Cause this is an Ayumi-centered board? :rolleyes

I remember the good times of Jpopcentral and Ayaka was just as big as any other big name there, just as she was in Japan.

Here as in the West. Even though this is an Ayu board, it's pretty much a main board for other artists' fans too, some of which don't even leave those non-Ayu portions of the forum.

I think her lyrics must have been very refreshing when she started out. Several of my Japanese sensei used to be Ayu fans around the A Best era and they said it was because the lyrics were very meaningful. With the attention to her songs came the popularity and wasn't that when she became a fashion leader and being on all those magazine front covers?

I think her decline could have been slowed. IMO she was doing great with marketing and promotion until Love songs era onwards. That was when the decline probably spiralled beyond revival. Which is a great pity cos she has many great songs today that I can put on a loop (reminds me, return road, love song, progress, song 4 u, wake me up, beloved.....)

^Agree. It's a pity that after Love songs, there's been little promotion. Even worse, there was that Msta thing, divorce, etc. Also, it's been love, love and love themed... I know love is a topic most artists address, but somehow it's hoped that Ayu would be a bit different as she's had many other themes before. But it's been about 4 years or so with this love theme. >"<

6th Week
Position: #153
Official Sales: 362
Official Total Sales: 37,366

it might chart for one more week and 6 weeks ain't nothing bad considering that "L" and "crossroad" lasted 8 weeks on charts ^_^

It's official. Solo female artists don't do so well on the single charts anymore. Namie joined the club with not so amazing numbers. Look at how idol groups like morning musume sell (let's not even mention AKB48 and their sub units). We need new popular solo females in Japan, urgently.

It's going this way :)
Namie Amuro (TSUKI): (#2) 18,680 + (#2) 8,152 + (#5) x + (#4) x + (#3) 3,830 + (#3) 3,597 + (#1) 1,858 = 36,117 + 2x
1st Week Total: (#3) 42,021

Yeah, her single sales are getting low as peers, it's really saddening that there's no solo female that can sell singles really well anymore. Hence why Japan needs a new one that will get popular... Not kana, not namie. bah.

I don't think that any other solo female enjoyed such a slow decline like ayu had. It was evident on sales between releases, some digital successes she had up to 2009, her status, her features in CMs and dramas, and her high yearly earnings (which she was on top 10 for like 10-11 years consecutively).

Remember that there was a reason why ayu was compared to any new rising artist and then came more haters =P

^ Aiko has. :P

No, it's not. Other artists have other boards. This is an Ayu forum and I doubt anybody is going to register here to talk about Koda.

That's why I talked about jpopmusic, it represented a much more diverse group of people than this.

Oh, well. Let's hope her next work has really some work behind it.

^25 posts? You still has a lot to learn about AHS... :P

ugh...

Been around longer, I just never bothered to post (and why is the post count relevant?). :)

In any case, I feel we shouldn't go down this road without anything Ayu-related to talk about. No more sales? Then that's it. NEXT! :P

Well, good for her that she draws on average 50,000 people to buy her singles and up to 150,000 people to buy her albums and it lowers slowly. ayu was decreasing really slow way above those numbers. Besides, at least ayu has 250,000+ show goers each year. Does aiko even perform besides on TV?

Also, I recall seeing a lot of times that people from jpopcentral prefered to come to the other artists threads here to discuss since it's sometimes better than there. And you have some trolling lessons to take if you hare lurking here since 2007 and you never stopped aiko vs. ayu talk since you started to post.

Liking what ayu does or not is subjective but you cannot ignore that ayu and co. worked on the single.

As much successful as aiko was, and her slow decrease on recent years (and not on the huge numbers) which is a good thing, her success is almost uncomporable to ayu, kuu, namie and hikki, seiko matsuda, yuming and I'm sure I forgot some legends.
aiko might probably be remembered for some of her hits and will always be a national honey (kinda like hikki is). aiko is like BoA, just better in status I suppose.

I wish SunshineSlayer would share her humble opinion here since she lives in Japan and understand a few things about that.

