[Charts & Rankings] The Official Oricon Thread ~again~

[Bigtop]

Taking a closer look at the top ten...

Originally Posted by KarenPang

Oricon Weekly - Albums (3/12/2012~9/12/2012)

*1 382,217 382,217 EXILE - EXILE BEST HITS -LOVE SIDE/SOUL SIDE-
*2 116,712 116,712 YUI - GREEN GARDEN POP
*3 115,943 115,943 YUI - ORANGE GARDEN POP
*4 *82,272 612,507 Mr.Children - [(an imitation) blood orange]
*5 *74,419 549,541 Matsutoya Yumi - Matsutoya Yumi 40 Shunen Kinen Best Album Nihon no Koi to, Yuming to。
*6 *45,910 *45,910 BIGBANG - SPECIAL FINAL IN DOME MEMORIAL COLLECTION
*7 *34,402 *34,402 Hamasaki Ayumi - again
*8 *24,296 141,259 Shoujo Jidai - GIRLS' GENERATION II ~Girls & Peace~
*9 *18,092 *18,092 HY - Route29
10 *17,442 847,671 Arashi - Popcorn

(she's in between Korean idol acts, if you're wondering)

No surprise that EXILE, YUI and Mr.Children outsold them (Mr.Children on their second week?). Even Yumi Matsutoya. Anyone shocked at the numbers or not?

[harufi]

Originally Posted by Bigtop

Taking a closer look at the top ten...



(she's in between Korean idol acts, if you're wondering)

No surprise that EXILE, YUI and Mr.Children outsold them (Mr.Children on their second week?). Even Yumi Matsutoya. Anyone shocked at the numbers or not?

I expected her to be behind EXILE, YUI and Mr. Children. I don't know anything about Yumi Matsutoya but if its a 'best' album then I'm not surprised she charted higher than Ayu.

Shocked about Big Bang. I know a lot of people in the West like them but not how popular they are in Japan, with the way people were talking on here I assumed she'd sell much more than them though.

[SolarAngel]

Originally Posted by harufi

Shocked about Big Bang. I know a lot of people in the West like them but not how popular they are in Japan, with the way people were talking on here I assumed she'd sell much more than them though.

I don't think much credit goes to Big Bang here. Her sales figures are just really low right now. If it had sold like Five mini then she could very well have been no.2. I'll cross my fingers for a 50k total for again.

[Max_ZZZ]

i just hope one day she has a namie amuro and comes back. if she pulls it together she deserves it!

[orbitalaspect]

Originally Posted by TeamAyu2004

^ just going by the tend it could have easily hit 60K for the week.

also this is just the first half week for the mini, we dont know the final says yet.

A "half-week" is 3.5 days. There were only 2 days of non-sales for her. I will definitely agree that she got the butt end of the stick here by releasing almost half-way through the week. Most Japanese will hit the record store on the first day of new releases and buy up what they want. She missed out on that with again.

Originally Posted by TeamAyu2004

^ also where did you get your numbers since oricon hasn't posted their official week yet?

By the way, again hit number 6 in the charts for Monday, so it went UP 4 slots.

Releases always have a bit of springboard after the first week. The day is the day for new releases, so more people go out to the stores and are likely to pick up whatever they may have wanted to grab. :|

Originally Posted by Zeke.

I find it ridiculous that people here on this forum are still in denial over the current state of her career. Regardless whether or not you think this 'scandal' is a huge deal or not, it is in Japan. We have heard people dropping out of TeamAyu. We have seen statements made by Ayu herself regarding her current state of affairs. We have seen comments posted about her FNS performance. We have heard countless accounts of people on this forum who have talked to Japanese fans (even IN JAPAN) who all have been saying the same thing. The general consensus is that she is in some big trouble... Wake up and smell the coffee... It's an ugly truth, but it's a truth.

LOVE
1st Day
Position: #3
Sales: 21,743

2nd Day
Position: #3
Sales: 16,629

Total Sales: 38,372

again
1st Day
Position: #4
Sales: 9,087

2nd Day
Position: #2
Sales: 12,764
Total Sa

Even the argument on "people are confused by the release date" is invalid.

No kidding. And I support you 110% here. It's stupid that people on this forum are acting like we're shallow and judgmental because we're calling out the fact that the quality of Ayu's career has so noticeably diminished that she can barely get a Top 5 release now. And I don't buy for a damn second that it's because she's old. Namie can still sell 2X Platinum on an album, and it's because she made a decision to step up her game as an artist. Why Ayu is acting like it doesn't matter if she tries is completely beyond me.

