I guess it is a popularity contest, but she still has legions of loyal fans in Japan. She won't be going anywhere anythime soon. It doesn't matter about the sales, just as long as she gets her number ones. I think she's still pretty popular in Japan, just not as popular as before.
I think the drop was realized after they discovered how little material was on the single. The single's DVD didn't have much to buy it for. Unless she may be put on her recording "teens" or something, then more would have sold. These days, it's more for the visual content than the audio content.
But remember, she really won't be going anywhere soon. Avex is probably gonna build on her even more since she already surpassed the "Most Number One Singles" mark. They'll porbably extend it as long as they can.
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