[12/4] ORICON "Secret" 1st Week Sales [See P.7 post 130]

[gakkun]

This just shows the true nature of the majority of Ayu's fans - they listen to whatever is popular, gets depressed when she no longer sells as much, and move on to the next big thing (eg. Koda). To them, high sales = quality. It's really quite sad

[..:Hot:Like:Wow:..]

I don't listen to her music because of high sales but I still want her to be the highest selling nonetheless.

[ayu1m]

Originally Posted by gakkun

This just shows the true nature of the majority of Ayu's fans - they listen to whatever is popular, gets depressed when she no longer sells as much, and move on to the next big thing (eg. Koda). To them, high sales = quality. It's really quite sad

That might occur in some places yes, but not in AHS.

Originally Posted by Kingofpop

I don't listen to her music because of high sales but I still want her to be the highest selling nonetheless.

I think the same and I'm sure we're not the only one.

[immel]

Originally Posted by gakkun

This just shows the true nature of the majority of Ayu's fans - they listen to whatever is popular, gets depressed when she no longer sells as much, and move on to the next big thing (eg. Koda). To them, high sales = quality. It's really quite sad

Please try to be serious.

I can tell you that 99% of Ayumis or Kodas fans in Japan doesn't have a clue about which of the artists sell the most, they both top the charts at all times because they're never released simultaneously.

Most like it's just like with music anywhere in the world, the one artist that is talked about the most is the one that is making the music that appeals to the current generations ear the most. Also that artist needs some luck to break through and help with the promotion. Right now the three most popular and talked about artists in Japan is Ayu, Koda and Utada.

There's a minority of the fans who are like us and have an eye on every single detail that goes on with sales and everything. We belong to that minority, don't let that twist your view.

[iphis]

i cant deny the fact that Ayu is not that popular as about year 2000

but the year 2000's Ayu is so unbelievable. she was too popular that all the japan music history never had such a shining star like her

the today's Ayu is much like a normal star, on the same level with Koda, Utada...

so she is still good, just not as good as before.


and what really matters...guys....is her MUSIC!!!
i can feel the soul and heart in her songs, but i cant feel those in Koda's songs
so i love her---Ayu.

[immel]

Originally Posted by iphis

i cant deny the fact that Ayu is not that popular as about year 2000

She's most likely more popular, by now, 6 years later, the entire population of Japan should know her name. Imagine.

The fact that not as many buys her records on CDs doesn't change that. By the way, you're still forgetting about digital sales.

but the year 2000's Ayu is so unbelievable. she was too popular that all the japan music history never had such a shining star like her

There's been two artists prior to her who has sold about as much, the the first one was Seiko something I think. The second one is Utada Hikaru, while her total sales isn't as high all her album CD sales has always been higher.

the today's Ayu is much like a normal star, on the same level with Koda, Utada...

If you call that a normal star, please think again. They are huge, known over an entire country with over a hundred million inhabitants. They rule the second largest music market in the entire world, Japan's. They even made it internationally and have fan forums spanning the entire world.

so she is still good, just not as good as before.

That's up to everyone to decide for themselves .

[..:Hot:Like:Wow:..]

Originally Posted by immel

She's most likely more popular, by now, 6 years later, the entire population of Japan should know her name. Imagine.

The fact that not as many buys her records on CDs doesn't change that. By the way, you're still forgetting about digital sales.

There's been two artists prior to her who has sold about as much, the the first one was Seiko something I think. The second one is Utada Hikaru, while her total sales isn't as high all her album CD sales has always been higher.

If you call that a normal star, please think again. They are huge, known over an entire country with over a hundred million inhabitants. They rule the second largest music market in the entire world, Japan's. They even made it internationally and have fan forums spanning the entire world.

That's up to everyone to decide for themselves .

I wish you included Namie though and it's Seiko Matsuda.

[Mad_Cactuar]

Originally Posted by gakkun

To them, high sales = quality. It's really quite sad

Actually, I learnt from this event that sales does not equal quality. I bought Secret not knowing the sales and was amazed with it. So to find out the terrible sales figures afterwards just reinforces the fact that people buy what's popular and not necessarily good.

Originally Posted by kingofpop

I don't listen to her music because of high sales but I still want her to be the highest selling nonetheless.

That's EXACTLY what's going on. Kudos to you for saying what I never grasped as much as I understood it.

[immel]

While Namie was a phenomenon that can roughly be equaled with Ayumi I don't know anything about her sales, I think(?) they were much lower than anything Ayu or Utada ever released.

[..:Hot:Like:Wow:..]

Namie's highest selling original album sold 3,359,420 copies and she had two other original albums that have sold close to 2 000 000 copies. I'm sure it would have surpassed 2 mill by now anyway. She also has 5 singles that have sold over 1 million copies with "CAN YOU CELEBRATE?" being the highest at 2,296,200 sales. It is the best selling single by a solo female artist in Japanese music history.

[Mad_Cactuar]

Namie was a true star like Ayu in her heyday. Just like Utada. If you were into JPOP a year or two earlier, you would have been drawn into their worlds too.

[yamogi]

No matter how this album sells, I can surely tell that ayu is still one of the biggest stars in Japan. This sale you can see now is definietly not bad. This sale figure is almost the best first-week sale among all female singers this year except koda kumi. Don't lose faith in ayu, the bad sale is mainly due to the "improper" promotion and the rapid change of album format (from mini to full). The failure of Secret is absolutely foreseeable if you come to know more about the real situation in Japan.

