can't remember which interview, but I remember one sometime last year she mentioned she always wishes her albums/singles will reach the million mark again.

>< thatd be amazing

Like predicted, the third week beat both RnRC and Love Songs 3rd week :)

I've been really susprised about this week sales :luv2
Sure she'll break the 200k mark :lech

Then she's delusional lol

If she really thought that I would think she'd do something to make it happen....

almost 200k, yeah!

lol yeah, but instead we get FIVE.

^ I just read that she wanted people other than her fans to listen to FIVE so I think she really is trying to gain more casual fans.

there is nothing wrong with FIVE in terms of genre and trying something new. i love when she does that. the quality for me is what is lacking. ayu is capable of any genre, but whether or not it's executed properly is a different story.

I feel like FIVE is the perfect album to gain casual fans, then. Most of the songs are very public-friendly; the only radical song is BRILLANTE, which showcases a broader range of talents than the other songs.

I don't think Ayu ever has issues with execution, it's just that it can really depend on whether or not people like her brand of whatever genre she's trying out.

^the beauty of differing opinion. it always makes for much excitement watching the sales. :)

I agree but not really.

People could've said the same about namie, but she reached the top again :) So it's not completely delusional :P

Yeah and for Namie it didn't happen over night, it took her a while. So if this is Ayu's genuine attempt we can't expect any miracles.

^ And Namie had some really good promotion. Avex is gonna have to try harder if they/Ayu want something like that.

Namie's hype started to seen possible around Queen of Hip-Pop era (2004/05), still, it only really hapened when 60s70s80s was released (2008)...

She only started to get good promotion after Baby Don't Cry (2007)

People need to be interested in you for a massive promotion to work after u r famous... Putting Ayu face everywhere may make her sales a little better, but would hardly result in a peak by itself... unless people like the song...

I think with the right kind of promotion/exposure Days and Sunrise could have done really well. I mean, Sunrise did pretty damn good digitally, compared to her usual. I think part of that was due to the exposure from the drama tie-in, imagine if the show had actually been popular.

What more could they do? I think they did all they could for Days/GREEN, right? Days is a monster in Japan. She performed it a lot and I remember one of the performances was SPOT ON. It was flawless live (the performance where she had little pink-like feathers hanging from her earings).

I don't know how much I believe about if you put Ayu out there more, people will listen. We had the discussion in the chat room not that long ago how in reality, most Japanese people are sick of her. They haven't been "sick of her" long enough for her to begin a new peak just yet. Her career hasn't hit a low enough mark yet, but it's heading there. I fear the worst before I'll fantasize about a peak that in all honesty I do not see happening anytime soon.

I don't think Days was nearly as popular as some of the people here claim it to be...sure it's a popular song among Ayu's Japanese fan base, but I think that's all there is to it.

Maybe if Ayu can get a magic hair contract and sell her soul to the devil with a gimmicky single she can be big again too.