One reason why I think she appears to be declining very rapidly in her album and single sales is because for the last couple of years, she has been focussing very intently on the overall asian market, so I think that alot of her CD's are selling VERY well in other Asian markets because they have not had so much of her yet, whereas in Japan, she is already very commonplace.

In addition, if you look at her A-Complete sales, you will see that only a small portion of the sales is coming from japan, whereas a large portion of it is coming from other asian countries, and the oricon simply does not take those sales into account, and so this misleads us and makes us think that Ayu is declinging VERY rapidly.
I know this because I lived in Hong Kong for a few months last year, right arounbd the time of her asia tour, and I know that when I walk the streets, I hear many people talking about Ayu, and CD stores, fashion stores, and almost every place with teenagers will have Ayu music on.
When she had her first Hong Kong concert, even really big stars in the chinese music industry went to see her, and the same thing happened in Taiwan and Shanghai too. In addition to winning many awards in other asian markets.
So I think it's fair to say that her popularity is indeed dropping from her peak in japan because she is nothing new anymore, but in Asia, she is really establishing her popularity, and seeing a large increase in the number of fans, as well as sales in other asian markets. So I wouldn't be suprised if she also reaches her peak again by support of her asian fans from different markets.
I'm one of the fans that really supports Ayu, and I expect to see her reach her peak again in Asia.

Well, you can't stay at the top forever. That and her music started changing around the 'I am...' period.

isn't a normal thing to happen?? I mean... no one can stay in the top for ever xD

^ Yeah. And I honestly don't want Ayumi to constantly be at the top. I want her to have to work for her success, and to rise and fall just like everybody else in the world. It makes being her fan that much greater, for me.

Why :no, lol? She definitely has the best sales, if that's what was meant...

Namie Amuro has by far the best DVD sales of any female artist. For original albums, Superfly and Koda Kumi sold better this year. If you want to count female fronted bands too, then Ikimonogakari and Dreams Come True as well. If you count best of albums, then ayaka did better too.

For physical single sales, so far Days/Green has still managed to stay on top, but when you count in digital downloads it seems that Juju is actually the best selling female artist for singles this year. Other female artists digital sales I'm not as sure of, but there could be some others that surpassed Days/Green as well.

i just don't think ayu has released anything very ground-breaking or widely appealing lately :( her music videos haven't been the best either and a lot of her lyrical material echoes older material that i'm sure not only fans but most of the japanese audience can recognize immediately~ of course i still love her but i think she needs to release something of higher quality :) also, she's getting older and there are a lot of rumors floating around about ayu copying other artists' fashion sense and lyrics... i'm sure that hasn't helped either :/

lol you're scaring me! But at least I think Ayu has been consistent in her sales... steady drops while still bad, are more significant of her (declining) popularity I suppose; like she isn't losing her fans in an erratic way, but in a steadier manner.

As much as I love Kuu, I have to say her sales have been very inconsistent. TABOO was horrible, then stay with me had omg downloads, then TRICK was so-so, and then 3 SPLASH and Alive/Physical thing had like horrible sales.

At least Ayu doesn't sell 190k for a single and then 80k for the next... O_O

haha, I don't mean to scare you! I'm just explaining why that point in particular was wrong. Ayu is still doing better compared to several other female artists.

about the sales, ayu has had really good sales bcose avex made her release new stuff like a machine would! if utada or anyone else would release like that they would be the best sellers of all for sure...

ayu could sell really really good only at her pick times and now she keeps selling thanks to her loyal fans :)

Maybe Ayu should disappear for awhile...then come back, so ppl will not take her for granted~

i doubt if this will help.they usually won't be famous anymore if he/she disappear for even a while...not all like namie...can gain back her popularity after married and divorce

this thread makes it sound as if an recent ayu release failed to chart in the top 10.
ayu is good, people just want new material, not recycled lyrics.
constant overexposure does that.

Ahaha I guess the only thing she is doing relatively well would be her singles... Ayu - single seller queen. :D

I think for me, it is becaues there are many new people ocming up and the sytle of music of the whole industry is changing, and.................... one very impt point for myself is.. ayumi is not cute anymore, but is still acting.... it is very evident especially to a female, females pick up these kind of things easily. So... I think at 30 she is ACTING cute, whereas like Vivian Hsu, she acts cute but she acts naturally cute. Am I getting through or is everyone confused about what I am talking about? O_o

I used to think AYumi is very cute, that was 8 years ago, and after buying her albums and all her concert DVDs, I still think she is cute, but act cute. It is bad for me to see her holding it up, like, it cannot be natural........... guys will love her but for a girl like myself... I think girls likes less of these things already especially when maki horikita is up there. Get it? No? It is hard to explain too. HAHAHA.

