Ayumi loses to Hikaru Utada (top 10 CD sales)
 

Combined album and single sales for last year:

Artist, Number of CDs sold, Proceeds in yen

1. Hikaru Utada...........5,730,000.....13,350,500,000
2. Ayumi Hamasaki.....5,320,000.....11,580,000,000
3. MISIA.....................3,430,000......9,550,000,000
4. Kazumasa Oda........2,050,000......5,680,000,000
5. Mongol 800.............2,600,000......5,440,000,000
6. Mr. Children............2,630,000......5,430,000,000
7. GLAY......................2,350,000......4,900,000,000
8. Mika Nakashima......1,880,000......4,220,000,000
9. B'z.........................1,630,000......4,080,000, 000
10. hitomi...................1,400,000......3,980,000,000

http://www.zakzak.co.jp/top-xus/top2002121202.html

Question, how many albums+singles did Hikki release? what about Ayu? That makes a difference if Hikki released more than Ayu.

Ashley

That sort of sucks.. but in our hearts we still no ayu is the best lol ^^ Maybe aftter 2003 passes she will be back on top again!

aww this does stink, but it doesnt bother me that much, because the year's not over. lol. As soon as Raibow is released Ayu is bound to decimate Hikki's numbers.

Some more info from the article:

Ayumi CD sales amounted to 11,580,000,000 yen this year, but last year it was 24,400,000,000 yen. That is a very dramatic decrease. Avex really must be hurting.

Ayu was number one in single sales, but they didn't provide any numbers. I suppose Hikaru Utada's "Deep River" must have sold much better than "I am...".

That's really sad....I think "I am..." has a better proportion of good songs than deep river......
woa hitomi is in the top ten :thumbsup

whoa...from what nmskalmn said, that's over a 1/2 loss in sales!! Even with the success of CDs like Voyage, I'm surprised Ayu did so poorly (relatively speaking). This year saw the releases of such CDs as I am... , Ayumix 4, CT2, H, and others, so I was expecting a bit bigger sales....

Well "H" and "Voyage" are still selling, and "Rainbow" hasn't come out yet. And with Avex doing that pirating protection on all singles/albums, it may be a bit harder to download and copy songs. I think she'll sell more next year.

but haven't some people been boycotting ayu cd copy protected releases?

But what makes me worried is because Ayu releases much more singles and albums than Utada and even with that she did sell less......

Again, I ask how many singles+albums did Hikki relase this year compared to how many ayu released? The number of singles+albums could account for the differences in the sales numbers.

Ashley

well, it would, but the problem is that we know ayu released more singles and albums. technically she should have better sales. I guess fans didn't approve of the rereleased singles. or maybe ayu is hitting what most big hit performers face- the end of her peak. It happens to everyone eventually- well, except Madonna, and for some messed up reason, all the crap boy bands and pop princesses. of course the latter groups are going to hit it too.
I just hope that isn't so- after all, ayu constantly reinvents her music.

Hmm.....Ayu released Iam..., Daybreak, Free&Easy, Ayu-mi-x IV NSMM, Ayu-mi-x IV AOV, CT2, }{ and voyage...I think Utada released less stuff: Hikari, Deep River, Sakura Drops.....

well the two figures are awfully close. it's no biggie that the she's selling less than she did last year cuz you could say that about any J-POP star, the Japanese industry is going down. i blame AVEX's SILLY CD CONTROL.

besides, if you counted worldwide sales (why dont they ever do that?) Ayu would prolly win. confirmation anyone?

NOOOOOO AYU LOST!!!! BUT AYU IS STILL THE BEST!!!

Hmm... it all doesn't make a lot of sense. "I am..." was definitely better than "Deep River." Ayu released a lot more stuff....and even had a million selling single. Oh well, I'm sure "Rainbow" will do very well.

aWwwwww.... this is kinda sad..... but it's ookay.... both of them are sugoii!!! :D :D anyway... boa is not in the list?!?!?!

Ayu releases I know that sold this year (in order of release date):
a song is born (single w/Keiko)
I am... (album)
Daybreak (single)
ayu-mi-x IV - megamix (compilation)
ayu-mi-x IV - acoustic (compilation)
Free & Easy (single)
H (EP)
ayu-trance 2 (compilation)
Voyage (single)

Hikki:
Travelling (single)
Hikari (single)
SAKURA Drops (single)
Deep river (album)

Comment:
a song is born and travelling were both released last year but managed to stay in the chart into this year. And ms Utada released a LOT less than Ayumi...
But then "Rainbow" is out soon and will change that.
It's possible that Ayu's releasing too much :(
If her releases per year were fewer they would sell more.
But then again "Daybreak" was a limited edition single (sold badly still, it's possible there is tens of thousands of copies left, even seen the JAPANESE version on sale on Yesasia) and her compilations can't really be expected to sell as much as a regular album

Mika's #8, yay :D

Note:
Both artists' back catalogue would also count towards the total, but it doesn't count as much as the current releases for the year.

i have a feeling that rainbow will do well

i bet it will.... cos so many secrets in da album~ :D

Hikki's "Deep River" sold more than "I Am" but it wasn't by a huge margin. I still don't see how Hikki could have sold more sales with so few releases. Ayu has released so many things this year. Something seems wrong to me. :shrug

Well, neither "Daybreak" nor "Free & easy" really sold that much, I bet "Hikari" and "SAKURA drops" sold quite a lot, but still not past one million copies because that has only "H" done this year...so I have to agree with you Grantith, something does indeed seem wrong!!!
Even though Hikki's releases tend to be fewer and sell more it's mysterious!
Although the difference between Hikki and Ayu's sales aren't that huge...eh, well, 410,000 copies are a lot...it's like a whole hit single or compilation in difference...

