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

[freedreamer]

Its quite disappointing..

It could be due to the phone downloads...people wanted to try try...

Or they planning to save for Koda's album, which SEEMS more worth due to the bonus tracks and the 2 DVD etc..?? (hope not...buy both better)

[andre2907]

The sales were what I expected. I mean, it didn't had any big hit single on it (her last album had much more succeful singles), any first press freebies (hello... (m)u had a freakin' photo album), it was obvious the first week would be lower than (m)u first week and I think (m)u sold less than 500k on it's first week, so... and yes, sales are going down every year but Ayu sales drop are bigger than the year-by-year sales drop. I mean, she was always Top 2 on the annual charts but (m)u and My Story didn't went Top 5...

But, looking at the bright side, it was far from a flop, it did OK. Not amazingly well, but it wasn't a flop either and maybe because there isn't any 1st week freebie sales will stay stable.

[freedreamer]

Originally Posted by se7entheaven

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

yea, single sales for other artistes are not that gd too..

kuu's singles have reached the 2005 Ayu's sales level around 360k thereabout? Her singles have been gd (except koi for me..no offence)

and BoA's OUTGROW was really quite bad imo..lots of b-sides didnt sound really gd...only 4 songs i like a lot (no offence again..)

[andre2907]

Originally Posted by ruixiong89

2. Ayu's tours. She has loads of fans faithfully following her through her tours and a+nation. You have to remember that even till now, she still does sell-out tours, and like it or not, they do take up a huge chunk of the money of her fans. Her fans could decide to budget, get the online music downloads, afterwhich get enough money to see Ayu live.

ALL acts sell-out in Japan, not because of fans buying tickets but because scalpers are buying it. Fans who went to Ayu concerts report the arena wasn't in it's full capacity. But she does concerts in huge arenas and she's probably have the biggest solo female tours in Japan.

4. Ayu is a solo female artist. Like it or not, the Jpop scene seems to favour boy groups the most e.g. SMAP, KAT-TUN, Kinki Kids since they have a lot of fan girls. It is more difficult for a female solo artist to actually achieve phenomenal success with the exceptions of Ayumi, Utada Hikaru, Namie Amuro and recently, Koda Kumi. It's a trend that is dominant in the Jpop scene, where female solo artists tend not to be favoured and look upon. Hence, for Ayu to have come this far and achieved sales like this, it's considered remarkable.

JE album sales are far from amazing. They do well in singles, but most of their acts (with a few exceptions) sell less albums than Ayu, Koda Kumi, etc.

And about the big female solo acts: they are Koda Kumi, Ayu and Ai Otsuka. ayaka, Namie Amuro and BoA are also quite big.

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.

Yes, but Ayu sales drop are bigger than the Japanese sales drop. Just look at the annual rankings: Ayu was always Top 2 and her last albums didn't went Top 5.

Anyway, it wasn't a success (for Ayu standards) but it wasn't a flop either.

[andre2907]

Originally Posted by marty518

For all we know, downloads in Japan and across the world, as well as CD purchases in other countries could almost DOUBLE the number of purchases listed on Oricon! I'm certain hundreds of us forum users outside of Japan bought the album, and those sales will never be counted on Oricon.

ORICON is to count sales in JAPAN, not worldwide. I mean, Billboard in US don't count sales from the rest of the world and certain artists would double their sales if it did, but that's not the way it supposed to be. Billboard is to count US sales, ORICON is to count Japan sales, Aria is to count australian sales, etc.

And I don't think NeoWing/CDJapan/Amazon Japan sales are counted in Oricon if you don't live in Japan because this sites know if you're overseas or not, so Oricon probably probably don't count the sales after all they have to count JAPANESE sales and it would be a big mistake if they counted sales from US like they came from Japan just because they were bought from a japanese website. If you buy your album from Amazon.com and you're not from US, Billboard won't count the numbers.

[kiseki89]

After seeing Kinki Kid's single selling about 234k [congratz to them] and ayu's 386k, I'm speechless. I hope more people will support her album through buying the acutal album and not just downloading. Please let the sales improve over the next few weeks - I cant believe such a great album not seliing well.
Btw, doesnt oricon omit sales from some stores? like yesasia?

[capsule]

Do you guys notice that Utada, Ayu, and Namie had 5 ''million selling'' singles under their belt? That's quite impressive.

From this situation, I can conclude that maybe, JUST maybe, someday if she still in this business, selling her albums and top the charts with this kind of first week sales, I would admit that she could not reach the sales during her golden days.

But with her music getting better in every releases, there is no way I'm going to get bored of her.