Also, my friend buys all her singles, and only a few of her albums, because my friend said that "I already have all her singles, why would I want to buy her album, I have no more money" Obviously she didn't buy her compliation CDs and the BOX single recently too. My friend is getting very tired of having to keep up with her singles all the time, buying them supporting her, my friend has a life to support too.

And me too... I have never bought much of her singles, and till now I stil lwant to sell the singles I own of her. I really don't need that many singles when I already have her every album...

hmm i think so tomboyish? I don't think she's tomboyish, i think she is more poised? LOL At yet her short hair makes her looks sooo good. I once wanted to copy her short hair and ask my hairstylist cut that but decided that my air was too precious for that. XD

Annnnnnnnnnd, i want ayumi to rest...............

that's interesting. Do we have figures for her sales in those countries?

That reminds me that when my mother and little brother went to HK I requested them to buy the MY STORY CD+DVD album since it would have been just released. They had a really hard time finding it at all the major record shops because they were simply out of stock!

Nonetheless, they got the last copy at one store and it just so happened to be the cover that I wanted, too! :love

She peaked.

She doesn't have the staying power of creating new and fresh things. She sort of is like Madonna on this. Legendary for what she was and not for what she will be.

Also it's time for change. She's been doing the same thing now for the past several albums. Let another talented person with fresh ideas have their dreams come true.

For now is lacking promotion and single release

well im no expert but shes been in the media a lot so people might be getting bored of her over there.
and also (read this on wiki) it might be because shes partally deaf, it said on wiki that there was a decline of sales when she announced it T^T

There are any number of reasons factoring into the drop of sales, some of which are out of her control entirely (such as piracy). I agree, too, that while her music nowadays isn't bad, it's hardly what is used to be. (Save for the lyrics--ever brilliant, I'd go so far as to say it doesn't seem to have quite the passion of previous stuff, whether composed by CREA or not).

Still, I think it's important to remember that a decline in sales doesn't mean low sales. She still sells quite a bit next to other big names in the Japanese market.

I guess she doesnt have a HIT song like M, SEASONS, Evoluton, Boys&Girls. her music just so so and nothing gonna change so fans are getting bored with her and turn to other artists. beside that, this is era digital release which is cheaper and people like to buy it.

I agree!! It's true about sales and whatnot... but I really feel like once she released that ONE unbelievably catchy (successful drama-tie in LOL) song everyone will be eating it up

Ayumi's poopularity is declning in japan because there are soooo many (not to mention JE boys) up and coming stars, and the invasion of Korean and Taiwan artistes. Her songs are horrible on NEXT LEVEL album when I first bought it, I listened to it once and i left it in my drawer. But I love them now, and starte dliking "Startin" and her well hated songs of previous albums as well. All these declining popularity i think is because she is walking a couple of years ahead of many people, and the songs are still hard to accept now.

Well... this actually happens quite a lot with pop music... but I don't really think that ayu is that much ahead.. I would say that for the most of her career she was like... 1 year ahead... But some of her older songs were more years ahead....

This week I was listening to Utada's Exodus and thinking about how little people would find it strange it it was released now... And IMO she is failing with TITO cuz it was also released too early too...

Tbh honest I think it's the image/musical style and pretty much everything she does atm, or has done for a while. Like we know, she changes her style and music and everything all the time, and I think many of the people think she's changed like, totally and eternally or something and she ain't the "old Ayu" we used to know. I thought like that when NL was released, thinking something like "No way, Ayu, why are you suddenly going with the flow (the electropop genre which I don't really like, but NL changed that in the end eventually :laugh), and you seem so materialistic! :(" but then I realized that even just couple years from now there will be again much more from her and NL will be a great, different album to look back to as will GUILTY. I think she is now in a comfort zone with her fanbase and doesn't think much about general public, and wants to experiment and not think about her career too deeply, just do what she feels nice doing, and she's really free to do that now that she's not in the spotlight.

LOL I'm not good at explaining but if someone gets what I'm talking about, cool. :laugh

yes yes!! It is like, not going with teh flow, but trying to be first, but too fast!!

and i agree that her older songs were more years ahead, because i only liked her when it was a few years after her first album with acex. then her albums usually have half the songs i hated, but loved a year later. but like.. NEXT LEVEL is kinda like that too.... i had some strong hate LOL now is okay. probably like it more after a month. ^^

I agree that her music was much more ahead in the past. I remember when I first heard evolution and my first thought was "OMG what is this?!? I don't know what it is but I love it!" It was ahead, but at the same time managed to capture the public. I don't get that same kind of feeling from her more recent releases.

I'd kinda agree with this, but everyone has limits when it comes to creativity. I personally like her newer stuff a lot, but I honestly think her older lyrics had something that the newer ones lack. She still occasionally hits us with something I'd call creative like Mirrorcle World or Sparkle, but it feels different, more polished and less raw. I don't really care that much about her capturing the general public anymore though.

