the single version because I was always worried that it would sound like the album version.

The sound is the same... but I felt like Keiko (spell?) voice sounded really good with ayumi's and their voices just worked well together... (but the remix to me is like a gift from god, lol... I use that as my last track while working out... it gets me so pumped to finish... lol)

^^ I never really considered her Duty and I am albums generic at the time... I listened to some stuff, but not a great deal of it, but the reason why I liked her was because it sounded different from the rest of the stuff that was coming out at the time, which of course is the opposite of generic.

I remember reading that LOVEppears was ahead of its time or something.

Back on topic: for how long do you think this album will chart?
* we can't keep going off topic, this is a sales thread lol*

Yes I agree with that but I'm kinda annoyed when someone use this term because there are no arguments for explain using the word "generic"

7th Day
Position: #18

pretty good place...
I think its been a month in the charts?

A month + 2 days, yes. ^^

A summer best is the 3rd album of August =)

Imo she should be lucky to have a song that's even remotely as good as WHATEVER.

a song is born - trash? I am sorry I am alright with people disliking songs and I am aware not everyone will like everything Ayu releases, but have some respect. You don't have to like it, but some of us here still feel respect and admiration towards Ayu's work and it's kinda offensive to say that one of her lyrical masterpieces is trash.

The song is simple, yet very touching and the lyrics are what sets it apart from others not to mention the way Ayu performs it live. Sure the arrangement lacked power, but Ayu's voice and words made up for it and the song is in no way trash. Imo if anything's dragging I am... down, it's UNITE!

Thanks, I completely forgot about the monthly.

WHATEVER is a masterpiece, A Song is born is beautiful. I agree that UNITE! can be annoying. XD

^ I always though that unite was a poor mans evolution, but over the years i have come to enjoy it.

but I also dont think DnB meant anything by it... just a poor choice of words...

WHATEVER is one of my old favourites by ayu

I'm sorry, but I have to agree that A Song is Born is one of Ayu worst songs ever... The lyrics may be amazing, her voice may be emotional, but those can't save how uninspired the song itself and it's arrangment sound.

The duet version is even worst... Ayu and Keiko sound like two cats being hit to death with baseball bats...

^ Finally, someone agrees with me. The lyrics are definitely touching, but the arrangement is just... It's the only Ayu songs that I truly have beef with. I love every song but ASIB. I can actually appreciate and love ASfXX and even Guilty. But ASIB... Well, to each is own.

I guess I'm not big on TK's compositions...

A Song is Born is not one of her best songs but, it's so dearest to me, I love it so much and it can bring me down to tears sometimes. This song live is just touching and the words are just so powerful.


Anyway lol I'm glad ASB is selling still!! :yes I hope it stays in the charts for much longer.

https://www.facebook.com/video/video...19987&comments

Hear how beautiful it can be :)

5th Week
Position: #21
Official Sales: 4,339
Official Total Sales: 131,352

6th Week

1st Day
Position: #19

and tomorrow... somewhere in the 30's... lol

Her vocals are hard to bear on this one... But the arragment ir pretty <3

ASB doing well, the weekly numbers are better that the PQ's was, except the 1st week..

150k!! ^0^

^Yay for that! Exciting!!

But i don't think it will have the same longetivity, because who buy summer album in winter?

2nd Day
Position: #36

oh, wow... can i call it or what! lol
36... hope it bumps back up into the mid 20's later!

3rd Day
Position: #37

3rd Day
Position: #37

blah, bad positions... poor ASB

Insult Ayu's vocals -> quickly give a compliment to something Ayumi didn't even create to make it appear less negative.

I'm onto you...:P

Well you can see that the conductor turn towards Ayu in the beginning (1:33) and gave like a weird glare at her and also a few members of the orchestra had those smirks on their faces xD
Maybe its just me but even I felt awkward by their weird glances and looks at her while she was singing.
Although i find this version quite nice

Well, it's understandable. a song is born was already too high-pitched for her when she released it. In 2005 her voice was roughly one note lower, so reaching those notes in the Eb5-E5-F5(?) area was really, really hard for her.
I'm glad she performed the orchestral version though.