Personally, I'm not ready to face this situation just yet. She could sell at least 450k in her first week. But that number is still pretty good. Japan is really big market and the music market worth more than 3 billion USD.
I'm impressed that she still being a part that make Japan's music industry as huge as it can be during back then.

[criminal]

Originally Posted by Olw---A

Avex is really doing all to destroy Ayu... Maybe they whant a new "super"artist.

First of all, they have plenty of "super" artists and second, how can avex trax be "destroying" Ayumi when it's them who are booking all the appearances on Music Station, HEY!x3, buying out the whole of Shibuya to advertise Secret and letting her film music videos that cost a whole lot? If avex trax would have wanted to "destroy" Ayumi, she wouldn't have been able to release Secret.

[My Rainbow]

Originally Posted by criminal

First of all, they have plenty of "super" artists and second, how can avex trax be "destroying" Ayumi when it's them who are booking all the appearances on Music Station, HEY!x3, buying out the whole of Shibuya to advertise Secret and letting her film music videos that cost a whole lot? If avex trax would have wanted to "destroy" Ayumi, she wouldn't have been able to release Secret.

Avex owes its glory to Ayu.

[Surreal]

sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[criminal]

Originally Posted by My Rainbow

Avex owes its glory to Ayu.

I agree, but you could say that Koda Kumi and Ai Otsuka are these kinds of "super" artists as well. At least I think so.

[My Rainbow]

Originally Posted by criminal

I agree, but you could say that Koda Kumi and Ai Otsuka are these kinds of "super" artists as well. At least I think so.

Of course! Koda, Ai, Namie have participated a lot! Bot I think Ayu most.

[SpiceSquad!]

hmm.. here we go again.. people arguing about the sales no.
WELL.. its OUT and REALITY do hurts..

[Lyra-Shini-Gami]

I hope I´ll come true~ I love her and her songs!

[Dustie]

Originally Posted by ayu_fan929

Yes and No.

A lot of people could've DL from mu-mo and decided if they liked the songs, they would buy the album. But I guess they didn't like the songs so they didn't buy the album?

The music industry really hasn't been declining that much in relation to the past 3 years? It has stayed relatively the same.

Maybe the industry itself yes, but sales have certainly dropped, maybe not in so different than 3 years ago, but certainly lower than 5-6 years ago.

You mean avex made lots of money this week.

She made too. She writes the lyrics, that's like at least 30% of revenue for the records...

But DUH!? like she hasn't been making lots of money for years now

[moombasista]

Originally Posted by //hikari

They say it because they're extremely ignorant.

They think all Japanese are kawaii and listen to happy pop music and have incredible style and eat sushi like whoa.

They don't realize Japan has just as many entertainers and singers and bands. They only see the big names because they aren't in Japan.

They make angsty baised statements that prove their ignorance and lack of intelligence.

LOL, like whoa you're so sexy

I think people also forget that iTUNES is huge in Japan so most of them probably downloaded the album... or not

[ayu_fan929]

Originally Posted by Olw---A

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.

While Ayu might have a less of an influence on avex than she did have before, her power/the money she makes for the company is still a lot (ie: her tours). avex isn't stupid enough to "destroy" Ayu.

Also, it's not like she can leave avex just like that. She's bound by contracts, probably saying that she can't leave avex even if her contract with them is up.

Originally Posted by Dustie

Maybe the industry itself yes, but sales have certainly dropped, maybe not in so different than 3 years ago, but certainly lower than 5-6 years ago.

She made too. She writes the lyrics, that's like at least 30% of revenue for the records...

I doubt that she would get that high of an amount. Probably something like X million yen for writing songs, X million yen for writing lyrics etc.

Of course sales have dropped since 1999-2002. But I mean, it's not really "unfair" to compare now to 2003, 2004, 2005.

Originally Posted by moombasista

I think people also forget that iTUNES is huge in Japan so most of them probably downloaded the album... or not

No, not really. North American = mp3 players; Asian = Phones

Originally Posted by Coelacanth

According to the RIAJ Yearbook 2006, the value of digital music delivery in Japan totaled 34.3 billion yen in 2005, compared to only 15 billion yen the year before that. 96.4% of the digital music delivery last year was with mobile digital contents, while only 3.5% was Internet downloads. I mean, there could be millions in value worth of Ayu's content on people's phones.

[darc_aqua]

O well, I hope she stays #1 this week also. It would be nice.

[Mad_Cactuar]

Originally Posted by andre2907

But, looking at the bright side, it was far from a flop, it did OK. Not amazingly well, but it wasn't a flop either and maybe because there isn't any 1st week freebie sales will stay stable.

It went Platinum on the first week, I think it did amazingly well though. You're right, no freebies chucked onto this one.

[pbs1605]

Well done Ayumi,I hope it stays at number 1 for a few more weeks.