^
yep it is true.
Some of her lyrics lately are less interesting/deep/poetic than before, but her newer stuff is pretty good imo.

I just think that it's even a marketing and self-image thing.
For example, Namie Amuro returned to a her peak especially after Vidal Sasson commercials and a new and glamorous look. If Ayu will be chosen for a similar thing her sales will be high again.. I guess.

I don't think her music has been ahead of her time for a few years now (not in Japan, at least). It's starting to become mainstream, and yeah, the lyrics aren't as good as her earlier works. (But I don't hate on her for that, considering the amount of songs she has. Everybody runs out of ideas at some point.)
I don't think Ayu's lost her edge yet, though. When I heard NEXT LEVEL I still thought, "hey, this is catchy, and it totally has that Ayumi feel to it! <3"

She does need to change it up a bit, though. Her image, I mean (she already has good variety in her music). Like, the blonde needs to go, at least for a while. Right now, lol. I think almost everybody agrees on that... And she needs to get back into her old fashion sense again. We no longer have the fashion queen that she was even a few years ago, and that was part of her signature image. Not liking her current makeup right now, at all, either. :headache

^ unfortunately but true

it has been quite a while since I really like a photoshoot from her this year man ;_____;

ok at least the Sept issue of SCawaii ! was pretty good & that goes for the May issue of ViVi but after that ._____.

That's exactly what I thought and I was really looking forward to that song ^_^

Yes her music style before was more experimental and she took risks. Although at that era she was at her peak and her fans loved anything she released. Lately though I can only think of a few songs like Sparkle and alterna which do attract the attention and shock the listener.

I think it's hard to have an consistant level of quality if you release as much material as Ayu does. So you tend to repeat yourself. And maybe the casual listener thinks "Mmh I've heard this before. And since I already have an Ayu record, I won't buy this one." For me I actually only buy Albums of Ayu. But as a Fan I've bought all of them and I probably will buy the new ones she puts out anyway, no matter if I like the singles or not. I prefer most Album tracks over singles. I don't think it's that bad that her sales are dropping. It happens. I don't really care. She's earned enough money and is at a stage in her career where she can do it only for the fans. :)

I think, like I said, she's now in the comfort zone and doesn't think much of what is expected from her. I'd imagine that NL wasn't carefully planned to attract general audience or for her to totally change into mainstream or anything, but more like she heard some electropop songs and liked the genre and thought it would be nice to make an album which contains such songs and put a not-so-serious message in them.

So, in short, I think people think too much that she has changed, has lost all her musical skills or w/e, while I'd most likely think that she just did NL out of a feeling, not thinking it should/would be groundbreaking and didn't think much of the fact that people have expectations from her. So who knows, maybe we'll get albums in which she's lightyears ahead again in no time. :laughI guess people should think of these albums as an extra or something, not that something more groundbreaking would have replaced them if she didn't make them.

Basically, once again, I think that people are just losing interest in her. She was the inspiration to girls back then, but now girls have a lot more options, like the new&improved Namie Amuro, Kuu, alan, Crystal Kay, misono, Superfly, Utada Hikaru, Ai Otsuka, maybe even more.

I'm not say these singers ARE the inspiration, but there really are a lot more female singers now to "look up to" than say in 2001.

Also, with more singers, more songs would be made, and many of the songs have a more EPIC-vibe than Ayu's newer songs. Ai Otsuka had Sakuranbo and Planetarium on 2003 and 2005 respectively, Kuu had CUTIE HONEY & Butterfly on 2005, Namie Amuro had the VS tie-in, 60s70s80s, PLAY in 2007-2009, Utada had Flavor of Life in 2008, alan had um well never mind about her, Theyma Alma (what's her name again) had soba ni iru in 2007 (2006? I don't really know lol)...

What I want to say is, these 'hot" and 'wow" songs are in the second half of the 21st century. And what has Ayu offered in terms of BOOMZ for her songs from 2005? HEAVEN, Days... that's all I can really think of now.

Moreover, Ayu has a very "TA is MY ALL" thing going now... RED LINE ~for TA~... um? How does a new fan actually RELATE to Ayu like this?

I don't think Ai/Namie/Kuu/whoever blogs about their fanclubs all day... Ayu might not be realizing it, but by focusing SO MUCH on her TA, she's distancing herself from the rest of Japan/casual listeners. It's like she has created "AYULAND" for herself, her dancers/staff/band and TA... and no one else can get in cos they can't relate to ANYTHING about this "AYULAND"!

My advice: Ayu, rename RED LINE ~for TA~ to RED LINE or RED LINE ~ties~/whatever, and maybe the new single would have another 500 more copies sold. ^^

Yeah, I'm pretty sure songs like Mirrorcle World, Bold & Delicious, Step you, kiss o' kill, born to be, etc... Are VERY common and mainstream by jpop standarts! I mean... even Leah Dizon has a song that sounds like Bold & Delicious!
:B

A friend of mine that lived there told me once that in his opinion, the problem was the oposite: her sound was less mainstream (from Rainbow to Guilty)...