Originally Posted by emi♡

You know, I just hear you ***** ***** ***** all over the place...and that's all you do.


What would you propose for her?

In the end, if it WAS all a publicity thing, obviously a ****** one, then hopefully, they'll abandon all their strategic ways of getting her more sales, cause they're obviously not working.

I propose Ayumi go back to the drawing table and figure out how she can make her career more interesting for her, and therefore more appealing to us. We've always been fans of Ayu herself, and yes, we love her music, but we're stupidly confused as to why she keeps driving around thinking this flat tire of a career she has now will get her car down the street of success.

Originally Posted by saigodansu

I find Emi's perspective on this to be like 90% of AHS. "Ayu would never lie to us, she said so. Therefore this has to be real because she never lies to her fans." It's getting very old, very stupid and with how many fans base it off her old NHK interviews, while parts of those are noticably staged for the press and the fans, it makes you seem incapable of intelligent thought. Try thinking for yourselves instead of believing everything Avex wants you to believe. Atleast the japanese fans are finally pulling off the blinders and quit buying their garbage. These stunts should and hopefully will tank her career. Her career should be based on her talent not a bunch of gimmicks, lies and publicity stunts. When allowed to show it, she's got more talent than Madonna, Britney, Gaga, Namie, Hikki and Kuu put together. So try supporting her and not buy anything Avex has their name attached to. Buy what comes from Ayumi after she drops Avex like a bad habit and relies on her talent again.

I honestly don't think this is all Avex. I think Ayumi doesn't care as much as she used to. Maybe that's where she is now... maybe that's why she is trying so hard to find a man she feels will fill some void in her lonely life. However, I can't say that this is all Avex. They aren't ****ing up that much with every other artist, so I doubt that Ayu is just sitting in the background saying, "I can't be an artist anymore!" like what happened with A BEST.

Originally Posted by jang-kun

It's pretty ironic, isn't it? It was the people who created a mega monster star like her. They shared the very limelight Ayu achieved during her prime, mainly by being a fan and screaming her name and buying her CDs. She have done everything for everyone. She made her fans proud, spoiled to a further extent, of consecutive and sometimes spontaneous #1 hits here and there. We developed confidence every time Ayu will be releasing something. "Ayu is, as usual, slaying the charts." For some fans, whatever she touches becomes gold. She was even touted the "Empress of Pop." However, reality had stricken. She's no more. She's no longer there. She's no longer the slayer she used to be. These thoughts, whatever they mean to anyone, doesn't really bother me. What bothers me is the day when Ayu decided to stop music. She knows she can't please anyone, I believe that. But what if she realized no one is left to support her? I sincerely hope that day won't come.

Pardon the drama, but the current situation: the way Japan looks at her, the way overseas fans treat her, and the way she is right now, it really makes me sad. If things would only get worse if she decided to continue, I rather wish she'd take a hiatus after her 15th anniversary. It's really weakening seeing a once mighty star falling down slowly and painfully from the heavens just like that.

sigh

It is painful. But just like Namie, maybe Ayumi has to hit the bottom before she can see a way back up?

Originally Posted by lightningrod

I don't know where you are from or whether you're familiar with Asian cultures, but here in China and I learned that it's similar in Japan, people generally don't have a good opinion about divorced people, and they tend to frown upon relationships where the female is older than the male. Asian fans don't hate Mannie (maybe some of them can't get over the fact that ayu didn't choose a Japanese but that's not hate) but they hate Maro because he is a) divorced and probably had a child and b) he is six years younger than ayu. Many fans automatically turned to "Maro must've been taking advantage of ayu"

Personally I don't mind she had her half ass on her album cover but Japanese may accept that from Kuu but certainly not ayu, I blame this cover on lowering ayu's sales. If you don't believe this, consider these statistics:
debut week sales:
NL: 24k
R'n'RC: 20k, dropped by 16%
Ls: 18k, dropped by 10%
FIVE: 12.7k, dropped by 29%
PQ: 9.7k, dropped by 25%

Now keep in mind that FIVE is an EP, so PQ dropped almost half from Ls debut week sales, and that's huge

And speaking of shallow, who isn't really? Even ayu is shallow enough to think that western people and everything about them is better than her own race, why do you think she used much more Caucasian actors in her PVs than Japanese? And why do you think that she loves the US so much that she almost moved there?

