[Charts & Rankings] 10th Album: NEXT LEVEL - ORICON STYLE

[Ayusan]

Hey people O.O why do you bother with the bigger troll I saw, named UHPlus ? o-O .... Do you know that troll live in a cave ... let him/her in his/her cave and go ahead. Ignore troll, that's the only thing you can do !

Anyway, you are a big troll but you have no respect at all for humans ( though troll and respect .... ), and really I wonder what do you think you are, yes not who you are but WHAT do you think you are to say such thing :

Originally Posted by UHPlus

ehh... btw I bought and owned all ayumi original albums from A Song for XX to GUILTY! So that makes me MUCH better a fan of ayumi than all the ayumi-stans here who only know how to download her music.

Let's clap yours hands for UHPlus that roll on money and can buy everything and for this is a true fan *claps claps*

You are better than nobody, in fact you are worst, you are so close minded that you don't even think that some persons in the world, can only download Ayu's music because they don't have enough money ! And the few they have they prefer to pay a rent and food. And they are not bad fans for this.

Actually that's not my case, my album is on his way but your stupidity hurt my a$$ there and I care about my poor a$$ ;-; .... oh well you are a troll and happy with this ... you must have a really boring life darling !

Wait darling .. before you throw me : you are a stupid Ayu fan ... no lol I like her music, but I don't like japenese pop much, I'm a metalhead ..... then Ayu is an "exception" for me but I agree anyway, I'm stupid XD go ahead I leave that thread and won't reply ^w^ only the first page interest me.


Now ...GO AYU >o<

[waterballoon]

Er... lol.

Sales are so-so I guess. I hope DCT won't make a miraculous jump and overtake for the rest of the week.

And I have a feeling that the Rule TV performance and the weekend will make tomorrow's sales a little better! ^^

[Lady_Eowyn]

Originally Posted by Megshere

Apparently lots of peeps dropped and TVXQ dropped more than Ayu dropped.
Also people saying the economy isn't a big factor, I highly disagree. Japan's economy is in serious trouble; it's a BIG deal. Almost everything is down and I don't see why the music industry wouldn't be effected. This is a scary time for the world. People are saving their money for more important things than CDs. There are recent reports on how Japan's economy is on course for its worst recession since World War II. I'd say that is pretty serious. Last year, the Japanese economy had its worst performance in almost 35 years during the last quarter of 2008.
No, I don't think that's the only reason for the sales because music sales in general have been decreasing for a while, but the economy is definitely hitting people hard and you can't say it's not a big factor. Anyway, I am still happy with this and I'm surprised at the people saying this is so bad and they are ashamed. There are female solo artists who can't hit 100k in their first week; Ayu almost broke that in 1 day. Once again, get ova yourselves.

There is no way to know how much of a factor it is right now. It doesn't make sense to me to say that "the economy is bad....but ONLY for female solo artists." There are other artists whose sales are doing quite well. If it is all the economies fault, then everyones sales should be struggling, but that is not the case. I'm not saying that they economy can't play a factor, but I also think it is an easy excuse for people to use when their favorite artists sales are lower. And lets not forget that in the mid-late 90s, people in Japan were saying the same thing "worst recession since WWII" - yet music sales soared at the time. In fact if you look at historical data of recessions throughout history, the one industry besides the food industry that gets least effected by economic downturns (and sometimes even profits from them) is the entertainment industry. Just look even at the American Great Depression of the 1930s (and as much as the news likes to use scare tactics, we are nowhere near that....yet at least), the entertainment industry seriously boomed HUGE. It has been proven many times that when in economic hardship, people want an escape from reality and that takes the form of music, movies, games, etc etc.

There is just simply not enough evidence at this time to say that Ayu's low sales are primarily economic based.

I think your arguments are quite consistant ; much of what you say makes a lot of sense. But i gotta say in some points i disagree with you. what we believe is happening in Japan are mainly perceptions, in my opinion. I mean, as far as i know, none of us discussing here on this thread lives in Japan, so we can't know for sure what's going on there. It's also likely people in Japan doesn't know either how's their economy working.

I've been several times in Japan, but that doesn't mean i can say i fully know japanese culture just because of my trips there. I perfectly understand, however,that observations from a personal perspective are important to get to know facts about people, and way of living of a country. Of course they are. But in my opinion, those perceptions are insuficient to explain such a huge and complicated phenomenon as economy. To explain something that big, you need to have the proper education (a.k.a. college, for example) and lots of research and investigation to come to realistic conclusions.

