congratz Ayu :x:x:x

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year everyone :D

^and to you too ^_^

According to G-music:

Days/GREEN debuted at #2 and accounted for 15.66% of total japan/korean sales in taiwan.

LINK

Days/GREEN debuted at #5 and accounted for 3.29% of total album/singles sales in taiwan.

LINK

Looking at the overall single sales of 2008 at oricon chart..this single is actually doing pretty well..now getting over 15k for a single is already a very good thing for the artist

The japanese version is in alrdy!!! amd I also saw Kuu's Stay with me japanese version and I was SHOCKED!!!! (I saw it like last week!!!)

it's weird...ayu always got #1 when releasing album/single in Taiwan...

but still, it's great position, #2 !!

^ The Taiwanese have more important music to buy lmao j/k

its first week in taiwain...she will top it in upcoming weeks...

That is only the sales of the japan version if i'm not wrong. When the sales of the taiwan version is taken into account, i'm sure ayu will top the chart :)

Ayu is #4 today

Ayu is #4 today but those Macross releases prolly won't stay on top 3 for too long as their indexes are pretty poor XD So I guess she'll be back in top 3 pretty soon (oh and Stay with me's 1st day is even lower than TABOO's, but at least Ku will most likely have a #1 weekly)

Oricon's sales are: 127'650 for the 1st week.

^

Yay, higher than glitter!

Welcome back, ayu :D

Kinda LOL and ironic that for this very Chinese single, it didn't even get #1 in Taiwan :rolleyes

It's just the imported Japan-version ranking just now. The overseas version is yet to be released. :yes So that's an awesome rank. The Japan version of Mirrorcle World only managed to get #11 in Taiwan. And glitter/fated got #7.

\*_*/ wow congrats Ayu!

Ayu is not even in the top 20 weekly airply for Billboard Japan, so in reality Days is not a popular song.

Explain how the heck is it that it's being sold really well digitally then? Billboard sucks, and they obviously have something against Ayu as according to them MW wasn't in top 100 yearly singles which makes no sense. And you can't really judge the popularity of a song only by looking at billboard airplay charts, I mean if you would only look at the Oricon sales or Ringtone ones you could say that Days is in fact very popular. But since neither me nor you are from Japan - we can't say for sure.

the song got virtually no airply, clearly. it was probably mainly her core fanbase (which is 70,000+ people) buying the single and ringtone to bump it up to #1.

Mirrorcle World also didn't make i in the top 50 airplay, that's how it wasn't in the top 100.


ayumi has a HUGE fanbase, but outside of that it seems her recent works are very unknown.

I dunno.
Days is always performed in music shows so, is pretty popular ... I guess :innocent

wat!? THIS IS A CONSPIRACY!
lol

LOL please keep in mind that even tough Ayu isn't selling millions her recent stuff is everything but UNKNOWN (where are u getting all that stuff from?). And if Days was only purchased by fans (digitally) why didn't her previous 3-4 singles sold the same? Plus are you trying to say that EXILE who are at their peak atm are selling less digitally than Ayu atm because Ayu fans are buying the ringtones? Oh and if your precious airplay is so important explain how A i H sold million+ of CDs as there was nothing to airplay on TV besides the CMs and of course the lives as there were no PVs to promote the songs.

Ayu's sales will be higher again. :D I have faith.

Sometimes it's hard to judge the popularity of a song based upon airplay. As you know, nowadays executives in radio stations have the power to control what to play, and what not to. I'm not saying airplay is totally bu******* thing, but I can give an example right now --> Madonna's Hung Up. Was it popular back then? Yes. Did the radio stations play the song? Not really, cuz they still boycotting Madonna for the anti-war comments from last time.

By the way, Days gets no. 1 on overall weekly chart at recochoku this week. So I won't say Days is not popular at all..

http://recochoku.jp/recochoku_ranking/weekly_index.html


And about the airplay chart... You gotta explain how come MISIA's CATCH THE RAINBOW is no. 1 all over the place when her single obviously doesn't sell that well. She's only no. 11 on this week oricon weekly chart, plus it is not even on ringtone/full song digital charts at all. I don't really know should we trust airplay (from radio station), or ringtone/full song/video clips downloads (from general public). You can see MISIA is NO. 2 on Billboard Hot 100.. Somehow I find this ridiculous.

high sales do not equal high popularity, and low sales do not equal low popularity.

if people liked the songs, they'd request it and the radio stations would in turn play the song. but a lot of people don't even know about the song, probably, and that's why nobody is requesting it. i hope airplay picks up next week. Days will fall of Billboard MUCH faster than Oricon without any airplay.