She just got old... There is no artist that is able to keep high sales without any drop for 11 years...

Yeah I'd say that Ayu's post RAINBOW works with the exceptions of a few summer songs, were mostly less mainstream.

On another hand Callandra@jpm made a really good point in one of her posts:

It's not just Ayu ^_^

wow...that post is really very good...
i must agree with what she'd said...
off topic:SMP sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana was 2003 song?gosh..it seems like was a 2007 or 2008 song...the melody is still on my mind

Well... Callandra@jpm post works for any band/artist aywhere in the world! If a singer works for 50 years and have like... 5, 6 really BIG hits, songs that are so big their sucess are written on history, it's really A LOT!

Ayu for example has Seasons and maybe M, what would be 2 songs (even if Voyage and Dearest are big too, they are not as big). Utada has First Love, Can you keep a Secret and now maybe Flavor of Life... 2 songs... Namie pretty much has only Can You Celebrate on this fame level... If you go western... Michael has Thriller, Billie Jean, Beat it, Smooth Criminal, Bad and Ben (maybe some more, i'm not a fan)... and he was the King of Pop o_O Madonna has Like a Virgin, Material Girl, La isla Bonita, Vogue, Music and Hung Up... None of them have 20, 30 songs everyone knows...

Exactly. While Callandra's post does have some good points too there have certainly been some songs in the top 10 of the past few years that will definitely be remembered by the mainstream. About her Arashi example with Truth being number 1 last year - Truth was a very surprising yearly number 1. One Love was number 2 and that is definitely the more mainstream of the two songs and is one of the few songs from last year that seems to maybe have made a lasting impression with the general public (it's also become the most popular song to use in weddings^_^). Truth however was very odd for Johnny's - the lyrics were quite dark and musically it was totally different from pretty much everything. I don't know if it will be remembered for its melody or anything in the long run like One Love though. What will always amaze me about Truth though is that such a dark song was able to get the yearly number one. ^_^

Now, whether these years as a whole are remembered as much on all the retrospective shows that Japan likes to air, that still remains to be seen but only time will tell.

Well... If Oricon started counting leagal (and illeagal fot that matter too) downloads im pretty sure the numbers would look really diffrent...

^ Different for like every artist, haha

^ then every other artist sale will have different look too :)

9 pages, woah.

I'll probably be repeating a lot of which others have said, but here's my take:

1. Her fans are OLDER and don't buy as many CDs (Yes I know many has been around more, but they seem to have a stronger fan base over all, such as B'z)
2. Recession
3. She has been around for over ten years, people probably think it's nice to listen too, but maybe doesn't want to buy it, as they've bought her stuff alot before

I think alot of people seem to forget one thing though, no matter how strong her fanbase might be (which is _not_ a bad thing), she still has very high sales comapred to most other female artists. If I'm not wrong, Best Fiction's sales were not the norm for Namie, more of a lucky break (not that she didn't deserve it, but her sales are still lower usually)? KUmi sels less, Utada... Generally pushes less, except for FoL and last two albums (?)

But of course there's no denying that she's not as popular as before.

^Well, actually... every Utada original studio album sold better than Ayumi's original studio album from the same year... Koda's album are selling better too...

But yeah... Best Fiction is not the norm for Namie, Koda's sales are declining fast and most female pop stars from the 00s that outsold ayu at some point are selling less than her now...

Besides Ayu and Hikki all of them seen to lose fans really fast...

hey!!! *pokes* I am not that old. LOL

Well... I used to buy a fwe singles here and there but not anymore. Recession + not worth it. They are going to be in the album anyway why should I buy them. Remix is also another thing. I have bought too much of her remix already, even though I want to sell them all I couldn't so the only thing is to stop buying.

I still buy albums, authentic ones.. ^^

I am also used to seeing her. But thing is. I love lady gaga but I don't buy her stuff, you can listen to it occassionally online but I won't buy it. I buy only Ayu stuff now... Not sure why. Became a habit? ^^

The other artists are very poppy, like Kuu, how long can her sex sell? how long before people start getting sick of her sucking her middle finger and sucking dicks? We all know that.. no one says it because she is still pop, and selling. People complain about Ayu's facial expressions recently, what about ku? Ku's facial expression are always very porn.

There will come a day when, all the **** sucking people in the ent, industry are exposed and the industry will fall. I hope ayu still sells then. :) Because I really like her... She seemed like a kid still and it doesn't look like she had sex with her co. staff(producers, blahs blahs) to get the opportunity to make music.

