exactly


something like (miss)understood - Secret

but in this case NEXT LEVEL wasn't release at the very beginning of the year

but still...

maybe this time a mini-album??

The quality of music/songs doesn't necessarilly reflect the album's sales, if it did, Shimatani's HEART&SYMPHONY would sell millions :yes And a solid number of boybands would be selling close to nothing (KAT-TUN and EXILE would be selling coffee and pancakes ^^), in my opinion.

@SURREAL_RAINBOW - even if they release it in January/Feb. 2010 it would still count as fiscal 2009, I really doubt they'll wait more than 1 year to release it. I am just hoping that she will still release 2 singles prior to it.

I know & you think that J-Storm/J-one & Johnny's Entertainment are bad -_-

I believe so but it's still not a valid reason/occasion to ask ayumi to put out another album at the end of the year

it wouldn't be fair for everyone at all , let alone to ask ayumi to overwork like crap

that is so true!

what about Utada's English album.

I really enjoyed it, it was a pretty good album and it didn't sell as many of us expected!

and they can't say that it was because it was in English. Many overseas artists release in Japan and they sell pretty good!



EDIT: I think that we will have to wait and see how other female idols do with their albums this year... like namie for example

then we will be able to tell if the low sales are because of the economy or something else (NEXT LEVEL wasn't a very strong album after all :()

Yeah I don't really want a rushed album to make the sales look better. So yeah, it's not a valid reason to ask her to do another album, but sadly the list of people who care about that in AVEX is blank. :no

We can only hope that it won't happen.

@SURREAL_RAINBOW - well so far WILD/Dr. isn't doing really well physically, as it barely broke 100k on it's 3rd week. Chances are it will barely outsell Rule/Sparkle and considering Namie was in her 2nd peak in 2008 it could either mean that she's already lost it or that the economy is affecting the sales too much, but than again there are examples that can prove that wrong..

I hope so man with the release of the PCDL DVD that will be out next month , should something else be released from avex , ugh that will be horrible

& I agree with you , I don't want another rushed album once again *point at Secret even though it's the 1st ayumi album that I listened/love/bought*

What I would really like to hear from Ayu is another MY STORY - an album filled with well written lyrics and loads of new material. It doesn't really have to be anything new.

So true... Ayu's singles have actually done really well compared to other top female singers. As for NEXT LEVEL not selling as well as expected, I think it has a lot to do with it being released so soon after Rule/Sparkle + some other promotional issues.

NL drop to #4 in Taiwan chart. it cant stay #1 that long like A BEST II

Um, yes it did. It's for the most part different from her previous albums, especially the album tracks. Ayu hasn't done an electronic song since STEP you, and that really wasn't that electro.

To me, there's nothing wrong with the album itself. I don't think thats why it didn't sell well. I think it was a lack of promotion - this is the first time Ayu hasn't really promoted her album well and it shows. We have seen her release singles with little promotion but never an album. She should have given herself more time to make the album and rehease for the arena tour. She's trying to do too much in too little time and there's only so much promotion that can be done without the singer. Even though the album to me is one of my favourite she's ever done, it's no secret that it's rushed and I think the 10 songs/4 interlude mix makes it show.

NEXT LEVEL is @ #5 today.

Oh, no... It is keep falling...

^ Yup... :(

There's a new release just this week ago.

Everything is subjective, that's why I added the imo part :yes Hmm and no I don't think the name's enough, god knows we've seen that it's not even enough to be Utada (Hikaru) and release an album which will sell with low promo and her albums usually sold good with no additional PVs (though HS had loads of TV perfs). I didn't try to make an excuse, just state that the quality of music doesn't really have to determine the sales, but it all depends on your standards and taste I guess.

Considering that both Days/GREEN and Rule/Sparkle were quite successful for female artist standards, I doubt it's the music that's preventing people from buying the album, the new PVs that were aired were a summer song and a ballad and didn't bring anything new to her music. But I guess it's all the matter of taste and it's pointless to argue about the quality of the songs as you said, cuz as usual the opinions will be mixed as we've already seen. Plus we do know that Ayu's sales keep declining with every new studio album, so there is nothing weird with NL selling less than GUILTY.

@tony g - Besides Sparkle and rollin' all the other tracks were pretty much what Ayu has done before, one way or another. So I disagree, NEXT LEVEL doesn't bring that many new things to Ayu's music.

that will be awesome if she come up with another MY STORY as that alongside with Secret were the 1st 2 albums that I heard of her

:yes & that's KinKi Kids's Domoto Tsuyoshi's new solo album which's released at the same time with his new solo single

it's out today instead of Wed cos of his 30th birthday

ugh if not for the fact that I support Johnny's , I would have sent him to the gallows :laugh

Hmm #5 today.... maybe they're counting both UBS shipment waves together later...? Or people really didn't order any lol.

^Oh yeah it's Endlicheri's birthday. Speaking of which, Kinki Kids has also halted their annual year end album for the first time like ayu.

MY STORY really wowed me. It was a cohesive album and each song has a special place in my heart (except Liar and HAPPY ENDING). I would also like another album like that. Why do people keep demanding that ayu change her musical style? I don't think anyone ever told Schubert they were sick of his lieder 600 compositions down the road.

Am I the only one who didn't find MY STORY that special? >_<; Sometimes I think people only like it just because it had 10 new tracks <_<; But I could be wrong!

Anyway, I'm not sure if sales are going to go up anymore because we don't know if the USBs were counted yet. So I hope for longevity to the max for this album! I think with some performances and the tour, the album could at least stay on the chart for a decent amount of time... besides, it's about the end result not how it started, right?