Btw "aiko has :P", well selling 60,000 is POOR compared to what popular acts like idol groups or Johnny or popular boy bands sell for singles in Japan. Solo female artists in Japan are pretty much dead on the singles area and it won't be long in the albums area too if a new solo female artists will get popular.
(Tomomi Itano would be cool, maybe).
And you know what? namie selling 300,000 kana 200,000, aiko and kyary 150,000 are not enough and these numbers don't reach a high popularity status (like what AKB48, arashi, EXILE sell) even if these numbers are good for today's standarts and don't forget that they will continue to decrease.

Worth mentioning is RIAJ certifications for 2013, there were really not that many digital certifications, so in general it doesn't look like the digital charts are all that better. So except for general decrease, it seems that solo females status in Japan is not active/dying at the moment, even if namie sustain some sucess and aiko some nice one too.
In ayu's case, at least she covers it with big shows, tours, cdls, selling goods, selling some decent number of copies for each release.

I have no idea how much Ayu and co. worked on the single, but the final product is far from what I expect from someone like Ayumi Hamasaki.
I guess yeah, she's at that point in her career that she just doesn't give a damn (as it's been said countless times), but that doesn't stop me from having certain expectations when I heard there's a new Ayu single coming.

As for Aiko, some people say it's better to meet a modest sucess and be able to maintain it than be huge and then nothing a couple of years later. Opinions are opinions, and Aiko is right now selling better than Ayu. There's that.

And again, I don't wanna come off as an anti. But I don't like being a sheep-fan that cannot say "Hey, I don't like this" just because I then would become less of a fan.
I like critizicing the people I follow because I started to like them for X reasons, but when they come up with something I wouldn't have liked in the first place I have to shut up?
Or I just have to be all "OMG YEAH I LOVE IT CAUSE IT'S FROM AYU (but if it was by Koda or whoever Ayu's Nemesis is right now I'd hate it)"? I'm not that type of fan.
I'm saying this same stuff about AKB's next single and those are my jam since they came around.
I like what I like and I don't like what I don't. And just as I write how much I like something, I do the same thing when I don't (haha, what did I just write?).

Jpopmusic is one thing. Jpopcentral is another.
The forum moved and it lost most of its users and its charm with them. And I remember I had no need to go out of it to look for Ayu's info or anything.
I registered here because I read about AHS all the time, not because I wanted to troll or anything (and I never wrote because seeing 983759837597489 threads about one single makes me feel anguish).

So no trolling for my part, just someone who wants to puts his voice out there, even if it's cross-current. :love

This Ayu VS Aiko has no sens ... They are both different ! They don't have the same audience and even less the same style ! I really don't like when people begins to say things like "ouuhh she is better ! no it's her etc..." it's a bit too childish no ?

I don't like the style of Aiko but she is what the japanese like --> a cheerful & joyful girl and very simple ! She is certainly not at the same level as BoA she is way more popular and credible as an artist she is not an idol but a true singer/songwriter !

She began like Ayu, Utada, Shiina ringo, Misia etc... in 1998 and like Ayu all these singers their sales are declining ! It's true the sales of Ayu were monstrous in her heyday so her decline since several years seems huge compared to them but it's not the case at all ! Ayumi has stopped to be the top female singer (solo) only in 2011 ... (except some years where she ranked 2nd) ! She is certainly not just the trendy girl of the early 2000 because there are just no female singer who was able to sustain the same level of sales since the beginning !

So what if aiko sells better than ayu now? It's like I will say that ayu has large tours and aiko doesn't, and it's not like aiko is selling ala AKB48 too. And of course the overall career and status in the Japanese industry can't be overlooked too.

The fact that you like aiko and she is selling better doesn't mean anything either. She's selling better because her image and music appeal, a lot, to the japanese audience. ayu's doesn't, it really doesn't mean that her music is less good, oh no. If you think so too, it doesn't become a fact either.

And seriously like only ayu has these fans who worships everything she does, and you know, it's an ayu forum so of course you would see more of it here, but in reality, all of the artists have these fans. It doesn't mean it's ok but a lot of hardcore fans would act like that, and like you wouldn't like to see "perfect" each post around here, you shouldn't say how ayu's recent work is not for your taste (understatement) in every post too since it's really not any better. You do come across as an anti-troll if you keep doing so often.

