Why are Namie Amuros sales so high?

[J/TOP2326]

Hi you guys!

Im wondering why namies sales are still SO HIGH?
i think its in another ligue she's playing. ayu can barely reach with an album 54.000 copies and namies single brighter day is already over 50.000 copies.. i mean why? what did amuro do that she is THAT popular? i don't get it and im an amuro fan since 2014 so i cant really talk about her because i havent seen so much from her.
for example koda kumi is also loosing sales. as ayu. but why not namie?

[Raiu-Ayu]

Namie had a popularity drip around 2000-2004. She started to gain new fans around 2005/6 and PLAY (being her first no.1 album in 7 years) pretty much put her back in the spotlight. She completely changed her image and her sound from her original stuff and I think thats what has caught people's attention again. I recently read something I agree with about ayu: her audience has grown up but ayu hasn't. She still writes like its 2001/2 but her fans have moved on and gotten bored. Kumi is something similar, the erotic-cool image that propelled her is tired and dated now. I love ayu and Ku but unless they relaunch with matured images and sounds they'll never achieve what Namie has again.

[UHPlus]

To put it simply, Namie's music is much more interesting and evolving than other female solo artists out there, hence people are willing to buy her CDs...

[orangeakira]

Originally Posted by Raiu-Ayu

I recently read something I agree with about ayu: her audience has grown up but ayu hasn't. She still writes like its 2001/2 but her fans have moved on and gotten bored.

Originally Posted by UHPlus

To put it simply, Namie's music is much more interesting and evolving than other female solo artists out there, hence people are willing to buy her CDs...

I'm just going to reference Ayu's latest single. So this whole post is going to talk about her winter ballads cause it's the best example.

Ayu does something that turns out amazing, and then she (for some reason) thinks it's the ticket to success and keeps the same formula. The latest single she released was just three typical songs. No way to say was great, it was one of the first "grand winter songs", but then she did it again with momentum, and together when, and you were, Moon, and blah blah blah. The rest is history.

Since she never changes her music, if you dislike that type of winter song, you're generally going to dislike every winter song she subsequently releases. I mean, not just that, but how many times has she performed surreal~evolution~surreal? How many times has she had a tissue dance at her performances? It's great the first time, but then she keeps on doing it.

When you release something, it's to sell well. Producers release singles with questions in mind like "What's Trending? What's popular right now? What's going to sell well? What are consumers interested in listening to right now?" Music changes through time, 70's music does not sound like 80's music. 90's music does not sound like 00's music. It constantly evolves so you have to change with it. Ayu's songs were great in the beginning, but since she's still releasing "ballads" that sound like something she could have slapped onto Memorial Address, people are bored.

To the stans who buy all 9 versions of her releases and never take them out of the plastic, and to people who really love her (everyone on this forum lol) everything she releases is great. However when you release a song as the next single that's going to be played on the radio, you're supposed to think of the general consumers. You're not making a song with stans in mind (besides eminem). To the general people when Ayu releases yet another generic winter ballad, they're rolling their eyes like "doesn't she already have a hundred of these songs?"

With Namie, I don't think anything is typical. I really don't think she has a "typical" ballad or a "typical" dance song. Wild, In the spotlight, Alive, Black out, Want me want me, etc. They're all hot dance tracks that don't sound anything alike. It doesn't sound like she's reusing the same formula for further releases. Everyone is going to have a few songs that sound similar. Namie has Beautiful, Let me let you go, Contrail ~ballad version~, arigatou. Pretty much anything that's piano driven by Namie but they don't sound typical and they're few and far in between compared to Ayu's. Namie had a huge overhaul in her image, and music style back when it wasn't working. She started making relevant songs, and kept up with what's currently popular. Whereas Ayu is releasing generic winter ballad #17.


I mean this is all my speculation. Please no one tear me apart because of this post.

[adantatu2]

With Namie, I don't think anything is typical. I really don't think she has a "typical" ballad or a "typical" dance song. Wild, In the spotlight, Alive, Black out, Want me want me, etc. They're all hot dance tracks that don't sound anything alike. It doesn't sound like she's reusing the same formula for further releases. Everyone is going to have a few songs that sound similar. Namie has Beautiful, Let me let you go, Contrail ~ballad version~, arigatou. Pretty much anything that's piano driven by Namie but they don't sound typical and they're few and far in between compared to Ayu's. Namie had a huge overhaul in her image, and music style back when it wasn't working. She started making relevant songs, and kept up with what's currently popular. Whereas Ayu is releasing generic winter ballad #17.

I agree.
Namie's voice is nice and fits dance and ballad songs a lot.
Ayu's voice is so annoying sometimes, she sounds like a big idol girl sometimes.

In my opinion.

[chocopockymaster]

I think Namie's ~mystique~ is another huge reason for her popularity, if not her sales. She goes to extreme pains to keep herself and her private life out of the tabloids, and there's an air of mystery about her that makes her seem untouchable. She's SO shy and reserved in person and then she gets on stage and her confidence, stage presence, etc. is just through the roof. It blows my mind every time.