And maybe if Billboard included Downloads, we could say Billboard is more reliable but they don't (yet, at least.)

I think the billboard ranks a song by its popularity more than how much it actually sold. Because they add in all those ridiculous factors. So the fact that Mirrorcle World didn't make the top 100 doesn't surprise me and if Days/GREEN ranks low, it wouldn't surprise me either. I think I'll stick to getting my information from Oricon :innocent

I didn't care much the song will in the billboard or chart or else. As I love the song, it 's still okay with me. Wish Ayu Good luck!

I don't how the Japan radio stations go, but like I said airplay is not reliable as it used to be. The executives have power on what artists should have higher rotations. I'm not saying 100% correct, but you can't deny there's a possibility for that.

And like you said, high sales may due to hardcore fanbase. So for me, I think digital downloads and ringtone downloads (esp in Japan) really reflects how popular a song is. Airplay could be manipulated, but not digital downloads. If the general public doesn't like the song that much, there won't be lots of downloads for sure. Hardcore fans download AND buy the physical cd at the same time, so I'm sure artists with larger fanbase will get no. 1 on digital download for the first few days as well. But the longevity of downloads are from casual buyers. If they love the song, they just download it instead of buying the cd.

Day/GREEN is a really good example this time. Let's say the digital download is solely from fans, GREEN should be in the top 3 with Days as well. In fact, GREEN wasn't even in top 10 most of the time in the digital world. Also, I haven't seen an ayu song being to stand still on the top for quite a long time. Even together when (a digital single) could not stay that long (it went off from being the top after a few days...).

I can use kuu's stay with me as the example as well (ehh... before that don't scold me because I use her... it's just happened that she is releasing a single right now). I believe stay with me hasn't been into top 5 for ringtone downloads... and in the full song download chart it is only outside of top 20. For a freshly released single being on top of oricon, this really shows only her hardcore fans buying the physical single, while it is not well received in general. Of course we can say that her album will be released a month later. But now I can bring up another example: Mika's ORION. This song could break into top 5 even tho the album would be released a month later. So... this kinda say the close release between a single and an album don't extremely affect the digital world. In fact, casual buyers are going to download the album anywayz, while not buying the song first? All they need to do is not to buy the song again when they buy the digital album..

Exactly ^^ Plus I really doubt that every single radio station in Japan plays stuff according to the requests of people all the time. And the Mika and Ku thingy was a good example. If Misia's song was actually well received I am sure that people would buy it in some way.

As for Days sliding from Billboard airplay charts - I don't think that anyone really cares, as long as the single sells :)

you figure if stations could "buy" and "control" what artist is at top, ayu would be up there.

sadly though, she just isn't.

Radio is dead in Japan. Also, Ayu has never been one to garner huge airplay, so there really is no surprise there. Main thing is that the single is selling well, right?

Besides, we have been relying on ORICON sales information for years, but Billboard just started tracking music stats in Japan. I think we should focus on ORICON, which for many years has been or reliable and sole source.

We were saying the opposite~ but it seems you only want to provoke us by repeating the same thing all over :innocent

Anyhow whatever you might think :p sadly doesn't change the fact the single is selling quite nicely and that Days is popular digitally.

The main thing is that...
iTunes failed to put Days into their online selling store.
So no one can buy Days in iTunes.. and iTunes is become increasingly popular too.. =[
How stupid.

yeah it's weird that Days is not on iTunes. But the thing is, this song still manage to hit no. 1 on the full song chart on recochoku. It's really good :D

Radio is a dead medium in Japan. It's pretty much irrelevant. Chaku-Uta is the best way to gauge the popularity of a song.

How many times a song is performed on tv has nothing to do with how popular it is. All it means is that is how many shows that the record company was able to get the artist onto.

It's great that Days was number 1 for the week on recochaku. But we really shouldn't say its having high digital sales because we really don't know that. We are only seeing the ranking, not the numbers, so all that we know is she happens to be selling more than what is currently out at the moment. It could be that in the grand scheme of things the sales won't even be in the top 50 for the year or it could be in the top 20 etc etc. We really don't know.

Another #1 for Ayu. :D That's great.

True for that, but we should be positive regarding the digital sales :D.

And yeah.. ayu always performs in CDTV, MS, MF, Music Japan, HEY!³ almost everytime whenever she releases something. So it doesn't relate to the popularity of the song. Of course, if ayu can't even enter top 10 one day, I guess you can kick away 2 to 3 shows I list above. (btw... has she sung Days on MF yet? or she is not going to...?)