Even though I hated her music when I'm only initially listening to it, it was really really nice to see her performing it live(whether lipsync or not) because the music live is different from PV and CD, and I fell in love iwth her songs I hated after watching her live. Maybe because people stopped watching already, or have other things to watch, which is why her popularity falls. If I stop watching I will ike her less probably...

Well actually I think Ayu's music is AHEAD of time... until Secret maybe. Or maybe even (miss)understood. MY STORY (to me) is like a throwback to A Song For xx, so yeah... NEXT LEVEL is nowhere near "ahead of time"; she's following the trend for NEXT LEVEL like what RPGames have mentioned.

I never thought of Ayu's music as ahead of its time at all. Just particularly better than most Jpop acts :shrug

True, but her most "successful" songs, like evolution, Dearest and M (just to name a few; and the best examples) can easily pass off as a 2009 song (at least imo)... which is really impressive to me.

But now, take example Sparkle and Days, blend really well with the songs that other J-Pop singers put out, that it feels like she's 'blending' than being 'Ayu'. Of course I still feel her songs have that Ayu-vibe in them, but definitely not as strong as her I am... era.

Did I mention Days is like my favorite song from her? :P

I think if Ayumi can make an amazing song like "Free & Easy" or "RAINBOW" again, her sales will rise. Sunrise was too bubblegum imo.

I didn't mind that it was so poppy, is what just completely generic and didn't seem well thought-out, lyrics or composition. She needs to start taking some risks again if she wants another song like those, but it seems like she's taking a few steps back, for some reason. :\ But I agree, something experimental and...epic (for lack of a better word, lol) would definitely boost sales.

Actually, of all people, Ayumi is the one that is rumored the most to have done that. ;)

btw, most of your post was pretty inappropriate.

Yep, and that is one of the reasons why I've never liked Sparkle. It sounds like it could have been put out by anyone.

I never said anything about rumours that she did that. LOL I don't care about her rumours really, but her ear does pain me. I just said that "she seemed" maybe I should leave the "to me" in. Hmm.

How inappropriate? I say my thoughts, like everyone else. Even those who argue with each other. :)

I still believe Ayu and Max had something xD All the "she was so talented I sent her to NY and Avex paied everything" is very strange IMO

^ I don't want to, but I kinda believe that, too. :lmfao Picking up a random girl in a karaoke bar - one that wasn't really a good singer at all, either -_-' - and giving her the chance of a lifetime, no strings attached..? Veerrryy oddd... :innocent But then again, ya never know :\...

I have to disagree, they may still be her most popular in 2009 but having been an Ayu fan around the time they were released I kind of associate them with that time period. To to me personally, they don't really feel "ahead of their time," more like "the best from that time."

Also, I consider something that's "ahead of it's time" to be something that wasn't very popular to begin with but years down the road become a big hit. The songs that you mentioned are more, "timeless." They transition throughout the years because they're such strong tracks. They're classics.

Gyah! >_<" timeless! Yes that should be the word to use instead of "ahead of its time" lol, I apologize.

Ayu needs a "timeless" hit now... the most recent one, pardon me for saying, would be Days, yet it really isn't that timeless; just really mainstream-but-Ayu if anyone gets what I mean lol

No need to apologize :)

And yeah she does need another timeless track. I hope her musical direction in the future can produce one.

ayu does have some ups and downs though and we don't know if the sales will keep decline, they might go up once again at a certain point, or go up and then down again and eventually go just down.

Sunrise ~LOVE is ALL~ for example could be called her best seller since Together When...
It sold average physically but it did really well digitally, ayu's best since 2007.
Of course it doesn't mean she didn't become hugely popular again (and there is nothing to talk about or to compare to pre 2004 popularity) but ayu can still be accepted by the geneal public and maybe even more just than that.
We called Days a success but Sunrise ~LOVE is ALL~ was received as well or even better by the public (even if it was the usual summer song for AHS).

Comparing with other female artists I think that it means just goods for her.
(This is not for degrading purposes)
kumi for example sold with her recent album just around 13,000 more while her peak was just 4 and 3 years ago and she is a singer almost 9 years, comparing it t ayu's 2001 peak and 11 years and a half year while kumi barely outsell ayu anymore and ayu outsells her in singles (and for Days/GREEN and Rule/Sparkle not just by 13,000. We can see that ayu is still of the regarded. Of course it just means that kumi's popularity dropped like a rock but it still means that ayu isn't dead.
JUJU might sell millions digitally (and Sunrise just did close to it) but that's mainly her thing. miliyah kato became popular but her singles don't do as well as ayu's and her album which is the popularity upper can barely sell more than ayu's recent album.
It might do it eventually (if it will) but it sure takes its precious time.
Also namie's single of this year, namie just sold a million with an album, and raised her popularity once again but her single this year just sold around 9,000 copies more than Sunrise/Sunset but it didn't do nearly as well as Sunrise digitally, thus the general public was more interested in ayu's song.

