They are. But AKB fans are just too excited about beating ayu in each one of this records...

If the album was released today it would be #2 ^^

Yeah, since the time she stopped selling 200k+ copies you can say she's been relying on her fanbase, but now with her sales dropping and dropping can we assume that her fanbase is getting smaller and smaller ?

+ AKB48 can't break ayu records because they're a group (and a huuuuuge one) whereas ayu is a soloist.

Numbers don't lie and ayu's fan base getting smaller is one of my biggest concerns. Last/zutto/walk got a lot of attention so there's hope. Aren't akb48 the primary 48 but there's like 5 other 48 girls groups? Just wondering.

To be honest AKB48 sounds to me like a bunch of sheep screaming under a Christmas tree. They can get as many awards and break as many records as they want For all I care xD

LOOOOOOL SCATTER MY ASHES TO A FAR-EAST WIND; I AM DEAD

2nd Day Position: #16

Not that bad.

Will it cross 40k?
At least now the gaps between albums are gonna get smaller and smaller. Even if the next album's chart position is N/A it'll still be smaller than other gaps.

Never have I imagined living in a world where ayumi hamasaki struggles to sell 50k.

[shrugs]. At least quality-wise I'm very satisfied with this album.

Quality-wise her albums sell 20,000,000 each and are the best selling albums in Japan for all I care, same for her singles and DVDs/Blu-rays :laugh

She still attracts 300k+ people to watch her live every year, between Arena Tours, CDLs and festival performances, and she is only behind Namie on that department nowadays if I'm not wrong.

Younger generation doesn't care about her recent releases, and people who follows her (and watch her live) are over that age you buy everything an artist released just because it has their name on the cover... So, she isn't having massive hits or selling loads of copies, but she is far from being irrelevant or even at risk of getting there.

I still believe she would benefit a lot sales-wise of stop having yearly releases and tours.

These things don't that matter... It's more for the fans/avex rather than ayu herself (as she is swimming in money anyway and still earn loads of tours/tie-ins/goods sales and other stuff - and also for these decent sales). Of course she uses avex for what she needs though.

"I’m not scared of losing what I had anymore" - WARNING.

She can do whatever she want without fear of losing fans or selling less.

^I don't care about declining sales as much. It's been a trend since like 2002. As long as she keeps producing music and is true to herself, I'll always be a fan.

People should also take into account that perhaps people simply download Ayu's songs and albums nowdays.

^That's true. Also, oricon doesn't count international sales anymore so, even if the international copies sold aren't that many, the "official oricon numbers" aren't at all looking at the whole picture.

And Oricon doesn't count copies sold on the venue of a concert, no?

Ayumi Hamasaki is a really popular artist in YesAsia every year, and for being J-Pop, she sells at level of Kpop group in that page. Specially her concerts.

It would be interesting if Avex can give the real number of sales for their artists. They should know what they sent to shop and what remains in their stock!

They count a percentage of the copies sold at concert venues--I can't recall if it's 20% of copies sold or if it's that 1 in every 3 copies sold is counted. Can someone clarify?

I feel like I remember seeing her sales numbers according to avex released in their annual shareholders' reports, but I haven't seen one of those in a long long time.

The day is fast approaching where people no longer buy physical albums! That's a scary thought to me :( I love owning physical albums; they're some of my favorite possessions! whahah

1/3 I believe^^