I agree completely. There are a ton more cultural taboos in Asia than there are in America, and a lot of them we can't understand. I don't really get the race thing because China and Japan may mock Americans but I've met a ton of Asians that would rather marry a white person than another Asian. I actually can't remember meeting a single Asian man or woman who didn't find white people at least slightly more attractive. But maybe that's my experience.

I think the divorce cost her a lot of support. She clearly rushed into that relationship, which looked really bad on her. And worse, it ended in a divorce, which looked even worse. She would have recovered better if she said amniotic fluid goes stale at 35 on national television instead of doing the shotgun marriage/shotgun divorce bit. And more, it looked like she was doing it for writing material after awhile. :|

I honestly can't disagree more with you about Ayumi praising whites. She is not a "race traitor" by any means. I would be quicker to call Koda that considering how many different men she's rubbed her cootch on in a music video, than I would ever call Ayu. I think Ayumi's main goal was to add a lot of diversity to her show. I honestly think that's where Manny and Timmy came in, along with Juno, and others. She's probably trying to show more unity among different people in her more recent music. The gay thing, while it irked me a little (even though I'm gay), I'm glad she did it because it, in a way, helped bring attention to something else very taboo in Asia: homosexuality. However, I'll never love what Ayu did more than what Elva Hsiao did in Let Love Fly... Elva made that video so ****ing awesomely beautiful and in good taste that I almost cry when I see it. It made me feel so good to be an Elva fan.

When Ayumi did it, I thought: Oh look, another sweaty shirtless gay guy dancing in a club. *next video*

Originally Posted by Bigtop

Taking a closer look at the top ten...

(she's in between Korean idol acts, if you're wondering)

No surprise that EXILE, YUI and Mr.Children outsold them (Mr.Children on their second week?). Even Yumi Matsutoya. Anyone shocked at the numbers or not?

She had her ass handed to her by BIGBANG. I'm completely ****ing shocked... dead serious.

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by orbitalaspect

We've always been fans of Ayu herself, and yes, we love her music, but we're stupidly confused as to why she keeps driving around thinking this flat tire of a career she has now will get her car down the street of success.

I would be quicker to call Koda that considering how many different men she's rubbed her cootch on in a music video, than I would ever call Ayu.

Love your entire post as you aren't blind to reality but these are definitely the highlights that made me LOL!

I call it Koda's "Kuutch" and sometimes I refer to her as "Kuutchie" in my head, lol.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by orbitalaspect

When Ayumi did it, I thought: Oh look, another sweaty shirtless gay guy dancing in a club. *next video*

As a gay man, I have to say I can't think about many popstars who brought attention to the issue as beautifully and respectufully than Ayu did on Green and How beautiful are.

[Delicious n Bold]

I don't want Ayu to turn into Taylor swift:
Date people so that you can write about them in your lyrics ><

[TeamAyu2004]

^ lol...

[mecury2511]

I dont understand why this album - "again" have a beautiful covers, good songs, perfect PV but sales like that @@
I cant understand what japanese think =,="

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by mecury2511

I dont understand why this album - "again" have a beautiful covers, good songs, perfect PV but sales like that @@
I cant understand what japanese think =,="

It has anything but perfect PVs... Lol. It's like one giant, confusing, boring continuation of an already stale storyline and one "simple yet pretty" PV.

[visionfactory]

Originally Posted by mecury2511

I dont understand why this album - "again" have a beautiful covers, good songs, perfect PV but sales like that @@
I cant understand what japanese think =,="

Because most of japanese fans are in denial about Ayu being a human that needs love, they just hate Maro

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by visionfactory

Because most of japanese fans are in denial about Ayu being a human that needs love, they just hate Maro

It's not like the situation is that different over here lately...

[Zeke.]

Originally Posted by visionfactory

Because most of japanese fans are in denial about Ayu being a human that needs love, they just hate Maro

It's not about being in love, she was in love with Tomoya for a long time and he was never a part of the "Hamasaki Ayumi" image.

[visionfactory]

Originally Posted by Zeke.

It's not about being in love, she was in love with Tomoya for a long time and he was never a part of the "Hamasaki Ayumi" image.

It's a fact that japanese people stop buying products from artists when they start dating someone (and in this case it's even worse because that person is all over the release)

[Delicious n Bold]

all this has been messier than my phonetics exam.
Ayu drama got nothing on Uvular sounds. Ugh.

[Tony G]

Reading some of the posts in this thread makes me realise just how truly loathesome some AHS forum members are. They're not even worth bothering to write a response to.

