A BEST: why the high sales?
 

A BEST sold over 4 million copies, correct? Besides Ayumi re-recording some of the songs on the album and her popularity at the time in general, what other factors led it to sell so highly? Didn't it sell like 2x as much as Duty? o.o

cuz it was a best album.....and theres like 20 CMs for it

In japan, best albums seem to sell VERY WELL, where in america they sell poorly compared to japan.

that may be so, but I still don't understand why =/

Well, having all one's favourite songs on one cd sounds like a good deal to me. :yes

its a best ^^

It didn't sell twice as much as Duty...

But it was massly marketed, all Avex CMs at the time, instead of saying 'Avex Trax' at the end, was changed to 'A Best'.

And A BEST had at least 7 CMs, and 6 different covers. Some die-hard fans want them all, and for the 6 days prior to the release, it had a different CM on hair counting down to bring up the tension.

But most of all, it was the 3-28 media hype, about Hamasaki vs. Utada.

And an album containing of all her hits is a good deal. Plus it included the big hit 'M', available on the single only at the time, and the first 3 tracks were re-recorded for the better. (And End roll was also re-recorded, but wasn't advertised)

Wow, thats a big bit of advertising.

There were even A Best-Shops! shops that only sold the album A Best with a TV in it playing the PVs. The promotion was massive.

crazy **** huh

Because she's crying in the cover ._.
Then people see it and think "Poor Ayumi, I'll buy her CD to support her.. She must be feeling so sad." =/

OMG that's unbelievable!!!

I never knew that - that's real promotion...

The local store here in Australia had little A BEST, and Distance flags hung over the counter. And 4 Distance posters as well as 4 A BEST posters were stuck on near the entrance. =o

I think sold so well because it was ayu own hand picked album :think This album was pretty important to ayu, she had always expected and wish she could issue her own hand pick album. Yeah the promotion was massive indeed :yes She appeared everywhere on the street of japan at the time, she also did loads of photo shots and was on the cover of 40 mags at one time. Also most of her die hard fan's would have wanted it :think

the a best flags that k + was on about i think
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/leungc...best+flags.bmp

and also some mag's that ayu was in at the time

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/leungc.../mag+scans.bmp

I thought Ayu said (in NTV interview) that Avex made her do it, and that she was upset because she thought it meant the end of Hamasaki Ayumi?

^ Was it :think sorry not seen it for a long time so, if my infor. wrong then forget what i written :shutup

eidt :Just had a look at the interview, yeah yur right ayu was shocked about how avex told her that her Hand Picked Album must go on the market at the time.

oh man! the marketing for this album must have driven people absolutely insane x.x

Duty should have sold more than A BEST! A BEST sucks !!!

Avex is just trying to stop hikki from doing her 8 millions sales no. again..
they are just afraid imo...

No, A BALLADS suck! :yes

And thank God Utada didnt' sell another 8 million album. I love you Avex! :love

i like A Ballads..-_-"

"A BALLADS" wouldn't suffer the fate of becoming sucking if they didn't let her re-sing those old stuff, namingly "A Song for XX" "YOU" and "Who..." :yes

I agree with BrightLight on that completely. :yes

I love the new version of A Song for XX. I think it fits the lyrics better than the original. The lyrics are angsty, so the song should be. I love A Ballads.

A Best sold well because it's a best album. There are people out there who like Ayu, but don't go out and buy her albums. A best had her best singles on there, so more people would buy it.

BTW: Utada Hikaru's "Distance" ended up selling more than A Best anyway, so I guess AVEX'S plan didn't work.

^ Honestly, does Utada have subliminal messages in her music? It's kind of insane... :laugh

Anyway, yeah, I agree with your point about people buying it because of the singles all being there and substituting it for an "album-album". I've done that a lot too, actually. If I get interested in an artist and they already have a best album, I generally get that one first and if I still like what I hear then maybe I'll buy the regular albums. I can imagine that may have happened with A BEST. :yes

I do that to - getting best of compilations. A Best was the first Ayu album I got, and I got more after listening to it.

EBS 2 is still kinda...meh..

EBS 2? Huh?

I'm guessing Every Best Single 2

IMO, best albums are kind of a double edged sword. (Not acknowledging the fact that they make a lot of money, of course. :laugh) To newer fans they're great because they get a good taste of the artist's music all in one spot. However, to existing fans who already own the songs, it can be a bit of a nuisance at times because you feel like you should get it even though you basically already HAVE it. (Except when they resing songs or throw on extras, but even then. :P)

:fatality

[You know that's a joke right? Just wanted a chance to use some of the more interesting emocons.]

EBS2 was great just looking at the tracklist.

interesting choice of emoticons..O_o..

[ i no :D ]

didnt ayumi didnt want to release A Best or something like that and avex did it anyways and it sold alot, im not sure...

Her producer wanted to end her career with the album, just like with "A".

i guess everyone was just afraid that ayu would die out so they all went out and bought her album?

How did re-singing "You" make A Ballads suck? I thought it made it infinatly better becuase her voice is so much better now then it was when she originally recorded it. I can barely listen to the original "You" without my ears bleeding.

The A Ballads version of 'YOU' pains me. Her voice from the RAINBOW album tracks and soon after was her all time low (vocally).

I don't think advertising was the main reason why it sold so much..best albums sells well because people who weren't normal a fan also got a copy of the album. And with an artist as famous as Ayu..well, I'd imagine anybody who didn't detest pop music would've got it. Of course we can't ignore those hard-core fans who had to get all the covers/variations etc. =p

I guess it's just left up to personal taste. I don't really like her voice from the older stuff, too nasaly.

I still love them to this day :D
Although her vibrato has changed, and her voice a bit lower
I still stand by it :D:D:D

I agree with Gakkun
Also with some other people too (but too tired to list them so... haha)

A BEST is really ayu's best album,even A BALLADS can't be compared,you have to understand also, the fans will think ayu will stop her career,so they are really supporting her,and by those massive sales,ayu helds a massive DOME TOUR 2001 A!!!
Also,Until now,A BEST is still a BEST SELLERS!!!