About "A" Single

[Delirium-Zer0]

All these establishments have different rules though.

Avex probably has no clear-cut rules on what's an album or what's a single (maybe a high number of unique songs makes it an album), so A was a single with them. Oricon bases its charts on how the CD is marketed, so if it's marketed as a single, it charts as a single.

The RIAJ might have different rules though - if it has a certain number of tracks or a certain running time, it might have to be considered an album for certification purposes, that way it isn't competing with other singles that have less material, which would give it an edge over other singles, and that's kinda not fair really.

A is longer in tracks than ANY other Ayumi Hamasaki single, and the second longest in running time. It has 14 tracks, and a running time of 75:48 - kanariya, the only single longer, has a running time of 78 minutes. Since it was limited to 300,000 copies, it's not on that list, so I don't know if the RIAJ counted it as an album or a single. But I'd say Album is likely.

So, the RIAJ may have a clear-cut rule on their end that when they do certifications, anything longer than 13 tracks and/or 74:00 might have to be counted as an album with them, regardless of how it was marketed by the label.

[Kakeru]

Originally Posted by Delirium-Zer0

The RIAJ might have different rules though - if it has a certain number of tracks or a certain running time, it might have to be considered an album for certification purposes, that way it isn't competing with other singles that have less material, which would give it an edge over other singles, and that's kinda not fair really.

Oricon DOES have a rule covering that exact rationale, such that a single cannot have more than 4 original tracks. A, as a result, passed this rule & was classified as such according to Oricon's standards. However, like Zer0 also mentioned, some artists/record companies simply choose to promote CDs with less than/exactly 4 new tracks as a mini-album/EP, & Oricon will chart it the way it's marketed (examples include Mika Nakashima's RESISTANCE & Crystal Kay's Shining).

Unfortunately I don't know RIAJ's rules, but it would appear that they have a different system that classifies A as an album. Either way, doesn't make it any less great of a CD, does it??