When singles use to sell ALOT
 

Sales from the week of 2/07/2000:

01 654,210 Tsunami - Southern All Stars
02 600,860 Koi no Dance site - Morning Musume
03 400,330 Gypsum - Ringo Shina
04 365,910 Tsumi to Batsu - Ringo Shina
05 272,620 Don't Need To Say Good Bye - Ami Suzuki
06 249,850 Neo Universe/Finale - L'Arc-en-Ciel
07 146,060 Love, Day After Tomorrow - Mai Kuraki
08 117,460 Kuchibue - Mr.Children
09 93,310 Seinaru Umi to Sunshine - The Yellow Monkey
10 77,410 Mago - Itsuro Oizumi

Wow! Every TOP 5 single sold over 200,000 copies in the first week. Now a single can reach the top position selling 77,410. Or, like Def. Diva, 24.000 copies.

DEF.DIVA's no. 1 is a bit of luck. I thought it would be selling like 40K at least with the top 4 H!P artists... but it turned out that the first week sale was even worse than ayaya's last single first week sale (38K copies).

Teh economy, teh economy :/

Oh- and also can't forget the stronger love for digital music~

wow...things are really different now.

Sometimes I wonder if mp3s are playing a larger role then we orginally expected.

Today's generation is geared toward instant gratification. Why wait to drive all the way to the store and spend money on a song you really want to hear when you can just download it for free and listen to your song all you want right now?
It may be illegal, but so many people do it. Therefore the music industry suffers.

I support my favorite artists by buying their music, but I think crisis will bring forth the real artists and weed out the crap ones. People who only make music to be rich may consider doing something else because musicians aren't profiting as much as they used to.

I also feel that the music industry has suffered tremendously because of mp3s. Perhaps they should make legalized downloads count towards the amount of sales so as to make it more accurate.

That would make a lot of sense :/ It's bad enough that some internet sales don't even count, either. And with the rise of the online buying concept, more sales would be counted.

There actually are a couple singles on the charts hitting it big:
"Seishun Amigo" by Shuji & Akira (units sold for each week, this is NOT a cumulative unit sale)
Week 1 = 115,000 (debut #1)
Week 2 = ?
Week 3 = 250,108
Week 4 = 174,788
Week 5 = 114,034
Week 6 = 82,368
Week 7 = 61,243

"Konayuki" by Remioromen
Week 1 = 93,484 (debut #4)
Week 2 = 80,023
Week 3 = 81,562
Week 4 = 70,847

"Triangle" by SMAP
Week 1 = 181,908 (debut #1)
Week 2 = 45,538
Week 3 = 22,338

"supernova/karma" by Bump of Chicken
Week 1 = 161,022 (debut #2)
Week 2 = 35,908
Week 3 = 18,267

So although it's predictable that the sales will drop off the weeks following debut, Shuji & Akira and Remioromen are doing very well on the charts. The numbers all depend on who debuts on a certain week and also who the performer is. As you can see, the male groups are the ones who consistently sell incredibly well, breaking into 6 figures their debut week.
Singles still sell well but I think there's a lot more market competition, so it's rarer to see really big sales. From what I've seen, looks like "Seishun Amigo" might be a million seller.
[all stats taken directly from the Oricon site]

I blame internet downloading... The greateest thing ever created. :D

IPODS and internet downloading? :P

wow, namie used to be so popular

just wanna change the "Seishun Amigo" #'s that u put in:

Week 1 = 520,419 (debut #1)
Week 2 = 250,108
Week 3 = 174,788
Week 4 = 114,034
Week 5 = 082,368
Week 6 = 061,243
TOTAL = 1,202,960
*4 wks to pass 1,000,000; sold more than MY STORY*

it just all depends on the singles tie-ups imo. the 3 songs in "Seishun Amigo" all had drama tie-ups that had good ratings.