There were artists like YUI, yuna ito and Angela Aki that had nice images and some hit songs and the first albums were great sellers (YUI 2nd album) and they all were fresh but look at yuna ito and Angela Aki now. YUI still does well in her own way thogh (even though I don't think she had a good digital seller like Sunrise at least this year),
let's not even extend too much Thelma Aoyama that just last year (or was it 2007?) had the 2nd best selling single of the year.

ayu also had her longest tour this year and probably with the most participants (even taking down the account of the unsold resellers tickets) ever (unless if she had more on 2001's DOME TOUR).

ayu also sold really well with a limited book.

As indifferent as the general public to ayu in Japan is, I don't know if it's her hard to relate to image, or the music and lyrics that are different from the old ayu.
It seems at least to me that she still might bring it up, at least from the place she is now.
It seems that she can pick up people even sometimes releasing things that are as or even more creative than what she did or less but still can be relateable, and sometimes act more relative even if it's hard. I mean if the indifferency to her from the general public is solid, as much as 750,000 is not a million I'm sure that she can get people into her again with the right music, lyrics and charm. If it doesn't correlate with the things she would like to do (or some of them) in the future then so be it but she still got it in her, or else Sunrise wouldn't do well as it did, and not just that and I won't be surprised if what helped were mainly the lyrics since Sunrise's lyrics are really pretty (and even reminded me strangely enough a song from ASFxx which I can't recall). Because more people should have been indifferent to her or lose interest, after so many years.

So yeah it doesn't mean that her popularity will sky rocket again or anything, but basically, I think that it is possible that the general public can be interested in her in higher levels again and hopefully she won't have to go back to old ayu mode and be just accepted as her, with a relateble image and do ASfxx~Memorial address music and loneliness, the world's taugh lyrics all over again.
She needs to bring it up with at least a bit different ayu (at least in my opinion).

I also agree with what you said. This just make a non-TA member feel awkward because Ayu is focusing too much with her "Team" not knowing she has other fans who loves her but unable to join her "LAND".:(

But really, Music still matters. I'm listening to Sunrise ~LOVE is ALL~ and I have to listen to it over and over again to appreciate it. I'm not saying it's worst but it's not like her "old music" that you would love instantly.

Her image too. She's just too unreachable.

yeah if you were to compare ayumi against the other batch of female solo acts out there , she's doing better relatively so to speak

& Aoyama Thelma's Soba ni Iru ne Feat SoulJa was the 7th best sold single of last year but it was overall the best selling single by a female solo artist

it's sad but she deserves much more than a sleeper hit T_T

Downloading and time itself :yes

I think that probably she's been too long on the stage. plus, she still releases an album every year. people got a bit bored maybe

moreover, a big change in style, image and music and lyrics. I think that must be the best reason for sales dropping.

a different style. When I was in Japan, none of my friends liked the new "sound" of NEXT LEVEL.

I'm not in Japan so I can't tell but I think the fact that she doesn't appear so much on tv, shows or public events and has only like 2 singles a year... well maybe casual fans are more likely to lose interest.

1. People prefer to download music and or paying less on the internet instead of paying full price for the cd package. Not only causing Ayu's sales to go down but everybody else's.
2. She's been around way too long and is getting old.
3. constant change of listener interests

Most of what I want to say has already been posted so I guess I'm just agreeing to a lot of what has already been said. But Ayu has been around for awhile and even though her sales are dropping it doesn't mean she's gone. She's one of those rare jewels that just seem to be noticed even years later after being discovered -- even though her sparkle isn't as strong.

But because she's been around so long, people don't get that excited anymore and not only that, she's experimenting too much. I personally love her taste for uniqueness but when it comes to the music scene, sometimes being too different will cause people to become an outcast instead of a showstopper. Which is sad, but true.

I think once she's found something that she's absolutely comfortable and strongly confident and secure with then maybe the sales will rise up again. Maybe not tremendously but it may just happen. (Of course, there is also the factor that internet downloading really doesn't help with sales...)

I won't say anything about the music itself, as I agree with some of the posts, however...

We all know that image affects one's popularity these days.
(That's unless you're very talented)
But regardless of that, when I look at this, I prefer the photo on the left,



Ayu had a zillion photoshoots, but this sweet, innocent facial expression continues to be recycled.
Yes, Japan loves cute, and cuddly. Britney was cute at the begining of her career, but I don't recall a trademark smile that would get on people's nerves as much as Ayu's pouty lips seem to.
Though it's useless to compare them...