She originally performed(s) this song with Keiko right?
I have the single version of it and at first i thought it was atrocious but later on I started to like it,but i am glad that album version is just Ayu XD
Is there any live perf of this song with Keiko?

It was performed on Music Station on December 28, 2001 with KEIKO :D

http://www.tudou.com/listplay/yCZZ6o...2e1ReX-QM.html =)

i enjoyed the performance...
it sounds like typical ayumi...

yes ! me too =)

Typical ayumi of many years ago. xD

I'm glad she sounds how she sounds now... it's like she became differently unique (and not squeaky) but I love all of her vocals and vocal changes.

She just needs to try to concentrate on the singing a bit more.

^ Well, yeah.. i love ayumi of years ago, but I also love the direction she has gone in.
Her voice has matured a lot over the years and I love.

But I also liked that cuties voice that she use to have.
And I noticed that in some of her current performances (anation 12) She kinda brought it back here and there.

i think she is trying to distance herself from that voice because it is kinda childish and cuties... I think she wants to be viewed more as an adult and more mature now.

Yes ! I noticed that too. During evolution before the last chorus when she say "Konna toki ni umaretsuita yo Dakedo kimi ni deaeta yo" she begin with the same voice she used before but even before she finish to sing this sentance she returned to her current voice ...

^ yeah, I think she just wanted to stop singing like that... She can still do it, but it doesnt fit with the image she wants to pull off.

And one point everyone goes through this, I like her current voice though! ^_^

she should give up her current shouting voice ok yeah

Sometimes she shouts instead of singing (sometimes being breathles like a-nation '12's You & Me) but I think that most of the time (except for audience songs) is still because of her lack of hearing in 1 ear.

She only shouts when the music gets really loud. In HLS she only shouted during the choruses of reminds me and Return Road because the music gets really loud. Otherwise her vocals are awesome.

I hate when she does..I swear sometimes they must not soundcheck but because it seems like she has to overcompensate for the band or backing vocalists being too loud when the sound guy should be mixing their tracks down in the live mix. Thankfully they fix a lot of it in the DVD mix but it's really obvious with the tv versions of the Countdown lives...the Together When performance from a few years ago :headache

THIS! and I think like ayumisrael that this is because her hearing loss, maybe the music is so loud that she can't even hear herself so her voice go out of control... I love her current voice :yes

4th Day
Position: #30

a little bit better...
but over all, sad positions this week...

But she is definietly trying her best. That's one thing I like about ayu: against all odds, she'll do her best.

Ugh keep going!!

5th Day
Position: #26

5th Day
Position: #26

oh cool... even better.

Yeah...during those choruses I was pretty sure my ears were gonna bleed, cuz everything was sooo loud, even though I could hear everything clearly. Yet for some reason I didn't mind xD

Where A SUMMER BEST & Party Queen currently stands at in the yearly top 50

Yearly Top 50 (2011/12/26~2012/09/10)