I've got a few small points to make, then I'm done here:
- 7 original songs over 2 releases in 2 months, each have been above par releases, especially the songs on again. I don't need sales to validate my opinion of Ayu's output and neither should any true music lover.
- 5 new PVs (albeit not the best, but better than nothing)
- another 3 releases in 3 months
- based on the three points above, we are being spoiled with new material from Ayu like we haven't seen for years. And the music is traditional ayu, sounds members here have been demanding for over experimental Party Queen ayu.
- for these consecutive releases, it has been said 100000000000 times before, SALES. DO. NOT. MATTER. Not to Ayu, Avex, and by extension to you. If they mattered, each release would be released at the start of the Oricon week. It would be nice if these sold more, but it is not the end of Ayu's career and it definitely should not reflect the quality of the music to you. There are a lot of external factors to consider as well, as the previous posts have covered.
- these releases are for you, the fans (including the selfish ones who truly make me ashamed to be an Ayu fan sometimes)

[TeamAyu2004]

Originally Posted by Tony G

Reading some of the posts in this thread makes me realise just how truly loathesome some AHS forum members are. They're not even worth bothering to write a response to.

I've got a few small points to make, then I'm done here:
- 7 original songs over 2 releases in 2 months, each have been above par releases, especially the songs on again. I don't need sales to validate my opinion of Ayu's output and neither should any true music lover.
- 5 new PVs (albeit not the best, but better than nothing)
- another 3 releases in 3 months
- based on the three points above, we are being spoiled with new material from Ayu like we haven't seen for years. And the music is traditional ayu, sounds members here have been demanding for over experimental Party Queen ayu.
- for these consecutive releases, it has been said 100000000000 times before, SALES. DO. NOT. MATTER. Not to Ayu, Avex, and by extension to you. If they mattered, each release would be released at the start of the Oricon week. It would be nice if these sold more, but it is not the end of Ayu's career and it definitely should not reflect the quality of the music to you. There are a lot of external factors to consider as well, as the previous posts have covered.
- these releases are for you, the fans (including the selfish ones who truly make me ashamed to be an Ayu fan sometimes)

i just wanna say you makes TONS of sense.

[kagami]

Originally Posted by Tony G

Reading some of the posts in this thread makes me realise just how truly loathesome some AHS forum members are. They're not even worth bothering to write a response to.

I've got a few small points to make, then I'm done here:
- 7 original songs over 2 releases in 2 months, each have been above par releases, especially the songs on again. I don't need sales to validate my opinion of Ayu's output and neither should any true music lover.
- 5 new PVs (albeit not the best, but better than nothing)
- another 3 releases in 3 months
- based on the three points above, we are being spoiled with new material from Ayu like we haven't seen for years. And the music is traditional ayu, sounds members here have been demanding for over experimental Party Queen ayu.
- for these consecutive releases, it has been said 100000000000 times before, SALES. DO. NOT. MATTER. Not to Ayu, Avex, and by extension to you. If they mattered, each release would be released at the start of the Oricon week. It would be nice if these sold more, but it is not the end of Ayu's career and it definitely should not reflect the quality of the music to you. There are a lot of external factors to consider as well, as the previous posts have covered.
- these releases are for you, the fans (including the selfish ones who truly make me ashamed to be an Ayu fan sometimes)

[Didz-19]

Originally Posted by Tony G

Reading some of the posts in this thread makes me realise just how truly loathesome some AHS forum members are. They're not even worth bothering to write a response to.

I've got a few small points to make, then I'm done here:
- 7 original songs over 2 releases in 2 months, each have been above par releases, especially the songs on again. I don't need sales to validate my opinion of Ayu's output and neither should any true music lover.
- 5 new PVs (albeit not the best, but better than nothing)
- another 3 releases in 3 months
- based on the three points above, we are being spoiled with new material from Ayu like we haven't seen for years. And the music is traditional ayu, sounds members here have been demanding for over experimental Party Queen ayu.
- for these consecutive releases, it has been said 100000000000 times before, SALES. DO. NOT. MATTER. Not to Ayu, Avex, and by extension to you. If they mattered, each release would be released at the start of the Oricon week. It would be nice if these sold more, but it is not the end of Ayu's career and it definitely should not reflect the quality of the music to you. There are a lot of external factors to consider as well, as the previous posts have covered.
- these releases are for you, the fans (including the selfish ones who truly make me ashamed to be an Ayu fan sometimes)