What's the use of the radio when she's blaring from all the music stores anyway?

I think it's silly how we're arguing her popularity. Although I agree with her "disconnecting" with the public just based on her fashion, she's still popular. I've looked in a hair magazine recently, and they have a page dedicated to her. So even if her clothes aren't relatable, at least her hair is. (Notice her hair isn't changing as much either, yeah?)

I think if she were to touch back on her previous fashion, though, she'd come back. That's what was so amazing about her before...

Yea, Ayu beat glitter's sales! Hopefully her index can stay near 2 thousand.

Ayu's sales will never reach what they were in the beginning for one reason, and thats because of Illegal downloading.

^I wish some of you would stop blaming EVERYTHING about the downfall of sales on "illegal downloading". Yes, it's a contributing factor but that's not the only reason. It's because of the fact it's on sale digitally which is cheaper, people aren't interested in that artist's music that much anymore or just that particular release, people don't have the money like they use to, and of course illegal downloading.

Times have changed. There really aren't that many "I'm gonna his or her CDs because she's pretty, cool, etc etc" people out there anymore. =/ And the fact that it's on sale digitally would be a great contributing factor to artist's sales since people tend to buy it through that means. If Oricon would stop being in the old age and keep up with the times sales would look so much better. Some of you said that you really don't trust Billboard Japan but how is Oricon any better (especially since they don't count all the stores in Japan where the item is sold)? I mean, Oricon has had it's share of scandals. I'm not saying Oricon can't be trusted but it has it's share of faults.

Some of you should read more about the Billboard charts to get a better idea/understanding of how that rank artists. IIRC, all Billboard Japan does is add the artist's airplay(released songs only), physical sales, and digital sales (itunes-only I think) together to get a collection points or something of the sort. That is nothing bad compared to Oricon, who just base an artist's sales on one thing.

And sorry, I don't believe the "radio is dead media" in Japan especially since artists still go on the radio to promote their releases. =/ If it was that DEAD, I doubt record companies/artists would waste their time trying to promote. Plus most releases are heard through radio.

Source: http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-4212

Hmm...128K. This thread is quite accurate!

it will get #1 when taiwan version release, Im sure. :D

Maybe its true about billboard, I dont really know, its a new thing..
But most companies in Japan base success on Oricon and not Billboard.
Then, Avex takes both Oricon and mu-mo, and probably views itunes sometimes too.
You said that Oricon omits some stores in Japan, but doesnt Billboard do that exact thing online?
If it only rates iTunes, then it is really not anymore effective than Oricon, because Days is not on iTunes Store Japan.
Billboard is still very new, and the tradition is Oricon.
It's not so easy for Billboard to be trusted, even that Oricon had the scandal with someone accusing them to screwing the numbers in the past, with a legal case, etc.

ayu would get #1 in Taiwan, but the single was released on a wednesday

support your point. I dun say Oricon is the best source of determining popularity. However, it's still the authority of the music industry. Just look at how the companies deal with Oricon. Do they trust Billboard as well? Maybe, but probly not much, since it's fairly new to Japan. Right now we look at oricon + recochaku to see how well the sales in phsyical and digital formats respectively. It's better than just look at iTunes since many people buy mp3s on other sites as well (iPod should be popular in Japan, but not that it totally conquer the whole market).

And why do we care about Oricon? Because the companies do, and the Japanese do. If the Billboard becomes the authority in Japan one day, we'll change the title to [Charts & Rankings] ayu ayu we love you BILLBOARD SALES THREAD :P :D.

@Luv: And about radio station debate. Well artists going there for promoting materials doesn't mean anything at all. There are so many radio shows on a day. The bosses can still give order regarding playing what songs on let's say, 50% of the shows (probly exaggerating or underestimating). An Artist just goes to promote the album on one or two shows per radio station. Like I said there're more than 10 - 12 show a day, and there are more than a few stations within an area in Japan. How can you be so sure that there's no manipulation within?

But I must agree one of your points: Don't blame the illegal downloads that much. Blame oricon for not including digital sales instead. They really should invite the digital world to the charts asap. Or else they'll be losing their authority.

Today, Ayumi is #2

Sales: 2388
2388*1.75 = 4179

2nd Week Total: (2437 + ? + 2388) = 8 444

Total: 127 650 + 8 444 = 136 094

IN the billboard yearly chart there were very few avex artists at all, no ayumi.