I must say i also disagree about the economy not hitting in the music business. I believe it's true what you say about the great depression in the US and the economy in Japan in the world war ll, (actually , i find it very interesting) however, that doesn't mean that has to happen always, or now, because every context is different. What can be useful or needed in one context may mean nothing or be useless in another.what could be applied in WWll may be is not useful anymore now. As i said before, economy is a huge phenomenon and many factors are involved in the way it develops. And this is a matter of perception, as i said before, but i still think economy is hitting everyone, including music business in Japan.

It's not a NA vs AH fight!

But looking at what Namie did for the past 2,3 years, age is not a reason for all these anymore. It's what the artist has, what she can do and what she did...

Ayumi just isn't heading anywhere all these years...she will not be having any new climax in her career anymore imo

You wish. I really like Namie but no one can beat Ayu, to me she is the best, so please refrain to make stupid comparisons.

Nope. But this is Ayumi Hamasaki. It's expected for her to have decent sales. These are below decent, they are terrible. Going to take that break from AHS now?

You see the tag below Juicy'? (the immature initiate?) well, that adjective describes perfectly his attitude

[lfe.]

Originally Posted by UHPlus

And this stupid person is trying to hit me using my own words.

I know that Namie is born on 1977 September 20th and I purposely said she's 32 (she will be in less than 6 months time) to make a better point on 'age is not a reason anymore for declining popularity'.

Get it?!?!

LOL that's your cover-up???

Poor guy, panicked since he made such a stupid mistake and came up with that. "I was typing in the dark" would have been better than that

Well your ENGRISH is quite bad so I guess it's the best you can do. Perhaps Namie can teach you some ENGRISH, hers is just plain awesome

[Lady_Eowyn]

Originally Posted by lfebaggins

LOL that's your cover-up???

Poor guy, panicked since he made such a stupid mistake and came up with that. "I was typing in the dark" would have been better than that

Well your ENGRISH is quite bad so I guess it's the best you can do. Perhaps Namie can teach you some ENGRISH, hers is just plain awesome

hahahahahaha LOL!!!!!

[SURREAL__RAINBOW]

not everyone speaks English anyway lol

but yea

BIG LOL

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by UHPlus

Who cares?!

Ayumi's sales is still going to decline and Namie's going to increase non-matter what I said, what you said and what everyone in this forum said?!

It's a fact and people knows it, that's what making them upset and defensive.

Namie's sales aren't increasing WILD/Dr. sold less than even Rule/Sparkle in it's initial week and the sales aren't getting better, seems it will have trouble selling over 150k, it's a big drop from almost 300k if u ask me. Her new studio album can't possibly sell more than her BEST OF (as that kinda never happens) so yeah FYI her sales aren't increasing nor they prolly will. I don't think Namie would be a best example of someone who didn't lose her popularity as we all know that not many people cared about her from 2000-2005 when QoHH was released and I really doubt any of us can tell for sure for how long will she keep her popularity now ~ nothing lasts forever nor for long obviously.

Don't get me wrong Namie is one of the singers/dancers I generally prefer over many, but I see her as a pop star and only her voice and talent are making her different/better than some others, I can't really relate to her music in any way and I mostly listen to her cuz it's fun and dancy, sure she has a number of cool ballads but nothing that's lyrically impressive and artistique as some of Ayu's songs are and while she can attract the casual listeners better at the moment it seems that even before she couldn't attract and keep many hard core fans, but that's the deal with purely pop singers - in other words she is simply a trend. I can see that you really like Namie a lot so please don't get it the wrong way as I really have nothing against her.

As for the others..
I find it simply wrong that some people are making fun of someone's english. That's really immature and not according to the forum's rules. Please stop it.

[ayumisrael]

Well CHAS_AYU should open the new thread (since he owns the first week thread XD) now so this one will go down ^^.

500 posts!

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

Well CHAS_AYU should open the new thread (since he owns the first week thread XD) now so this one will go down ^^.

500 posts!

, hopefully there will be less online fighting in the new thread , the last few pages were terrible to say the least

[SolarAngel]

I've been gone 2 days and over 10 pages were filled up... DCT seems to be charting more consistently. But maybe ayu's sales will stabilize at a nice, comfortable number.

[Uemarasan]

I knew this thread would end up this way.

Anyway, I've been listening to My Story, and I have to admit Next Level is the best Ayu album since then. Says a lot.