Believe me, this album is being sold in an extremely bad circumstance(a wrong commercial strategy).The firgure is actually quite good when compare with the faults that made by AVEX.

[immel]

Originally Posted by yamogi

Believe me, this album is being sold in an extremely bad circumstance(a wrong commercial strategy).The firgure is actually quite good when compare with the faults that made by AVEX.

The "baddest" circumstance would be that Ayumi has been around for 8 years.

[truehappiness]

Note:
In 2005, the only albums to get higher than 380k first week were best albums, some Southern All Stars album, and ORANGE RANGE. :p


Do you mean 'worst', immel?

[bluegie]

Originally Posted by Mad_Cactuar

Namie was a true star like Ayu in her heyday. Just like Utada. If you were into JPOP a year or two earlier, you would have been drawn into their worlds too.

Yeah Namie was really BIG back in the mid 90's. She did have 2 - 3 super shining years before she got pregnant... If she didn't, she would have been to ayu's today statue.. She flopped because of the pregnancy.. and I feel sorry for that, cuz she really does have some magic to attract people (at least to me... I'm not her fan, but her songs are quite good IMO)

Originally Posted by iphis

the today's Ayu is much like a normal star, on the same level with Koda, Utada...

Honestly this is one of the funniest statements I've ever seen.. Yes, ayu and hikki are the same levels, but it's been like that SINCE the beginning. Hikki was huge, like really huge as well. All her albums so far were yearly no. 1s (except ULTRA BLUE of course), and how can you say she's normal? And ayu ain't normal either. How often do you see artists (esp. females in Japan) still sells like that after 8 years? ayu's (m)u and hikki's ULTRA BLUE are still the top 5 studio albums of this year (apart from the best albums). They're already two mega female divas in Japan!

[immel]

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Do you mean 'worst', immel?

Yes, I did. That word didn't come to my mind at the time .

[ayuflareup!]

I think the main reason for the low sales is due to the weak promotions, wrong announcement (people thought it was a mini-album at first) and the inappropiate date (Most albums usually sell better in late December or New Year, just like MY STORY, RAINBOW)........
Avex is ruining the whole thing up

[ayu_fan929]

EDIT: Official number is 386,280.

Originally Posted by ruixiong89

5. General decline in sales. I know ORICON would always have a totalled number to display the total number of singles and albums sold in an ORICON year. If my memory doesn't serve me wrong, all I've seen is a percentage DECLINE in overall sales. Hence, it's just part of the bigger trend that is occurring in Japan.

We can look at it that way or we can look at it this way: Sales haven't changed significantly since 2003/2004, they've been more or less the same. Sure there might have been small declines within these 2-3 years, but nothing too too significant.
TOP 50 Single Sales
2000 43,329,250
2001 32,463,340
2002 20,765,120
2003 19,174,236
2004 16,299,111
2005 17,623,441
2006 16,568,365 (as of last week)

TOP 50 Album Sales
2000 49,923,000
2001 56,368,710
2002 38,316,120
2003 29,732,880
2004 29,259,465
2005 32,320,732
2006 29,107,440 (as of last week)

Originally Posted by kinix

did u guys saw mika's new single for NANA? that's more shocking for me O.O"""

THE END is coming out in a week.

Originally Posted by Mad_Cactuar

Oh ayu_fan929, I meant flop as in less than 80k in first week sales. Yeah, I know that's still a huge success, but B&D got that and look what happened to her fanbase.

80k for that single would be really really successful imo. This single is coming out 2 weeks before the album, whereas B&D was 6. I think if it manages to sell as much as Promise/Star (62k), it would be successful.

Originally Posted by yamogi

This sale figure is almost the best first-week sale among all female singers this year except koda kumi.

You forgot about Hikki.

Originally Posted by truehappiness

Note:
In 2005, the only albums to get higher than 380k first week were best albums, some Southern All Stars album, and ORANGE RANGE. :p

You forgot about Hirai Ken and Ketsumeishi.

Originally Posted by ayuflareup!

I think the main reason for the low sales is due to the weak promotions, wrong announcement (people thought it was a mini-album at first) and the inappropiate date (Most albums usually sell better in late December or New Year, just like MY STORY, RAINBOW)........
Avex is ruining the whole thing up

Funny because some people said because (m)u was released during New Year's, sales were lower because of that.

[Olw---A]

I think that the bad promotion is the cause of those low sales. I mean what is Secret? a mini Album? no an Album. What is JEWEL? her new winter single? no just a track of Secret...
Avex is really doing all to destroy Ayu... Maybe they whant a new "super"artist. Now I think that Ayu should leave Avex to re-birth.

Those low sales hurt me because Secret is a very good album and it's worth better !

[se7entheaven]

Yeah...we can't blame the Japanese or else
judging from this year (miss)understood which actually could gain 1million
but unfortunately it was not.....
so...i think nowadays it's normal to sell albums or singles as crazy as it was back then in 2000 somethin'
mayb we as fans of ayu can't really judge or wish too much
single sales are also not really nice for other artist rite?
like maybe kuu's singles are quite seldom reach 300k like ayu's
also...yeah...no doubt black cherry (which i also like) will sell ....let say surpass ayu's....it's her full concept original album in 2 years since secret rite...but boa's OUTGROW also sell REALLY BAD