I think that people here know very well that ayu is not at the top or as popular anymore and everyone admits it, but her state is really not bad and she still is a legend in japanese culture, even if aiko sells somewhat more than her.

I remember seiko matsuda selling like 5000 for an album but because of her legendary status she still can tour.

:yes i wish there's like button per post here!

I'm not talking about Ayu VS Aiko in the least lol

My first comment on this was because I read two or three comments on the line of...

"I don't get why she sells so much/morr than Ayu, all her songs are boring to me".
Like that reason only had to mean that she had to do worse. WTF?

Then I went on to enumerate a number of similar artists (Ayaka, Yuzu, Ikimonogakari etc.) that have also been able to rival Ayu in sales because they are GOOD artists and people like them. The same as there are people who like Ayu and others that don't.

So it wasn't an Aiko thing at all. :P

Anyway, this is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off-topic, so it ends here for me lol

And if it makes any difference, I'm loving how Pray sounds and if she keeps releasing stuff like that, she'll have me opening my wallet in no time. ^^

Why are you talking about aiko ?
Namie sold more than her and ayu, lol, XD.

I suggest re-reading those posts because looking back, nothing of the sort was really said.

The curious thing about the Japanese music industry is that albums sell far more than singles for solo acts but singles sell equal or more than albums for group acts. So when it comes to solo acts I would tend to look more at the album sales to judge their popularity.

As a very rough estimate, I think ayu's singles sell around 1/3 of her album sales so the numbers for FTL is higher than expected for me. But then again the cover was gorgeous (only for CD+DVD version).

Namie has been president of that club since like 2002. She's never been a strong single seller so this isn't something new. Not talking about her TK era obviously. There was also a lot of insinuating that TSUKI would sell worse/the same as big boys cry. Idol groups like Morning Musume only sell well cause they do a shit load of events and live concerts. Basically to attend the mini live concert you have to buy a copy of the single. There's also other perks like handshake events. That's why MM sells like 144k first week...but only 158k overall. AKB and their sister groups use those tactics too but unlike MM they're actually legitimately popular with the general public. Ayu and Namie could do that too and sell like 100k first week but they would probably get criticized for it.

Anyway didn't y'all learn your lesson in 2009 when WILD/Dr. came out? You can't only look at single sales. People here were trashing her saying that her popularity was already over etc. and how it was a huge flop compared to 60s70s80s. Then Past>FUTURE came out...then Checkmate!...then Uncontrolled...oops? :shrug We could bring DVD sales into this too.

if people were so accepting then namie wouldn't be mentioned in every single oricon thread. i know sometimes namie fans start the discussion and taunt ayu fans but they shouldn't be solely blamed. then we have the same tired excuses as to why namie and ayu's careers are the way they are today. there shouldn't be constant comparisons as a means to try and validate ayu's success.

With ayu there's nothing to validate as she is no longer one of the tops and again, her status in Japanese culture exists if anyone wants it or not. But I'm sure that the namie stans who provoke the ayu ones like you mentioned are doing it just for the purpose of validating that namie is the best selling solo female right now, which everyone know already. To add to that, they can't hear, true or not, stuff like her popularity is decreasing, like some ayu fans weren't back in the days.

You're right, but don't forget that ayu used to excel in single sales for a long time. She and AKB48 are the only females who sold over 20 million singles copies, so far.

Itano Tomomi's new single "little" is selling less than Feel The Love so far. For Ayu to be outselling the 2nd biggest solo star from AKB48 at this point in her career is absolutely astounding.

If anything Feel The Love proves that Ayu still has the biggest hardcore fan base of all the females in Japan. Sure it's sad her appeal with the general public has dwindled but to still have the most amount of hardcore fans is very nice. :)

Yeah, ayu's appeal to the general public pretty much died unfortunately, but I suppose she really is not interested in holding it, and is more interested in keeping her fanbase.