Oh, keep going D/G!!

great ! hope she can back to #1 daily.

wasnt ayu 33th yearly with mirrorcle world?

I think it's Oricon.

^that's her ranking in oricon year end single chart, not that of billboard japan :P

I hope Days pulls through!

I hope the same!

but really I don't think this single will go up in sales anymore... it will be gone with the wind pretty soon.

MW charted for 15 weeks and I doubt this will be gone with the wind any faster, why being so negative?

yea keep positive guys

i think avex took a bet with this single by releasing a winter song (Days) coupling with a spring song (GREEN) so after the winter season ends and turn to spring, it'll be more relevant to promote GREEN (the song) itself so it could get a sale boost

Radio play is marginal in determining the popularity of music in Japan. Commercial tie ins are how music is exposed to the public and becomes successful. How many singers were flung from obscurity into the spotlight because they scored a tie up with a popular TV show or cell phone service?

Just look at Utada's last album. Fight The Blues was sent to radio stations in Japan while Prisoner of Love was used as the theme song to a popular drama. Prisoner of Love has outsold Fight The Blues digitally by a HUGE margin.

I hope so too, with bad sales from kuu. Kuu's sales might just drop again tomorrow/today (following regular pattern from all artists nowadays, I don;t think there will be a boost over the weekend for poor kuu, but I dunno). And I do feel that Days/Green are much much much better single than stay with me. But honestly, I don;t understand why Japanese are not buying more cds this time. This week is supposed to be Kuu's week (well, she definitely will get weekly no. 1) but 2k, 18k and 4.5k (25k total) is too ridiculous for 3 days sales, and this is Kuu's I'm talking about.

LOL i dunno
actually when I'm all negavite about something it always works out better than I thought!! xD

so thats a good sign! :D

Poor Kuu...
Stay with me isn't bad and it had a lot of promotion... I don't understand why it's selling so badly...

Did everyone decide to buy Ayu's single and not hers =|? I guess we can be happy for Ayu but as a Kuu fan I'm sad for Kumi. A lack of promotion perhaps? I felt stay with me did not have as much selling power as her past stuff.

Could you, please, write a statistic for Kuu just to compare with og give a site, where i can have a look at?) Thanks in advance:)

Is this going to be a double-week? If so, maybe Ayu has a chance to get no. 1 if sales remain constant day after day?

wow back at #2, hopfully it'll be #1 tomorrow and the rest of the week. i wish it will be #1 in its second week!

Kuu has an album coming out in a little more than a month, that's probably the reason. stay with me has sort of become a throw away single.

Go go go Days/GREEN~!

that, and the fact that over 1.5 million people already downloaded the song and have no need for the single. :yes

OMG. kuu's sales are so...bad...and that's unfair because i LOOOVE stay with me >_<
but yeah, the 1.5 mil downloads is really good so i guess it evens out.

however, it'd be cool if ayu got number 1 for second week hahaha :P:P
whatre the chances of that happening? haha...

^ I don't think so, As much as I want it that way, let just give this week to Kuu. Kuu, in a way, deserves better than what she got so far.
But there's a slight chance that Ayu will get back to #1 daily, not weekly.
And wow, great download from Kuu. Now I wonder how much days were being dl-ed so far? I think days got #1 @ rechochoku. isn;t it a download site?

I don;t think so, If it is a throw away single, avex wouldn't move stay with me's original release date (12/10) to 12/24 just because shuchishin were to release their single at the same date. So I don;t think Avex treats stay with me as a throw away single.

edit: can somebody (admin) please mix my earlier post with this one? sorry.

YAY!! another ORICON WEEKLY NO.1 FOR AYU!! :D
hope she will never lose this no.1 streak!!

This is her 19th consecutive #1 and 31st overall I think. Her singles haven't been as strong in terms of sales compared to her past stuff, but it'd take a really popular group/artist to oust her from #1 I think. I can only name a few acts with the star power to do it and that's only if the releases coincide.

Well to be honest I'm not surprised. "Stay with me" was a carbon copy of Kumi's past winter singles. I know winter singles have a set formula but it seems that Kumi's team spent just 5 minutes to come up with the whole concept. To add insult to the injury the song really mediocre. And with the album coming up it's just not worth it.

On the other hand Ayu's single was more well planned. Apart from the...(not so good) pv for GREEN, the material was good and the extra goodies were worth it.

Yes ! u're right ! actually , i don't like "stay with me " , so if Ayu takes #1 this week , i'll not feel sad for Koda ( but i know it's impossible for Ayu ^^ ) .