Most of the time I'm pleased with Ayu's photos, but if you think about a country of 120+ million people, their tastes must vary.
And perhaps some women, whether younger/older, would like to see her behave like an adult?
Same goes for her male audience, maybe they would like to see the woman in her?
She had some adult-themed photos, but her face doesn't change. To some she may look like a little girl who is trying to be sexy. Maybe some people don't fancy a 30+ year old child lookalike, others may think she's desperate (Naked Talk?). In her older photos she looks relaxed, doesn't she? Some of them even express emotion.

If you were a 30 year old Japanese woman who's married and has children, how would you react to Ayu's behaviour on Heyx3 when she was interviewed with this actor(was it?)?
I can understand her excitement, but do others?

How about the cute segments of her performances?
They seem to become more childish with each year.

During one of them (I truly don't remember which one) they showed the audience on camera, and I noticed this really pretty Japanese woman who didn't seem very excited. Maybe she was disappointed?

In the past, she stood by the belief "I'm not a product".
Maybe some people feel that she's stopped fighting?

Now, I know this may be irrelevant, and I love Ayu just the way she is, but sometimes even if you enjoy the music, if the artist's behaviour isn't to your liking, there's a chance you'll stop listening to the music.

Well, Ayu has changed her image consecutively over the years. She's not the 'product' she used to be back then. Some people are able to accept these changes, and others don't.

For me it started with NEXT LEVEL, not really the Ayu I liked, Rock'n'Roll Circus even worse. Now I am hoping for Love songs to turn out as an stunning album.

^ YOU! Melodie... You are AHS new theorist.

I thought it was because the music industry is full with new artists, new musicians etc. And we like that 'fresh' new young thing.

I will explain it..:

When Madonna was 'like a virgin' a lot of people loved her. Liked her. Now, posing in a fishnet panty, or sexy dancing in a club with guys, she is not that 'fresh' we were looking for. She had her time.

So has Britney yeah. She had a great come back but a lot of people in my place called her 'hooker' when she released Circus, Womanizer and Gimme more.

And it seems like Christina Aguilera had her time too. So had Pink, Avril Lavigne, Linkin Park, Robbie Williams etc.

And I do think: USA, Asia, Europe, The whole world loves catchy tracks. I mean, why do a lot of girls like Justin Bieber? Sure, maybe he looks 'cute' but hey, once listening to Baby and it's in your head. For Ever.
Same with Lady Gaga.
And be honest: Ayu doesn't have that. She has classics, but her music is serious. She is not only here for her fans, she is here for herself and not many people do get her then (what she wants to tell us)
I call her an artist with 'deep' music.

Sorry for my english.

That does not count for everyone. I did never listen to Lady Gaga nor Justin Bieber.

Do not compare american pop music idols with Ayu. It just won't work.

If people want to listen to songs that consist of "Po po po po po-ker face. Papapapapapa, paparazzi. Ring ring ring ring ring, TELEPHONE, Alle alle alle allejandrooooh" let them be happy with that.

But this kind of pop singers won't survive till 2020 with number 1 albums/singles each year, non-stop (which would be a career then, as long as Ayu's nowadays).

Not speaking of how much Ayu changed, but her music most likely counts to the best produced pop of our time. That is my opinion.

Just don't compare this to catchy american bubble gum pop. There are galaxies between Ayu and US pop... and if people don't care if something is just meant to be catchy-sounding and want to replace Ayu's music with such artists, let them do it.

^ what I actually tried to say, badly is the following.

I was mentioning the listener. Not just an Ayu-fan. Sure, it's us, people on AHS and other die-hard Ayu-fans who want her albums!
Most people (the youth) just listen to the radio and mtv, and like or dislike the songs they hear there.

And I never wanted to say that Ayu's music is replaced with 'such artists.' And I didn't say that. You know it's not. The listener will always love the best songs. Better than Baby baby baby ooooh...

The music industry is so big. And that's the main reason why Ayu's sales dropped.

So, that's it.

Never knew people on AHS could see the future! So, u are sure who will or won't sell in 2020? Can u also say who will i marry to?

-

Ayumi has only 4 "problems" on her career:
-She releases too much and is superexposed for years now
-She doesn't fill the ideal role for an ideal jpop idol... not even of an ideal japanese woman
-She is 30+ years old on a country where women over 25+ are old
-She has a 12 years old career and her peak ended for almost 9 years now

Just that... she grew old... and this will happen with any artist in the universe who is able to keep relevant AND producing for years... and even if she has another peak, she will have another fall... the Duty - Rainbow years will never come back again. If she had not change, she would fade alway faster and for good...

Is this bad? Nops... just natural... and have a very good effect: She may not be the hottest thing on Japan, but she has a name of her own... The respect she is ganing over the years u can only gain by being around for years... That's why having something produced by her is a big thing, and also why her tours have more and more dates over the years...

^you're gonna marry me silly! :P


And I think there's something we need to get clear on this forum.

You know, it's not THAT easy to produce a beautiful melody that is catchy, and deep, and powerful. And if it was, EVERYONE WOULD BE DOING IT.