(If tomomi is 2nd so who's 1st? =P)

Tomochin is following Ayu's path with this single.
zero promotion = bad sales

As for who's first or second or whatever in AKB... well, have a look at last year's solo singles (first week - final sales):

Itano Tomomi - 44,630 - 55,121
Maeda Atsuko - 60,687 - 78,834
Kasai Tomomi - 18,550 - 23,31
Takahashi Minami - 85,493 - 103,066
Watanabe Mayu - 67,329 - 81,752
Kashiwagi Yuki - 65,736 - 76,220
Iwasa Misaki - 18,929 - 29,825
Kuramochi Asuka - 31,424 - 35,285

Y'all should help me write my research paper, lol.

People really need to get over the Ayu vs Namie thing. If I were them I'd feel completely ashamed about how each fans often treat each other. The two obviously respect each other (Namie being seen at Ayu's concerts multiple times/ Ayu mentioning Namie in an interview etc) there's really no need to turn everything into a competition. Seriously, both of them have had outstanding success in their careers and while I'm not a fan of Namie's music, they both deserve huge props.

lol +1

im dying hahahaha!!!

by the way. out of topic...
not only her japanese fans that decreasing...
the active member here in AHS is start decreasing too...

Active members at J-Pop forums in general are decreasing, to be honest.

^What could be the reason ?? Mmm, K-Pop ?

Aren't AHS and jpopcentral the only active/popular jpop forums? Are there any others with a lot of users (or at all?) lol.

But let's try to stay on topic.

Maybe Ftl/M-g-r can chart for another week and reach 37,500.

Probably because there's less to discuss: frequent releases, world tours, tv lives etc.

For a single with no promotion and 'unsafe' songs and considering the sales of Love Again album, this single is really doing well. Was hoping for 40k though :P

I know it's off topic, but are AHS and jpopcentral the ONLY jpop forums that are really active? I swear that there's more...

I think less people are getting to like Jpop as the years go by... And people who tended to like is giving it up due to the lack of innovation, the distance that the western audience is located in terms of enjoying the whole thing like tv lives, promotion, concerts, people to talk about it in real life... (I don't talk about ayu with anyone :() and the language barrier is also a reason...

This is very true. I think Japanese artistes need to do promotion more, because seriously this lack of promotion (including promo online all over the place) and very little opportunities for oversea fans, etc. is one of the reasons why K-pop is taking control over the audiences. Of course that there are various reasons of why people prefer K-pop more, not to say that it always appears cool looking to the public too... while J-pop is completely a different thing.

Truth to be told Japan never wanted to be anything outside its territory, they always tended to be the most isolated country in terms of protecting their things and serving only their ideals and their people. I'm graduated in International Relations so I read a lot that Japan never wanted be a leader power even in Asia.

Japanese music industry make music for the Japanese people, they don't have any interest in selling their stuff overseas. So unlikely South Korea which is trying to gain more status in the western hemisphere, Japan won't ever try to do that, it just doesn't suit them and they don't care if J-Music is losing western fans, it's like they didn't even care we exist in the first place.

I see that a lot of indie J-Rock bands and small Pop singers tend to explore more their abroad experiences touring in Europe, USA and sometimes in Brazil (the country with the largest number of Japanese outside Japan), but it's because they're not attached to big record labels and they don't sell well even in Japan, so they don't have to maintain a certain behavior or anything, they don't have nothing to lose. But that is pretty much different when we talk about huge idols, like ayu, EXILE, AKB48.

The fall of message boards can easily be "blamed" on other plataforms.

Why would I bother registering in countless boards when I can log into tumblr and have all my info there? Or follow a jpop-dedicated facebook page or a hashtag in twitter? It's all more unified now, I think.

I always felt this way about japanese entertaiment market, not only jpop... Even when the artists themselves seen to enjoy the idea of expanding their works abroad (and I include Ayu on that), the industry seen to not care enough about it.

It didn't chart this week ^^ I guess it's over actually...

oh too bad it could have reached 40k.
Anyway she did very very well considering nowadays standards and no promo.
I'm proud of her!

I'm amazed with TSUKI's sales (51k already) and btw, miwa's new single is selling pretty good (10k on its second day..)

Ayu didn't do a lot of promo, so i was expecting these sales. The three songs of Namie had tie-ins, miwa's new single had 3 tie-ins too and you can see her promoting in Music Station and Music Japan.

Oh, well...
That was a good enough result. Normal sales are normal. I'm glad.