Albums

*1 1,152,252 **1,965 Mr.Children 2005-2010 / Mr.Children 12/05/10
*2 1,091,663 **1,468 Mr.Children 2001-2005 / Mr.Children 12/05/10
*3 *,992,742 *17,728 1830m / AKB48 12/08/15
*4 *,762,222 ***,571 EXILE JAPAN/Solo / EXILE/EXILE ATSUSHI 12/01/01
*5 *,719,338 **8,132 I LOVE YOU -now&forever- / Kuwata Keisuke 12/07/18
*6 *,495,364 **2,517 Uncontrolled / Amuro Namie 12/06/27
*7 *,409,801 ***,564 NEWTRAL / Ikimonogakari 12/02/29
*8 *,395,457 395,457 ALL SINGLES BEST 2 / Kobukuro 12/09/05
*9 *,380,525 **1,667 YUZU YOU [2006-2011] / Yuzu 12/04/25
10 *,318,188 ***,997 Kis-My-1st / Kis-My-Ft2 12/03/28
11 *,294,465 ***,410 Super Girl / KARA 11/11/23 (Overall total: 745,060)
12 *,264,040 ***,516 FUNKY MONKEY BABYS 4 / FUNKY MONKEY BABYS 11/12/21
13 *,263,567 **5,088 GIFT of SMAP / SMAP 12/08/08
14 *,238,589 ***,*** BUTTERFLY / L'Arc~en~Ciel 12/02/08
15 *,225,452 ***,525 1969 / Yuki Saori & Pink Martini 11/10/12 (Overall total: 292,877)
16 *,222,662 ***,441 GIRLS' GENERATION / Shoujo Jidai 11/06/01 (Overall total: 864,716)
17 *,210,215 ***,*** The beginning / Ayaka 12/02/01
18 *,187,265 **2,055 Utautai ga Uta Utai ni Kite Uta Utae to Iu ga Utautai ga Utaudake Utaikireba Uta Utaukeredemo Utautai Dake Uta Utaikirenai Kara Uta Utawanu!? / GReeeeN 12/06/27
19 *,186,863 **1,638 COVERS / BENI 12/03/21
20 *,175,473 **1,657 ALIVE / BIGBANG 12/03/28
21 *,172,711 ***,457 『2012』 / Acid Black Cherry 12/03/21
22 *,171,804 **7,127 Believe / Che'Nelle 12/07/04
23 *,170,301 ***,322 BEST HIT AKG / ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION 12/01/18
24 *,167,712 167,712 Love Place / Nishino Kana 12/09/05
25 *,153,473 ***,*** JUMP WORLD / Hey! Say! JUMP 12/06/06
26 *,152,363 **1,597 21 / Adele 11/01/19 (Overall total: 203,091)
27 *,151,343 ***,*** JAPONESQUE / Koda Kumi 12/01/25
28 *,148,290 ***,*** Party Queen / Hamasaki Ayumi 12/03/21
29 *,146,677 ***,533 Toki no Silhouette / aiko 12/06/20
30 *,133,943 ***,387 NEWS BEST / NEWS 12/06/13
31 *,133,262 ***,*** CHAIN / KAT-TUN 12/02/22
32 *,131,352 ***,*** A SUMMER BEST / Hamasaki Ayumi 12/08/08
33 *,127,952 **1,730 The Living Things / Linkin Park 12/06/20
34 *,126,447 ***,*** THE BADDEST ~Hit Parade~ / Kubota Toshinobu 11/11/23 (Overall total: 351,439)
35 *,123,346 **1,191 VOCALIST VINTAGE / Tokunaga Hideaki 12/05/30
36 *,122,845 ***,362 Sonar Pocketizm ③ ~Kimi to no 365 Nichi~ / Sonar Pocket 12/01/25
37 *,122,806 ***,*** POWERS OF TEN / YUKI 12/02/01
38 *,118,339 **1,220 Pamyu Pamyu Revolution / Kyary Pamyu Pamyu 12/05/23
39 *,114,002 ***,411 Golden・Album / Golden Bomber 12/01/04
40 *,111,452 ***,403 Just Crazy / Jang Geun Suk 12/05/30
41 *,108,256 ***,*** color bars / Tokyo Jihen 12/01/18
42 *,105,924 ***,665 Greatest Hits / Def Tech 12/04/18
43 *,104,973 **1,131 Luv Songs / Che'Nelle 11/07/20 (Overall total: 313,412)
44 *,102,759 **1,372 ENTERTAINMENT / SEKAI NO OWARI 12/07/18
45 *,102,426 ***,455 Jewelry box / T-ARA 12/06/06
46 *,*98,646 ***,425 Kaze Uta Caravan / Naoto Inti Raymi 12/04/18
47 *,*96,289 ***,*** Orutana / Spitz 12/02/01
48 *,*95,706 ***,*** Ketsu no Arashi ~Haru BEST~ / Ketsumeishi 11/12/21
49 *,*94,928 ***,*** Ero / Yamashita Tomohisa 11/12/21
50 *,*94,577 ***,581 BORN THIS WAY / Lady Gaga 11/05/23 (Overall total: 753,131)

Hey, that's really not too bad at all! ASB can go up a few positions i'm sure (though PQ and ASB will most likely be pushed down some over the next 2+ months) but it's much better than I thought.