[visionfactory]

Namie is still a fashion icon in Japan, she gets more mainstream magazine coverage than Ayu, who lost that status long ago and now it's only a fashion icon for old gyarus. As opposed to Ayu, Namie is a recognized icon by younger and newer generations.

Also, Namie already hit the very bottom in 2003-2004 when she hardly could sell 50,000 copies a single

[CatGirl]

Originally Posted by chocopockymaster

I think Namie's ~mystique~ is another huge reason for her popularity, if not her sales. She goes to extreme pains to keep herself and her private life out of the tabloids, and there's an air of mystery about her that makes her seem untouchable. She's SO shy and reserved in person and then she gets on stage and her confidence, stage presence, etc. is just through the roof. It blows my mind every time.

That seems really similar as to why Beyonce's continued to be so popular in the US lately, actually. I'm glad the both of them have a successful marketing strategy lol

[No_Doubt]

Her releases are consistently high-quality and she's done an excellent job at following current trends and reinventing her sound. FEEL sounds nothing like Queen of Hip-Hop which sounded nothing like Sweet 19 Blues.

[Uemarasan]

I have a different take on things, though. If you'll notice, female artists are expected to constantly reinvent themselves (Madonna, Namie Amuro, Taylor Swift) to maintain their success and relevance, with very few exceptions. Otherwise, they become lost in the dialogue (Barbra Streisand, Mika Nakashima, Mariah Carey). However, male artists are expected to remain true to their musical aesthetic (Bob Dylan, Eminem, Mr. Children). Personally, I believe it's a function of old, deep-rooted and unconscious sexism (men are expected to be stable providers and women are expected to be exciting partners). Personally, I prefer artists, male or female, who stay true to their musical personas, and that's why even though I agree Namie Amuro is more exciting and relevant, I always return to Ayumi regardless of the good or bad because she's stayed true to who she is. I'm just waiting for her to take the next step and mature as an artist instead of reinventing herself.

[emi♡]

^interesting point.

I'm just going to say that Namie is just more popular and well liked. Sales aren't great for any solo female artists right now, but Namie still grabs the casuals with her ~albums~ because of her popularity.

Those same casuals aren't likely to buy anyone else's stuff except for maybe Utada Hikaru, and she's MIA. That's just the market. It has to do with the culture.


I will also point out that Japan has multiple platforms, even more than other places, that let's people download or stream music, and even rent music. Being mobile is huge. All of those things impact physical sales.

[Surreal17]

Originally Posted by Uemarasan

I have a different take on things, though. If you'll notice, female artists are expected to constantly reinvent themselves (Madonna, Namie Amuro, Taylor Swift) to maintain their success and relevance, with very few exceptions. Otherwise, they become lost in the dialogue (Barbra Streisand, Mika Nakashima, Mariah Carey). However, male artists are expected to remain true to their musical aesthetic (Bob Dylan, Eminem, Mr. Children). Personally, I believe it's a function of old, deep-rooted and unconscious sexism (men are expected to be stable providers and women are expected to be exciting partners). Personally, I prefer artists, male or female, who stay true to their musical personas, and that's why even though I agree Namie Amuro is more exciting and relevant, I always return to Ayumi regardless of the good or bad because she's stayed true to who she is. I'm just waiting for her to take the next step and mature as an artist instead of reinventing herself.

It was a nice reading and I agree with the male/woman comparision. But please, can someone explain me how does Namie reinvents herself? It's not like Namie released a hip hop album and then she got into rock music. So comparing herself with Madonna is a bit off. I mean, I like Namie but Madonna was always ahead of her time with releases like Erotica or Ray Of Light. Plus, she always changed her style from new swing jazz on Erotica, to r&b on Bedtime Stories, electronica ambient on Ray of Light, experimental stuff on Music, folk on American Life, retro dance on Confessions and so on. Namie's discography is made of three big parts : the TK era (1995-1998), r&b/hip hop era (1999-2007) and her dance pop/ electronic stuff (2008-2014). Namie has great albums and songs but I don't really see that she always reinvents herself. Sure, there were moments of transition into her music (from Concentration 20 to Genius 2000 or from Play to Past Future) but not anything groundbreaking. In jpop, I always considered Ayu to be rechanging constantly. The thing with ayu is that she always have all kind of genres into one album so it's a bit hard to describe an album of hers (for example Next Level is electropop but at the same time is rock). So maybe that's why people are sometimes confused about her music. But she definitely changed more often than Namie. I mean, when you play Uncontrolled and than FEEL, you can say its one big album of dance pop tracks. On the other hand, ayu always seem to incorporate new elements into her music : for example lets take Colours - we have Hello New Me and Pray which doesn't really bring something new to the table, but than she comes with Terminal, Angel, Lelio, XOXO, Merry Go Round etx. and you know for sure that she experimented again.

I did not wrote this to diss Namie because I'm a fan of hers too. This is just a personal opinion.

