Ayu's taxes and income for 2004

[s.k.y]

yea for hikaru! she deserves all em cash~

[AyuRlz]

oh my gawd! tats quite a lot for someone like mi going on a budget~!

[lolo66]

haha1~ I gues it's safe to say that it's a fortune for the overwhelming majority of the members here.

[greggerz189]

Originally Posted by Brittany

O.O And Utada just released an English album, Collection CD and a single and made 9 million from THAT? Wow. I'm blown away ..

me too...that's so weird. It pisses me off that Hikaru beat Ayu when her stuff sucked way more than 'MY STORY' and the 'Moments,' 'INSPIRE c/w GAME,' and 'CAROLS' singles.

[razchaos]

OK. It's like this. A Japanese album would sell around 2-3 million copies in Japan alone. And when it comes to international(outside japan)it would probably sell around 400-500 thousand. I think that is a great number for a country like japan. In America, 1-3 millon copies for an album is usual. Some albums could reach 4-9 million copies very easily even in the same year the album was released. Usher's Confession is a good example. The album hit 1.3 million copies in it's first week and sold more than 9 million(i dunno about this thing in japan but a platinum award in america equal to a million copies) 9m in america alone!!!!

Before Britney turned 20, she had sold nearly 40 million albums worldwide. As far as I know, her Baby One More Time album has just recently certified 14 million copies in USA alone. Then her second album sold 10 million copies in america. I think all american artistes earn their money accordding to the contract they signed. For example, Mariah signed a USD80M contract which is the biggest deal signed for Virgin. Not long after that, she had been fired and Virgin paid USD28M to her. All american artistes probably earn at least USD10M even though they don't released any album.

[razchaos]

Originally Posted by julian

Think about it this way... A good Japanese album in Japan will sell 2-3 Million copies, worldwide. A good English album will sell in excess of 10 million. And for those who complain about Britney making so much money, her first album sold 24 Million copies worldwide, which is nearly 3 times the amount the highest selling album in Japan sold. Her last album (GH:MP) sold 5 Million worldwide, which isn't exactly great, but is still at least twice the average Japanese album.

A correction. A good japanese sold 2-3 million copies in japan alone. Right? Even if the album sales good worldwidely, maybe 2-2.9 Million sold in japan. And why an english album sell 10 million? It is because, USA is the biggest music market the world! WOW That's why 1 or 2 or 3 million copies is just ordinary in america.

This is a fact for everyone that do not know about this. In this Earth, there are 3 places that have big music market. They are: USA, which is the biggest music market in the world, Europe continent, the third biggest music market, and the second biggest music market in the world and the biggest music market outside USA is,JAPAN We should be proud because compared to Europe, Japan's music market is a lot bigger and compared to USA, an album could sell 2-3 million copies in that small country(compared to USA and Europe). It's really awesome.

[DA1SUK1DAY01691]

sure utada has cash, but ayumi has quality! I mean Kettobase was just a song hikki wrote when she was drunk (IMO)... at least when Ayu writes, she uses her true, sober (lol) feelings...

[greggerz189]

Originally Posted by ayumihamasakisan005

sure utada has cash, but ayumi has quality! I mean Kettobase was just a song hikki wrote when she was drunk (IMO)... at least when Ayu writes, she uses her true, sober (lol) feelings...

XD lol. by the way, what does IMO mean? I keep hearing it EVERYWHERE but I have no idea what the hell it means! XD

IMO - in my opinion

[andre2907]

Originally Posted by PickleCookies

It's still not rich.

Yes, it is. If you have more than 1 million than you're a millionaire, if you have mora than a billion you're a billionaire. And Ayu has more than 24 million dollars, it's ALOT, more than most people around the world, most than almost everybody in here. And even the 500,000 dollars for Mika is alot.

[andre2907]

Originally Posted by ayumihamasakisan005

it goes to show you that the best in the Japanese Business can be manipulated by thier producers....

Honestly, I think Americans are more closed minded, because when you look at all the songs that made it onto a chart, only a few has a foreign language in it! Americans like us think that we're the elite being on the planet, and doesn't need to go back to our roots and see what they have to offer, they just want to jump on the bandwagon and take what only America has to offer. I might be wrong, but the only time a full foreign song was on a Billboard Chart was Kyu Sakamoto's Sukiyaki, which was over 40 years ago! After everything evolved, you barely hear a foreign language on a mainstream radio, may be even nothing! Only Hawaii i think has foreign stations on our radios, Hawaiian(duh) and Japanese... Americans need to realize that other countries have great things to offer... I mean, American artists aren't the very best in singing, because of the technology nowdays, you can "morph" your voice to sound better, like Britney Spears. She sounds great in albums, but get her in a live, she sounds horrible! Also, a lot of American artists just don't have the versatility to sing different ways, e.g. ballad, upbeat dance, blah, blah, blah... like Hamasaki Ayumi. Ayu has one of the widest and best sounding range of songs, from "INSPIRE" to "Forgiveness"... and it also seems like American artists can't keep up with thier demanding fans like Japanese artists... American artists usually boom for a year or two, then slowly slide into oblivion... while Japanese Artists like Hikki can keep up with the charts, Ayu can win the SAME award (Japan Record Music Award) 3 years in a row... it's amazing how radically different these two industries are, and how radically different paychecks are... I think that Japanese Artists more than 3 times the amount that American artists get because of thier consistency and how the keep up with the demands, unlike American artists....

