[Rumor] Ayu’s fanbase dwindling? New single fails to reach top 20 [AramaJapan]

[Maemi]

J-pop diva Ayumi Hamasaki recently released a new single titled “Terminal”. Unfortunately for the former Oricon queen the single debuted at #16, and by the end of the week she was nearly out of the top 50 on the daily charts.

“Terminal” finished with a weekly rank of #24 and sold 2.8k copies.

This is the first time a standard Ayumi release has failed to rank within the top 20 on the weekly Oricon chart. Expectations for this single weren’t high since it’s a re-cut single from her last studio album “Colours”, but Ayumi has always been known for her large and dedicated fanbase. “Colours” itself had disappointing results on Oricon, the album has only managed to shift 53k copies. In comparison her previous album “LOVE again” sold 53k copies in just one week.

Cyzo Woman also reports that the membership fee of Ayumi’s fanclub “Team Ayu” has been slashed nearly 50%, with many seeing it as an attempt to get fleeing fans to renew their subscription. Team Ayu originally had two tiers of annual fees, the most popular choice was the more expensive 6000 yen fee. The lower tier cost 4000 yen but included less benefits.

The new annual membership costs only 3400 yen and omits incentives like a physical Team Ayu membership card, magazines, posters, and greeting cards. When compared to her peers a 3400 fee is quite low.

It’s natural that artists decline as years go by, but why do you think Ayu has taken such a hard fall recently?

Source: aramajapan.com/news/general/ayus-fanbase-dwindling-new-single-fails-to-reach-top-20/11173/

[ayu-michan]

lol. not this again

[TeamAyu2004]

I didn't realize it was recent... lol. She has been on the decline for years now.
But it also doesn't help that she doesn't really show any care for a prolific career right now.
She may put a lot of thought and care into her concerts, but everything else just seems to be thrown together.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

It was always dwindling, but only since the Maro escapade did it -really- start going downhill. (Actually, maybe since Party queen. I think that album turned a lot of people off. Image wise. And in Japan, image is everything.)

[emi♡]

Don't even know why Arama is spending time talking about Ayu at all tbh.

[Bigtop]

Well, Ayu has been a big deal over the past, say, fifteen years - when people realized how bad this single performed, this was really shocking! Man, how a great musician has gone really into pieces...

Originally Posted by tokyoxjapanxfan

It was always dwindling, but only since the Maro escapade did it -really- start going downhill. (Actually, maybe since Party queen. I think that album turned a lot of people off. Image wise. And in Japan, image is everything.)

How did the Ayu-Maro controversy really fueled that decline?

[Andrenekoi]

Yeah... The bad sales of the recut single without promotion or even a PV really shows how low she got.

...

[waterballoon]

who cares anymore lol *rolls eyes*

[ayu_ready?]

She has been on the decline for years

[Tom Punks]

Ayu was declining for years, but it's really hard to deny a huge, overwhelming portion of her remaining fan base suddenly jumped ship around the time of LOVE again. The decline until that point was gradual and graceful.

I don't know. I get that the single had no PV, nothing new, and no promotion, but I still think it's a huge reflection of the state of her career and fan base now. In the past, I think she would have gotten away with releasing so little on a single. It certainly would NOT have been out of the top 20, under any circumstances. Even if she'd released a recut like this right after Love songs, I think it would have been top 10, top 5 easily.

[TeamAyu2004]

I think this recut would have done better if she offered a little more or put in a little more effort. Honestly like I said before she isn't putting for any effort when it comes to her career right now (regarding releases).
And thats not a bad thing per say.... sometimes you just release something because your contract says you have too.

[pommy48]

This single isn't an accurate portrayal of her fanbase. She didn't even try with this single...

That means she still has some of her fanbase left if they were sane enough to buy it

[BlackSilence]

^that is, pommsy lol

this release it just done for the sake of release lol there's nothing fancy about it. I still have hope though. I need new music xD

[Tom Punks]

Originally Posted by pommy48

This single isn't an accurate portrayal of her fanbase. She didn't even try with this single...

That means she still has some of her fanbase left if they were sane enough to buy it

It's not a reflection of her fan base in the sense that she only has 3,000 fans left, but it's still a reflection of how diminished her fan base is.

I don't get how anyone could argue against that, really. There's no chance this single would have been out of the top 20 or top 10 a few years ago. Let's be real.

[Corvina]

Hm, I`m acutally on the surprised side with Terminal sales. I didn`t expect it to do well, but come on, at least I thought her core fanbase would buy it to support her.
I thought about 15k, about the half of her last single.
Though overall I don`t understand why bother releasing it at all, so yeah...

[marcoba]

Who would take this website seriously though ...

[channy]

I highly doubt Terminal's astounding perfection can be measured by counting sold copies. We aren't Avex. So what does it mean to us how much she sells nowadays? Do we get money for Ayu's financial successes? Am I beautiful because she is? (no -_-) Shall I stop identifying myself with her because she's getting old and less successful? She's not as relevant as 2001 anymore, true. This fact has no influence on my life, though.

Okay. Noticed and accepted. Now, why not just lean back and enjoy our majesty's output? She'll remain the optimum of musical entertainment, come what may. I for one am inclined to praise her for still being around rather than complaining about declining sales

Of course, as time goes by, it is not always easy to accept change. Sometimes you do not have any choice

[ExodusUK]

I think us fans have accepted that Ayu isn't the Ayu we had before but it's better than nothing.

[TeamAyu2004]

Originally Posted by Tom Punks

It's not a reflection of her fan base in the sense that she only has 3,000 fans left, but it's still a reflection of how diminished her fan base is.

I don't get how anyone could argue against that, really. There's no chance this single would have been out of the top 20 or top 10 a few years ago. Let's be real.

I don't know... even in her heyday the recut singles never did well compared to the other singles or the sales.
They were limited press 300k and they were all still top 10... I do believe only one of them hit number 2 and that was daybreak (the others for 1)

recuts are just for (what I call) Hardcore fans and those are fans that just see ayumi's name and buy it... doesn't matter what it is... but at this point in a lot of people's music careers with limited money there is just no point in buying something like that.

[douggn]

The single wasn't very well revived anyway's because of it already being released and its not like it was a new song, but even if for example the single did better with her international fans, those sales will not be included in her Oricon ranking, so there kind of bias to begin with, unless her international fan all flew to Japan to buy it, they wont be included