[kinix]

Namie's song isn't evolving from the look of her past albums. From 2004 onwards, they stick to the same genre and catchy type of songs. It's very hard for ayu to reinvent herself when she had done almost all of the different genre in her whole career. I've not yet seen another artist who steps into that many genre and kept experimenting with her music. The only winning factor that she have is a positive image which keeps people interested in her.
Ayu on the other hand have many negativity that made ppl have a bad image of her and thus kept away from her news, songs. Even if ayu have a really nice hit song, they wouldn't care much about it. Ayu didn't even did much exposure to promote her songs she just stick to her usual fan base to promote and this is not enough if you wanna attract new/old fans.

[Delicious n Bold]

I think it has to do with her image. Ayu did party queen and Dr. Kumi said shit about amniotic fluids so their image just shattered like broken glass & Mazel Tov.
Namie's been in repair mode for years and her image just hasn't changed for the worse in any way. Her music has become more western but it does not mean it has evolved. She's no bjork. She's just doing what has been done a billion times but better overall. Alive was a damn good song. So was stardurst in my eyes. Carbon copies of some songs but still damn good. In the end it is her image. You'll never see Dr. Namie bitching about amniotic fluids or do provocative photo shoots.

[attractive nausea]

I also think that it's mostly because of "image" and "keeping up with what's currently trending" reasons. Japanese people don't care if her pvs are always the same (= total lack of creativity) and that she doesn't write her own lyrics, she just knows how to make good wertern-like music, look fashionable for the magazines and doesn't let us know anything about her private life. Boom.

I like her though, it's just that she doesn't really interest me that much because i feel her work isn't personal enough

[NintendoHTF1242]

Namie makes fun music, she can dance her ass off, and she doesn't have any negative press about her. That's literally it lol.

[Ashen Twilight]

She was smart enough to reinvent herself and introduce herself to a new audience. It also allowed her old audience to be reinvigorated. That, and she had the luck of being part of a wildly popular Vidal Sassoon campaign. Her decline after her second peak has been so slow because she regularly releases songs that transcends just her audience, like Love Story and TSUKI.

Most importantly, I think it's because it's Namie. There is something to admire about a woman that fell down through public image issues and was able to build herself back up again. It resonates with a lot of people.

[Baernash]

Answer is pretty simple: her releases are good enough to keep old fans satisfied and bring new fans at the same time.

Namie fitting herself pretty well in different music styles. Her first works (with Monkeys, than solo) were catchy, dance tracks in typical 90' style, than evoluated to something more modern, than she had her "hip-hop" era and than she comes into direction of releasing old style songs in modern version. Now since 2 albums she's doing great with electro-pop in US-style.

orangeakira gave you a good example with Ayu who just started repeat the same formula like "winter single" with some ballads and "summer single" with happy, catchy songs EVERY YEAR. She started to be predictable and all her songs started to sound the same. What she did? Tried experiment with something "modern" but she failed, so she returned to old success formula and released boring album dominated by ballads wrote by her old music composers (those from her debut). It was good and bad for her, because old fans were happy that she's doing something in style which fit to her but on the other hand THEY HEARD IT ALL BEFORE (so no chance to really get new fans). Than another experiments trying to turn her into american PARTY QUEEN (doing some US-pop style tracks etc.) - FAIL. Now she's returning to ballads again but she can't really decide in which direction to go. She's trying to keep all fans satisfied and doing everything at the same time: in one song she's rocker, in other half-naked party girl, in another sweet kawaii girl singing Hello!Project style song (with cute, childish voice), than she's filling her albums with ballads. No constancy at all. Namie by all time keeping good level in what she's doing - she's developing herself as artist, not turning back and not trying to always do things which are popular in music industry.

[Surreal17]

Originally Posted by Delicious n Bold

I think it has to do with her image. Ayu did party queen and Dr. Kumi said shit about amniotic fluids so their image just shattered like broken glass & Mazel Tov.
Namie's been in repair mode for years and her image just hasn't changed for the worse in any way. Her music has become more western but it does not mean it has evolved. She's no bjork. She's just doing what has been done a billion times but better overall. Alive was a damn good song. So was stardurst in my eyes. Carbon copies of some songs but still damn good. In the end it is her image. You'll never see Dr. Namie bitching about amniotic fluids or do provocative photo shoots.

Good point

[melissalove]

Originally Posted by Delicious n Bold

I think it has to do with her image. Ayu did party queen and Dr. Kumi said shit about amniotic fluids so their image just shattered like broken glass & Mazel Tov.
Namie's been in repair mode for years and her image just hasn't changed for the worse in any way. Her music has become more western but it does not mean it has evolved. She's no bjork. She's just doing what has been done a billion times but better overall. Alive was a damn good song. So was stardurst in my eyes. Carbon copies of some songs but still damn good. In the end it is her image. You'll never see Dr. Namie bitching about amniotic fluids or do provocative photo shoots.

..... Or shove her boyfriends in our faces on her music videos. Or date her back up dancer, or release a full length album full of recycled material from mini albums released in the same year. Or playing homosexual foreplay on a music video. Name's reserve which is a good thing. She also delivers better quality performances and music most of the time.