I'm surprised!

maybe, the support for Hikki is better in Japan.......

You have to remember that Hikkis "First Love" album sold 9.5 millon copies but then it's been lower sales for the rest of her albums, about 5 million, maybe for the Deep River release some of those 9.5 million people decided too buy it. I think Ayu is releasing too much material and people dont' have money or something too buy everything she releases.Or it could be that Hikki has more fans.

HIKKI RULES!!!:laugh

Found another article with some more info:

Hikaru Utada sold a total of a total of 3,590,000 albums (10,990 million yen), and 2,140,000 singles (2,360 million yen).

In 1999 Hikki sold 12,750,000 CDs (28,130 million yen). This year it was 5,730,000 CDs (13,350 million yen). What a shocking decrease!

http://www.nikkansports.com/news/ent...021212-05.html

That really is a huge decrease!!!! The economy must be doing pretty bad for it to go down that much!

i still think there's something wrong with this source...:think :think :think

Somethings fishy. The thing that disturbes me is that ayu's cd sales were cut in half. I think it might be because of her change of style. I think her innocent, cute, fun look was appealing to people more. Her new look makes her look so much more mature.

What is this source, anyway? I mean, who compiled all this information? I really don't think it's correct. Especially since "H" sold 1 million copies by itself.

I assure you that these numbers are legitimate. I do not know the ultimate source of the data, but it is most likely the Recording Industry Association of Japan, or another trade group. And they are being reported in every Japanese newspaper, although I only posted two of them.

If you like, check the oricon and planet charts and compile the figures yourself.

HCE has already done so for Ayumi Hamasaki's CDs:

http://home.no.net/ayumi/sales.shtml

My input on this bit of news can be summed up in two simple words: who cares? :shrug
I'm not trying to sound mean, but simply put, quality is not determined by sales. Think about it. If sales determines quality, then everybody in the world should have a copy of "Citizen Kane" (which i happen to have, but that's beside the point :P ), as it is consistently voted the greatest movie of all time.
So listen to what you want to listen to, watch what you want to watch, and/or buy what you want to buy, regardless of sales.

Ayufan Vegeta: exactly, does it really matter that much?

anyway, here's the #, from Jan 1 to Nov 30:
hikki:
Deep river - 3,113,600
Sakura Drops - 741,500
Hikari - 641,800
Traveling - 219,000

Ayu:
I am... - 2,418,800
CT2 - 269,900
ayu-mi-x 4 NNMS - 209,300
ayu-mi-x 4 AOV - dunno about this one, but less than NNMS
H - 992,500
Voyage - 668,700
Free & Easy - 540,600
Daybreak - 235,200

also, she released less stuff than leas yr

u guys do the math, i'm not gonna do it, going to watch will & grace now :)

doing the math:

Hikki: 4,715,900

Ayu: 5,335,000 and that doesn't include Ayumix IV AOV, since trainspotter didn't know. Guessing Ayumix IV AOV sold around 150,000 copies, that brings us up to almost 5.5 million cds.

I'm pretty sure that's right. I figured Ayu's sales would be higher.

i don't like the cd control thing either.. so complicated

I think that the accoustic orchestra version of ayumixIV only sold like... 75,000 copies.... or something really small like that. But that still puts ayu in front of Hikki.... so this is really strange....

Maybe they miscalculated or made a mistake.

They might not have counted the remix CDs for some reason.

It isn't any big deal .. heehee .. Ayu is still the greatest in our hearts ! :heart :heart

Yea that's true. As long as Ayu has dedicated fans who love her, it doesn't matter how many records she sells. :beat

Yup, Ayu will always be #1 to me.

this year, hikki has released her sakura drops, hikari, and traveling singles + her deep river album... oh and the uh3+ dvd...

but ayu has released a lot more... i am, h, voyage, ayu trance 2... and the list goes on...

im so proud of hikki... AND of course ayu toO! dont go hating on me!

:spazzed HOORAY !! :spazzed

I'm sure that will change. Besides, we all support Ayu. :)

Hikari - 641,800 <= This is SO inaccurate. I don't know where you got this information, but the single OUTSOLD the video game it was the theme song for! So it sold AT LEAST 800,000 copies. But, it is rather amazing that Hikki did manage to outsell Ayu this year. Especially considering that Ayu is so commercial. Oh well, maybe quality won out this year? I love Ayu, but Hikki came out with much better music this year. Anyway, I think the difference in the numbers would prolly be coming from the two DVDs Hikki released this year, no? She released the "Traveling" single and her UH3+ and then she DID release an analog record of DEEP RIVER. Wouldn't those count?

Methinks Hikaru need a 'new awakening' like Ayumi has done
with RAINBOW. Deep River is b-o-r-i-n-g ~ period. If 'Colors' isn't
something shocking and new, well - she just can't compete, and
she's lost an old fan until she releases something GOOD again. I
loved Hikki's 'First Love' album, and 'Distance' was pretty good as
well... 'Deep River' uses one style of music and runs it through
the whole DURN CD. Hikaru needs some variety and FAST...

Also, I think the cover to Deep River is scary *_*

Perhaps Utada releases lots of 'quality' stuff, but its 'quality' is all identical to the last release..... Zzzzzz.








Have a Happy Day!
~Jasmine