#1 is very likely to happen!

If SONGS will give any boost, and TV performances don't usually do so, we would see it 2 more days since it's night in Japan and the show starts 30 minutes before midnight so people would buy it a day afterwards.

I'm aware of that? I said the SONGS performance was tonight, not the she would get a sales boost from it tonight. :rolleyes

Well, that actually wasn't only for you since iirc there were people (maybe in the songs thread) that wondered if it would give her a big sunday boost, but it's for monday if at all.

I think she's got this in the bag. I'm only sad that this will most certainly be her last #1 if she does get it.

I dunno about that, I think it will just depend on scheduling and what the release is. It'll be much harder for Ayu to get #1 with singles nowadays but when it comes to albums, it's mostly a matter of releasing strategically to get the #1. If it's a compilation album, I think #1 is in the bag for sure.

Stay strong and steady sixxxxxx!
Number 1 here we come. 30k.

I don't think her recent positions and sales would support that.

2012 Party Queen - #2 98k
2012 A SUMMER BEST - #2 83k
2012 LOVE - #4 65k
2012 again - #7 34k
2013 LOVE again - #1 53k
2014 Colours - #5 39k
2015 A ONE - #4 35k
2015 sixxxxxx - ?? ~30k

She's had only one #1 release in 4 years, and her last compilation, A SUMMER BEST, sold 15k less the first week than the studio album released that same year, which had never happened for Ayu.

I'm pretty confident that sixxxxxx would be the last #1, unless Ayu did a cover album that blew up like JUJU or BENI. But with her sales continuing to fall, and this current week being one of the historically lowest ever in traditional sales for Japan, I truly doubt there will be another #1... even if it were A BEST 3 or A COMPLETE 2.

A Classical also hit #1 in 2013.

Super true. But that was with FW sales of 25k. It was also a remix album, so you're right. It's possible. I just don't think it's likely at all with how low her average sales are.

Maybe Ayu would have huge sales with a cover album? What are your thoughts?

I think the SONGS performance will not give any change to ayu's sales.

1. It aired almost midnight, some people already sleep at that time. Only her fans will definitely wait to watch the performance.. Maybe some people watched it.

2. She only performed 1 new song that is Step by Step. And we know some people already got tired with that song, because every week they hear it as an opening and closing for the drama. If she performed summer diary, or shape of love or another new song maybe it will give a little bit effect..

So i think this performance will not give any effect to ayu's sales.. But who know isf miracle happen..

And for the marketing team, they look like not to try hard to promote this album.. I know they put it in some line of the train in Japan. But they didn't put it in the crowded train such as yamanote line, or keio line... And also when i'm in shibuya before i didn't see any of ayu billboard in the famous or crowded place in there.

I dont want to bring another singer, but i have to say if namie can put the billboard in shibuya station ( hachiko exit) and in somewhere inside the shibuya station to promote her new album and new tour. Why not Ayu also did the same? They already planned to release this album faraway.. Why don't they booked the place to promote her new album?

@stivenoto my thoughts exactly.
I think that avex might not want to invest so much in Ayu even though she used to be their biggest artist. So probably they cut her promotion budget, composers budget, mixing etc, but not her tour which still brings lots of income.

I dont know how big is her influence on Avex nowadays, maybe it was just her trying to be "modest"? No idea.

I think the low sales is part of her relevance and part promotion. Look at Namie, she somehow managed to comeback with new musical style and people still know and buy her stuffs despite less performance in TV (i think mostly only endorsements right?)

I hope Ayu would do more appearances other than concerts, like TV CMs or better, TV live. Even though she said she doesnt care about sales, she has to at one point or no one is left to hear her voice. I'm wishing her next release is a BIG one and hit more than 100K sales.

Sorry for the rant :p Congrats to sixxxxxx anyway, it was a good release. hoping for a #1 weekly.

Okay, now this is where I'm starting to get really concerned. The gap between DCT and Ayu was larger... :headache

What's going to happen if DCT's gap goes even wider on the next two days??? I have to wonder...why is DCT still on a hot streak recently, much like Southern All Stars back in April???

But yeah, I heard the Saturday spikes have dropped off... Maybe I shouldn't worry very much, but let's see in a few hours what happens...

I guess that's typical for bands that have been around since the 80s. Probably because most of their fans are more used to buying physical copies since they're older. Plus there's a lot of hype this year since DCT will be having their Wonderland 2015 dome tour that happens every 4 years.

Nice to see sixxxxxx performing relatively well charts-wise though. Even if she doesn't get #1 it will probably be a close fight!

yes... Some people i met here know that i am ayu's fans.. The most question i got " did ayu still release new songs? " So i think with good promotion ayu still able to get high sales.. If they just do like this, ayu will not gain more popularity..

Ayu can said she doesn't care about sales. But part of the money she got some of it from the album sales. So i don't really think that ayu doesn't really care about it at all.

Promotion, promotion is what everybody says will help. No record company will WASTE MONEY promoting an irrelevant artist. It happened to namie back when her sales weren't good. Though namie has never sold as bad as ayu :no. Namie got a abundance in promotion after PLAY happened, not before. Is kumi getting promotion currently?? No!! She's irrelevant too. I love all 3 but that's the industry.

Anyways!! totally praying for a boost after SONGS :D.

#3 1,749 ｓｉｘｘｘｘｘｘ AVT 15/8/5
浜崎あゆみ

Total 29,202. Expecting 31k for the first week.

You don't follow charts daily for a long time do you? Well if you did you would know that A LOT of her last releases didn't debut at #1 because they were released on hard dates. If you go back on the ranking threads of those releases you will see how she would have got #1's if she had released her stuff with a little bit of strategy. A ONE for example would have got #1 if it was released one week after its original release date. And sixxxxxx is only getting #1 because there's not much competition this week.

Problem is: DCT sold 4.229 on the same day! :teek

Should we really be concerned about this????? Has anyone kept count?

ayu is at 29,202 and DCT should be around 22,729
If ayu sell 1,000 tomorrow for example, DCT has to sell around 7,000-8,000 in order to pass her.