Yet, there are people like, say, Lady Gaga, who understand that, when you want to spread what you think all over the world, sometimes, the way in which you present that message, can be even more important than the message itself.

Amazingly enough, Gaga has been able to do this with many of her tracks. Because she knows how to manipulate music and phrases to do what she wants. To hit at the right times, and to fit with what she wants to get across.

And one point in time, Ayu had this too.

Think about M. Think about SURREAL. How many of us know those songs by heart? How many of us feel the depth of those songs, her message, how she was feeling? How catchy are those songs? How hard hitting are those melodies? AMAZINGLY SO.


But this is going off on a tangent now.

In any case, this is the goal, of the music industry. To move people, and make them think only about those productions.

And as long as we have people doing it, it is ALWAYS going to be popular. Even in 2020.

As far as charts and sales...they don't really mean anything do they...since...not only are they easily manipulated, but they are becoming obsolete.

One word: RELEVANCE

She's just not relevant to the public anymore... as we can see, most of her advertising/promotion tactics are targeted towards her fan clubs, and as much her fan club is her main/ONLY source that would buy her stuff these days, cos the public simply... doesn't care anymore?

^Well, even now she is able of touching people... Days for example is a hit that deserves respect for it's own... And it's easy to understand why, those lyrics are ridiculously relatable, what is Ayu major force on her music..

But most of music market is moved by teenagers... teenagers are more passionete about their idols and are more likelly to buy 5 copies of an album, every magazine, the physical singles, the dvds, etc... When people get older, besides passionete collectors or really hardcore fans, they will pretty much download the songs they liked or buy the album where they will get the single tracks... and only if they like the music on the album^^

I would not say she is not relevant cuz she is selling well and she is producing track for at least one new artist... and she is also having her biggest tour of her career for for 4 consecutive years now... I would say she wasn't being relevant if she wasn't selling, nor producing, nor having bigger tours...

^ well I think she isn't 100% irrelevant to the public of course, like what you said Days for example was her recent hit that resonated well with the general public.

However, when you think about it... why did Kana Nishino's album sell over 600k? How did ABK48 & ARASHI sell like hotcakes?

Isn't it because they're relevant to the public in whatever ways; music, personality, style, etc that almost made it compelling for people to buy their stuff?

For Ayu's case.. she definitely had such a relevance back then from 2000-2002 I guess, but I had a feeling she started to slide from 2004, where she made the OMG statement about quitting avex if Max was gonna be fired.

THAT, to me, seemed like almost a scandal to the public, like "omg how could a woman make such a powerful statement!? it's not right!"... like what you love to say, Japan likes it when their female idol has no brains :P

so i think it was around that time where people feel that "ayumi hamasaki" isn't relevant to the public; like she couldn't represent the women well, for example.

But u can't forget the age factor... New artists always outsell old artists, just cuz they have teenagers as their fanbases...

This may have some truth to it, but as fans, don't we want our favorite artists to have sales that aren't inflated by one person buying more than one copy? It's kind of like if Ayu sells 100,000 and there are 4 versions, it doesn't mean she has 100,000 fans. If she released less versions there would be less sales. But does that mean she should keep releasing more than 2 versions? I don't think so.

As for what Ayu means to me, I feel like sticking to the music of an artist is a thing of 'emotional loyality', too.

I do not like everything, she releases just becaus that music's brandname is "Ayumi Hamasaki". And I don't hesitate to express my opinion in such a case (for example I really disliked Rock'n'Roll Circus).

But still I feel Connected to her music, because her 'musical story' has been a part of the lives of many people around my age. It's like (just for example) your parents that still feel comfortable with ABBA or Paul McCartney while younger people usually don't mind these celebreties as much as their parents do.

Meaning of this, it might sound a bit exaggerated, but after 12 years, there are several new generations of listeners that were too young for pop music, when for us, Ayu has been the biggest thing on earth. So... Ayu were 'our' time, and nowadays other artists are the time of new generation of teenagers.

^ I agree! (But I really loved Rock'n'Roll Circus XD)

Well, I don't think there are many people buying more than 1 version anyway... maybe it helps with 5% or 10% of total sales, but I would never say 50%...

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if lots of people wait to buy the album after the concerts, so they can see and hear how do the songs sound like, and in this case, Oricon only counts 30% of the sales

I don't think you can really say she isn't relevant. I don't think that's the right word to use.. she's just not insanely popular anymore. she still is popular though. just as an example, people like alan are irrelevant to the public, not ayu. if ayu was so irrelevant we wouldn't see her on so many magazine covers and she wouldn't be able to tour so much. some people really just act like she's some huge flop or something nowadays just because she isn't selling like she used to.. but in reality she is still doing really good, especially for how long she has been in the business. just think, she could be way worse off now and only be selling 5-10k per single.