And kudos to Namie who's doing girls and solo artistes proud up there.

6th Day
Position: out of the top 30

6th day
Position: 31#

that sucks...
well, i guess with both albums, she sold over 300K this year.. lol
now if we get a mini album and she actually promotes it... then she might break the 500K mark

Wow! Congrats Namie!!!

Top 50 is not bad at all for a solo artist

7th day
Position: 31#

It would be awesome if this album charts next year during summer again :laugh

^
+ a bonus CD contains new song for the buyers.. LOL

6th Week
Position: #33
Official Sales: 2,470
Official Total Sales: 133,822

So, PQ at the 6th week had 135,807 total sales. The difference is 2k.. not so much..
But i believe, ASB won't shart so long, as PQ

7th week
1st day
Position: #25

I think she would do better if she had at least one live on TV... I wish she would do that again..

2nd day
out of top 50

3rd day
out of top 50

Hope it enter again tomorrow..

What a pitty...

7th Week
Position: #67
Official Sales: 1,707
Official Total Sales: 135,529

Poor ASB...
But... I got nothing. I'm not gonna say anything bad about it because I didn't buy it.

8th Week

1st Day
Position: #46

If ASB can chart until promotion for LOVE start it could boost the sales a bit, maybe if she performs at tv or make magazines interviews it could even sell more than PQ at the end.

But I'm not sure she'll do so much promotion -_-

A SUMMER BEST is not going to boost anymore... I can't imagine casual people buying "A SUMMER BEST" at November, December, January... lol

sad but true..

Agreed :yes

It's already autumn (fall)!!!

Well, it did its BEST and I'm glad it sold as much as it did...!

just because its not longer summer, it doesnt mean people are going to stop buying it all together...

^ But do the Japanese really want to buy an 'energetic' album in the fall/winter? Or do they want angsty ballads?

Then again, Ayu released MOON in July...

^ what Im saying is just because the month has changed or the season has changed their not going to look at it and say: "Oh.. its got summer on it... na... it's fall!"

Her most popular ballad was released during summer...
Her most popular energetic upbeat track was released during winter...

Funny enough, both are o ASB :P

Yeah, I kinda get what you mean.
I actually prefer to listen to summer songs in winter.... But winter songs only in winter XD
Well, it's fall now and I'm blasting You & Me. My neighbors must think I'm insane.

And Andrenekoi, Japan's just like Australia :P

Didn't get it xD

I wonder if it did better, worse, or as well as Avex expected, considering it's a BEST. Hm.

I guess this was a fun release though. If she does a winter best, she really needs to re-arrange and re-sing some tracks.

Considering it was sold out almost in all stores when it came out it's no bad no ?

^Was it? Wow, can't remember that.

^ ep... signs and posters everywhere.

8th Week
Position: #113
Official Sales: 1,153
Official Total Sales: 136,682

ASB still charting, just I don't have much time to update..

I actually don't get it either
I knew at one point but I forgot to say what it meant...
Something about: Ayu's most popular ballad was released in the summer and summer in Australia is winter I believe.

I'm from Brazil, so, still don't get it xD Summer on Australia = Summer on here

^ you know what it is: australian summer happens in nov-feb i think.
And.. lol i don't remember. It's so unimportant.


At least Ayu sold 1k last week! :)

Over here too... Summer XMas :P

I think they just underestimated demand at the time. The copies were back in store a day or two after that.