If it could get number one for a second week that would be wonderful. ^_^

^ Considering Kuu's 2nd day index sales were 17.968, I don' think Ayu will get #1 weekly this week. But U can still hope she'll get back her #1 daily^^

[QUOTE=v3lun420;1757314]But honestly, I don;t understand why Japanese are not buying more cds this time. QUOTE]

Downloading a song for 200 yen is a lot better than a 1000 yen CD.
I mean, why buy it when Trick is coming out in a month?
I think that's what a lot of the more casual fans might be thinking.

she got #1 in taiwan J-pop chart with sales 15,31%
http://www.g-music.com.tw/GMusicBillboard3.aspx

and #6 for combo chart
http://www.g-music.com.tw/GMusicBillboard0.aspx

Kepp it up Ayu!

1st day index sales : 35.116 - Position 1
2nd day index sales : 14.048 - Position 1
3rd day index sales : 7.502 - Position 1
4th day index sales : 4.963 - Position 1
5th day index sales : 4.855 - Position 1
6th day index sales : 4.841 - Position 1
1st week total index sales = 73.762
1st week real sales = 125.000 - position 1


2nd week sales
1st day index sales : 2.437 - Position 1
2nd day index sales : 2.388 - Position 2
3th day index sales : 1.890 - Position 2

Fixed. There's no 7th day on 1st week, and Ayu's (2nd week) and Kuu's (1st week) will be combined with next weeks sales, and released till after new year. So I doubt Ayu will beat Koda

I actually never thought that kuu would have gotten #1 after Ayu.

how does it sell less than 2k and still make #2? the Japanese just really aren't biting anymore.

1->4->2->2->1 - Hamasaki Ayumi - 2,437 + x + 2,388 + 1,890 + 1,460 (x1.75) = 14,306

Ayu's #1 again :) Even tough she can't possibly get #1 this week it would be cool if she remained #1 daily for the rest of these two weeks ^_^

^ Wow GREEN/Days got #1 again! And yeah i agree X]

HUH .. that's new...didnt see that comign at all hahah

At No.1, the sales are like 1.4k? Sales for all the artistes have been poor man.

Finally ! she got #1 daily , hope she can maintain that for the rest of week .

awesome.. there's no possible for her to catch #1 again next week bcoz of holiday term

Seriously, I still can't believe shes #1 daily rank.

Woho #1 today!! Super! ^^

:D

Sorry the sales really stink. Thanks for all the updates but seriously. What's going on... The first day sales were so promising too.

This is really depressing... I'm thinking that the albums side would have much better sales (look at A COMPLETE; I think at its current position, it still sells about 2000+ compared to Days/GREEN which came out for a little more than a week!)

First of all, the sales aren't bad, and it's already pushed more than talkin' 2 myself, for instance. Secondly, A COMPLETE is a Best of-album, they generally sell better, and this is a single, not an album. Thirdly, given the fact that those sales give her No 1, you can't really say they're bad.

^ Yeah, I do get what you mean... but I guess what worried me the most is that if she's #1 with sales at 1.4k, what about the other singles? They're all selling around 1k? I mean I know this 2008 - economy crisis, era of digital downloads etc... but I think this is still quite saddening... But as you said, it's good that she still gets #1!

will she get monthly number 1?

she didn't get a monthly #1 in a while right?

I think the last one was STEP you/is this LOVE?

I got this from Meat Pao. This is Kuu's index sales this week

First Day Position: #2
Second Day Position: #1
Third Day Position: #1
Fourth Day Position: #1
Fifth Day Position: #2

Estimated Sales: 2.254 + 17.968 + 4.381 + 2.401 + 1.442 (x 1.75) = 49.780 copies

I don't thin AYu will get monthly #1. There's that untalented boyband shuchishin releasing their single on 12/10. I dunno how many cds they sold so far, but knowing all those japanese girls would definitely buy their cds even though they have bad voice, I believe they sold more than Ayu's Dyas/GREEN. But, yes, it will be great if AYu could maintain her daily #1 this entire week and next week. Noone will release a single next week, I guess. So it will like AYu vs Kuu next week^^

On one hand, yay! #1 again, but yeah, if she's getting 1.4K with a #1, that's not exactly a good sign for the industry as a whole.

One with 1,4k? Japanese sales really ARE bad now!

Her sales shouldn't drop off that much in the second week. Especially with a holiday song like Days..but at least she's still ranking pretty well.