Just my opinion....

I'm not american but I don't agree with you at all.

1st - Kyu Sakamoto wasn't the last, he was the last asian one. There was lots of spanish-speaking singers at the top.
2nd - The thing about the artists being 'in vogue' for 2 or 3 years and then disapear. That's stupid! LOTS and LOTS of artists in USA are very popular for years, even Britney! It seems all your opinion was about her and her represents american music! And this is much more common in japanese musical industry, the whole appear/disappear thing you said, so it was kind of ironic.
3rd - The part about 'americans don't sing great because we have technology'. In Japan there's lots & lots of technology too. And not all american artists use this 'technology'.
4th - America has all types of music: rock, pop, r&b, hip-hop, reggaeton, folk, indie etc etc... so you are being close-minded too, 'cos you're opinion is all about britney spears and extremely teenybopper groups.

But I do agree with you when you said americans are too self-centered, yes they are. But yes, that's my opinion...

[EDGE23]

0_0'' can't imaging how much money .....

[atsai]

I'll never understand why Hikki makes so much money. I know there's the saying 'to each his own' but I cannot for the life of me understand what makes her music that 'godly' to people. I agree with saying that she's incredibly overrated. Don't get me wrong, I like some of her music too.. but I don't think it's worthy of all the praise it gets. @_@

[gakkun]

People stop bashing Hikki just because she earns more than Ayu. In Japan, people like artists more than idols, and that's where Hikki and Ayu's difference is at. I haven't heard a single Japanese saying they dislike Hikki but many (except for fans like us) dislike Ayu simple because they see her as a has-been.

[JinHamasaki]

Originally Posted by gakkun

People stop bashing Hikki just because she earns more than Ayu. In Japan, people like artists more than idols, and that's where Hikki and Ayu's difference is at. I haven't heard a single Japanese saying they dislike Hikki but many (except for fans like us) dislike Ayu simple because they see her as a has-been.

Well, just because you haven't heard a Japanese person saying they dislike Hikki, doesn't mean it is representative of the entire Japanese population. The only reason why Hikki has had the highest income was due to her SINGLE COLLECTION Vol 1., the best selling album of 2004 - just breaking 3 million. Ayu only released a bunch of singles (Moments, INSPIRE, CAROLS, and a very little bit from Memorial address in the beginning of 2004; MY STORY will be counted in 2005 income).

People need to understand that this is the first time Hikki topped Ayu (well, maybe not in 1999 since Hikki released First Love....any data on that year?).

[PSYCHEDELICOdust]

People also need to understand that just because she is mentioned in a thread in the Ayu section there is NO need to bash her. This isn't a thread questioning either of the artists' musical talents or anything else OTHER than their earnings.

[mooy]

Originally Posted by PSYCHEDELICOdust

People also need to understand that just because she is mentioned in a thread in the Ayu section there is NO need to bash her. This isn't a thread questioning either of the artists' musical talents or anything else OTHER than their earnings.

After reading through every single post I don't think I heard anyone bash Hikki, They were just wondering why she made so much when she released so little, that is all.

[happytoadstool]

Utada hikaru sells really really well in Japan. Amzing and Ayu is the 5th highest taxpayer in the music entertainment industry (both male and female)! That's amazing I'm not surprised that utada hikaru earns more than ayu in terms of sales. When she releases something, people are very excited about it, thus leading to high sales. Ayu produces good songs (better than hikki, IMO) but maybe the Japanese got tired of her already and are less enthusiastic about her releases since she produces singles thrice a year with an album to cap off the year, unlike Utada who, recently puts out one single a year. and it just so happens that in 2004, she released two albums. and one of them is a BEST album!
Total sales of each (approximate)
Ayu
Memorial address 1m
three singles 300000+ each
total: close to 2m

Utada:
singles collection 3m or a bit less
exodus 1m
darekano (single) 400,000 or less
total: around 4m +

Wait... if ayu's sales is half than hikki's, why is there such a huge gap between their income? ayu's sales are half of hikki's yet ayu's income is nearly one third of hikki's... where the hell did those other stuff come from?
either utada makes more money from her advertisements, or hikki's record company contract gives hikki a larger income from sales than ayu. or both. Just my guess :p

I'm quite surprised that Mocchi (ELT singer) is in the top five of females... ELT barely released anything with phenomenal sales in 2004. mika nakashima may have even sold more than her.

[RAISKA]

Oh, now Ayu earns not so much as it was! What a pity!

[ayu_fan929]

i think this was mentioned earlier...but u ppl have to remember hikki gets the copyright for her songs, whenever her songs get played on radio or on MTV etc, she gets a bunch of $, ayu doesnt get that...o yea n didnt hikki have a tour in '04 that made that made a huge profit?