^I think that Japanese blog (Natsu Style) points out really well. Since avex started doing those FC special (e.g., teamayu preorder special), the first day sales (or preorder sales on Tuesday) is always very high, then the second (real release day) is always low. Back then the first and second day indexes are pretty close to each other. I think now avex is kinda similar to JE. First day huge index, then a sharp drop on the second day.

I think this doesn't necessarily apply to other companies tho. At least EMI doesn't have fan club preorder special for hikki, nor Sony handed out special gifts if you preorder Mika's VOICE :P.

Awww..... big drop on 3rd day..... I hope tomorrow's index stays over 5000

^ :yes

I thought it would be steadier & sell better than MW
cause it has bigger promo, 2 PVs
and just a waaay better

what a pity :no

yeah, meant to say 3 XD Anyways that pattern is quite possible considering everything, and if it does happen it will most likely sell around 120+ k in the first week, which is pretty good. And even the the FC specials weren't there I still think the index wouldn't go below 20 k on the first day. And EMI doesn't have the special offers and Hikki's latest singles didn't really appeal to Japs at least in terms of purchasing the physical releases, though they did really well digitally and it seems that is happening to Ayu as well (at least with Days).

^ yea, Days sells so well digitally, @Recochoku, it almost take over all categories!!

this drop is depressing me! i hope it can keep #1 the rest of the week, but if it shrinks any more from here....

oh thats a low number on the 3rd day.
But I never really expected a certain number so I'm not saddened. ^^

Wow it just keeps to dropp and dropp! >.<
But tomorrow its over 100'000! :D

Shucks this is a disappointing day :(. I blame the failing economy.

99,165 is the new projected first week sales right? How did that number actually go up?

woah still position one..but a big drop though..
fighting Ayu!!!!!!

rofl yes lets blame the "failing economy". :yes

@njanjayrp: Umm, wut? Heart Station and Prisoner of Love were both hits in Japan. They both did well digitally and the sales were great as well given when they were released. Besides, how are u going to compare a single that was released a month before an album and a single that was released 2 months after the album which already had a song on it to a single that's of fresh material? =/

Well since people seem to use that excuse for TABOOs lackluster sales I figure we could use the same excuse in this scenario :yes

^Well, it's not exactly an EXCUSE, I'm sure it plays into SOME people's decisions to buy the single. But I'm sure it's not enough to cause that big a drop sadly ;_;..

So the single isn't necessarily selling badly, the physical sales are... which makes sense if you think about it lol.

But weirdly, the song "Days" isn't available for some reason on iTunes Japan. Just GREEN and the 10th anniversary versions...

considering that we are living in the age of piracy, any artist that is able to sell over 50,000 for a single earns more than respect in my book.

so stop whining! :yes

That's easy, I could name at least 2(B&D/Pride, Cherry Girl/Unmei) singles that were released a few weeks prior to an album which had better physical sales than HEART STATION/Stay gold. I mean come on who would buy a physical single which has no extras and at times not even a DVD when you can get the song online for less money (not to mention the "fan-made" looking covers). PoL might've been a dumb example as it was a recut but some people still think that MW is a recut (I don't tough) and even tough it didn't have a major jdrama to back it up it sold better physicly even tough the song wasn't a big hit like PoL was, simply because it had good bonuses and it didn't look cheap.

And don't worry you won't see a fresh material from Hikki (in Japan) unless there is a new ultra popular drama coming on as she doesn't seem to make music for any other reason the last 2 years, so there will be nothing to compare in a while, I'm afraid :P

I don't get it... why is everybody disappointed with the drop in sales and stuff? It's already doing better than Mirrorcle World and imo that's already good enough.

The examples you've given are not most suitable ones hehe. B&D did have higher first week sales than HS/SG. The thing is back then digital sales were not that huge during 2005. Also, B&D was consider a failure in terms of sales. ~70K (? I forgot the exact sales figure) was a really embarrassing number for ayu in 2005. I wasn't shocked, but I was surprised how suddenly her weekly sales dropped that severely (168K from HEAVEN). Of course now we know that the Japanese didn't like the change (music wise) at all.

Does oricon count digital sales too? I