When singles use to sell ALOT
 

Sales from the week of 2/07/2000:

01 654,210 Tsunami - Southern All Stars
02 600,860 Koi no Dance site - Morning Musume
03 400,330 Gypsum - Ringo Shina
04 365,910 Tsumi to Batsu - Ringo Shina
05 272,620 Don't Need To Say Good Bye - Ami Suzuki
06 249,850 Neo Universe/Finale - L'Arc-en-Ciel
07 146,060 Love, Day After Tomorrow - Mai Kuraki
08 117,460 Kuchibue - Mr.Children
09 93,310 Seinaru Umi to Sunshine - The Yellow Monkey
10 77,410 Mago - Itsuro Oizumi

Wow! Every TOP 5 single sold over 200,000 copies in the first week. Now a single can reach the top position selling 77,410. Or, like Def. Diva, 24.000 copies.

DEF.DIVA's no. 1 is a bit of luck. I thought it would be selling like 40K at least with the top 4 H!P artists... but it turned out that the first week sale was even worse than ayaya's last single first week sale (38K copies).

Teh economy, teh economy :/

Oh- and also can't forget the stronger love for digital music~

wow...things are really different now.

Sometimes I wonder if mp3s are playing a larger role then we orginally expected.

Today's generation is geared toward instant gratification. Why wait to drive all the way to the store and spend money on a song you really want to hear when you can just download it for free and listen to your song all you want right now?
It may be illegal, but so many people do it. Therefore the music industry suffers.

I support my favorite artists by buying their music, but I think crisis will bring forth the real artists and weed out the crap ones. People who only make music to be rich may consider doing something else because musicians aren't profiting as much as they used to.

I also feel that the music industry has suffered tremendously because of mp3s. Perhaps they should make legalized downloads count towards the amount of sales so as to make it more accurate.

That would make a lot of sense :/ It's bad enough that some internet sales don't even count, either. And with the rise of the online buying concept, more sales would be counted.

There actually are a couple singles on the charts hitting it big:
"Seishun Amigo" by Shuji & Akira (units sold for each week, this is NOT a cumulative unit sale)
Week 1 = 115,000 (debut #1)
Week 2 = ?
Week 3 = 250,108
Week 4 = 174,788
Week 5 = 114,034
Week 6 = 82,368
Week 7 = 61,243

"Konayuki" by Remioromen
Week 1 = 93,484 (debut #4)
Week 2 = 80,023
Week 3 = 81,562
Week 4 = 70,847

"Triangle" by SMAP
Week 1 = 181,908 (debut #1)
Week 2 = 45,538
Week 3 = 22,338

"supernova/karma" by Bump of Chicken
Week 1 = 161,022 (debut #2)
Week 2 = 35,908
Week 3 = 18,267

So although it's predictable that the sales will drop off the weeks following debut, Shuji & Akira and Remioromen are doing very well on the charts. The numbers all depend on who debuts on a certain week and also who the performer is. As you can see, the male groups are the ones who consistently sell incredibly well, breaking into 6 figures their debut week.
Singles still sell well but I think there's a lot more market competition, so it's rarer to see really big sales. From what I've seen, looks like "Seishun Amigo" might be a million seller.
[all stats taken directly from the Oricon site]

I blame internet downloading... The greateest thing ever created. :D

IPODS and internet downloading? :P

wow, namie used to be so popular

just wanna change the "Seishun Amigo" #'s that u put in:

Week 1 = 520,419 (debut #1)
Week 2 = 250,108
Week 3 = 174,788
Week 4 = 114,034
Week 5 = 082,368
Week 6 = 061,243
TOTAL = 1,202,960
*4 wks to pass 1,000,000; sold more than MY STORY*

it just all depends on the singles tie-ups imo. the 3 songs in "Seishun Amigo" all had drama tie-ups that had good ratings.

we also have to remember that singles r declining in popularity. y buy a single when an album is gonna come out?? (ie: B&D/Pride). but last yr was actually a great yr for both singles and albums in terms of sales. the top 50 single sales for 2005 were higher than 2004. the top 50 album sales for 2005 were higher than 2003.
imo, in japan, i dont think illegal DLing is as big of a problem as in other countries around the world (US, korea, HK) where DLing via BT or P2P is rampant. my proof? the example about the cd sales increasing last yr as opposed to many other music industries having decreased sales. [stated above] japan managed to have an increase!

well... it IS cheaper... MY STORY was quite expensive! :P anyway, seishun amigo sold more than most albums except for maybe 10 albums of this year... don't see your point in comparing it to MY STORY? :rolleyes

Just want to add to your logic. The single also sold really well because of who was on it. Kamenashi Kazuya is part of a group called Kat-tun, who has a huge fanbase, but has yet to release anything. So a lot of the fangirls probably went crazy when they saw a member actually releasing something.

^yea..johnny's fans r crazy. but if u werent part of johnny's, tie-ups r a big thing. ->the 2 NANA singles. mika's already past the 400k mark, ENDLESS STORY is nearing the 400k mark. ai's PLANETARIUM is tied-up w/a drama n its her 3rd best single in sales, this wk total was about 250k

shadow*puppet: i just wanted to make the point that the single sold more than an album n since this is an ayu forum, i just putted ayumi as an example. only 5 albums this yr sold more than that single. since this single is still selling, i wouldnt b surprised if it sold more than koda's Best~first things~ [sales: 1.29m] MY STORY wasnt really expensive compared to other albums. most albums cost at least ¥3000 neways [cd only version]

But this charts are from ONE WEEK in 2000. While Seishun no Amigo numbers are impressive, the others arent, I mean, the 7th position was selling more than SMAP 'Triangle'.

This isn't an overall chart. This are the sales on an usual week in 2000.

But, BTW, why suddenly with TRY ME, Super Monkey start selling so well?

Thanks for the edit! I wasn't sure of my info since I was sifting through articles that seemed to have final numbers.