It is impossible to find definite answers why the album is performing as such. It is 2009, not 2008. A lot of things have happened since then.

So people, why don't you do less griping, go out there and buy the album, let your friends and family listen to the album, talk about the album on Facebook, on your blogs, on other forums, write to Avex? Promote the album yourselves if you want it to sell more.

[Mr Ayu-Mania]

Lol, I find it strange that you guys get so upset over her sales... Even Avex stockholders aren't probably that worried..

The important thing is if her music is still decent or not. NL is pretty decent , even though I personally feel it is a bit rushed. I think that Ayu should take a small break, explore new avenues in music, work with some new people, try to compose again as CREA, etc..

But again it is not entirely up to her if that will happen or not. Maybe AVEX is overworking her right now because they feel that she will be soon too old to make them money. Maybe they are not promoting her as much in order to save money. It would be a shame if they think like that, because I am sure that most of us agree that Ayu hasn't reached her full potential yet.

I think that the No 1 position is safe. And the crisis HAS affected her sales. Some of you say that it hasn't affected boybands so it shouldn't affect her too. That is not the case, since Ayu has a different target audience from the boybands. Ayu in Japan is marketed torwards the 25+ age limit whereas the boybands to teenage girls. The 25+ care and are affected by the crisis, but the carefree teenage girls will still spend their pocket-money on their favorite idols, crisis or no crisis.

[jbrat2219]

My gosh... all of this fighting.

Seriously, if you can not make a mature comment on the topic at hand, please stay out of this thread (and the next one when it's made). There was a time when the tables were switched between Ayu and Namie, there's no need to bring it up, we're all aware. Please keep it clean you guys.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Halla

Are you being sarcastic? Namie has had huge visibility lately across all media. FYI Namie's management company isn't Avex, it's Vision Factory.

edit. another reminder: messing around with the tags is not cool, abusing them will lead to an infraction.

No I'm not being sarcastic. It is absolutely true that she wasn't on tv for Best Fiction or Wild/Dr. It is also true that most of her promotion has come due to Vidal Sassoon and now Coke - that has nothing to do with Avex/Vision Factory.

[ayumisrael]

^But it still gave her huge promotion.
The general public has to know about those hits and that namie releases a single.
I doubt most just search it casually unless if her hardcore fanbase is huge.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

^But it still gave her huge promotion.
The general public has to know about those hits and that namie releases a single.
I doubt most just search it casually unless if her hardcore fanbase is huge.

Yes, its huge promotion. But our whole debate was that it was because AVEX decided it was time to make her popular again, which imo it had more to do with the big contracts she landed outside of Avex, rather than with Avex itself.

[bluegie]

OMG would you guys plssssss stop fighting. All I see from the last few pages is ayu vs. namie. There's no point to say if namie's cd sales increase or not in this thread, or whether she has huge promotion due to avex or her vidal/coke/whatever. I really feel like watching a drama in season 3...

Season 1 - ayu vs. hikki (2001 - 2004)
Season 2 - ayu vs. kuu (2005 - 2008)
Season 3 - ayu vs. namie (late 2008 - present)

This is the sales thread for NEXT LEVEL. I would love to see posts with "OMG the sales are falling"/"well the sales are decent" rather than "namie is better" " no ayu is better" "no way ayu sucks" "no you the one suck"...

[Coelacanth]

I wonder how many brain cells I just killed by skimming through this thread.

[hiro_hikaru1987]

omg.................... it dropped so fast .... its just barely over 100k .....

[gothicayu]

Originally Posted by bluegie

Season 1 - ayu vs. hikki (2001 - 2004)
Season 2 - ayu vs. kuu (2005 - 2008)
Season 3 - ayu vs. namie (late 2008 - present)

hahaha its funny how there is always ayu versus someone else . i think each of the singer verus her have a complete different style. they each produce their own style of music . its kinda ridiculous to compare them when they all fallow their own way .

well i think next level still had a big promotion thanks to dragon ball Z . Seems next level is doing better than guilty . next level have stronger "hit" songs than guilty i think but still in my opinion i dont feel like her music now is not as good as her oldies .
of course i love those rock songs that remember me of secret time like game because of you of ourselves but i dont know some other songs ... i wish they were more "pop-ish " i guess .

im an a song for xx to duty addicted and hearing next level i understand why she called it that way . she have adopt a complete new style of music .

i sure appeciate the originality and the fact that she wants to renew herself but in an other hand sometimes i wish she kept her old success receipe .