we also have to remember that singles r declining in popularity. y buy a single when an album is gonna come out?? (ie: B&D/Pride). but last yr was actually a great yr for both singles and albums in terms of sales. the top 50 single sales for 2005 were higher than 2004. the top 50 album sales for 2005 were higher than 2003.
imo, in japan, i dont think illegal DLing is as big of a problem as in other countries around the world (US, korea, HK) where DLing via BT or P2P is rampant. my proof? the example about the cd sales increasing last yr as opposed to many other music industries having decreased sales. [stated above] japan managed to have an increase!

well... it IS cheaper... MY STORY was quite expensive! :P anyway, seishun amigo sold more than most albums except for maybe 10 albums of this year... don't see your point in comparing it to MY STORY? :rolleyes

Just want to add to your logic. The single also sold really well because of who was on it. Kamenashi Kazuya is part of a group called Kat-tun, who has a huge fanbase, but has yet to release anything. So a lot of the fangirls probably went crazy when they saw a member actually releasing something.

^yea..johnny's fans r crazy. but if u werent part of johnny's, tie-ups r a big thing. ->the 2 NANA singles. mika's already past the 400k mark, ENDLESS STORY is nearing the 400k mark. ai's PLANETARIUM is tied-up w/a drama n its her 3rd best single in sales, this wk total was about 250k

shadow*puppet: i just wanted to make the point that the single sold more than an album n since this is an ayu forum, i just putted ayumi as an example. only 5 albums this yr sold more than that single. since this single is still selling, i wouldnt b surprised if it sold more than koda's Best~first things~ [sales: 1.29m] MY STORY wasnt really expensive compared to other albums. most albums cost at least ¥3000 neways [cd only version]

But this charts are from ONE WEEK in 2000. While Seishun no Amigo numbers are impressive, the others arent, I mean, the 7th position was selling more than SMAP 'Triangle'.

This isn't an overall chart. This are the sales on an usual week in 2000.

But, BTW, why suddenly with TRY ME, Super Monkey start selling so well?

Thanks for the edit! I wasn't sure of my info since I was sifting through articles that seemed to have final numbers.

again im gonna say this: singles were popular back then. singles r slowly becoming unpopular since its much more realistic to just buy the album w/the songs from the singles in it.

I know that. That's why the sale numbers were posted, to compare sales then and now, you don't have to state the obvious.

It always been more realistic to buy the album w/ the songs from the single in it. Singles sales are declining because of download.

And BTW, album sales are still declining. In 2003 more albums were sold then in 2005.

Actually, it makes the record companies less interested in investing in new artists, because the old ones are "safer".

Maybe people just wanna save money? I know there are music programs in Japan that people can get free music off of.

Combined total sales of the Top 50 albums of the year:
2005 32,320,732
2004 29,259,465
2003 29,732,880
2002 38,316,120
2001 56,368,710

2005 albums sold more than 2003 albums by about 2.6M

Combined total sales of the Top 50 singles of the year:
2005 17,623,441
2004 16,299,111
2003 19,174,236
2002 20,765,120
2001 32,463,340

2005 singles sold more than 2004 singles by about 1.3M. if single sales were really affected by DL, then y would we have an increase this yr? yes, i do admit DL is part of the problem, not 100% n when u compare it to other countries, japan's DL "problem" isnt really that big

link: http://www.jpopmusic.com/forums/view...=asc&start=225 [its in 1 of the posts]

i mentioned that cos u mentioned this:
y mention the obvious when we can c that SMAP'S 181,908 achieved #1 in 2005, while it can only acheive #6 in 2000.

btw, its "Seishun Amigo" not "Seishun no Amigo"

Look at the numbers of 2001 and 2002, there's such a huge gap between! What happened in 2002? :o

It wasn't suppose to be. I was just showing her best selling singles

What happend in 2001 was Ayumi and Utada selling over 4 million copies. In 2002, nobody sold that.

Oh, OK, I tought it was interesting :)

i see

thats crazy how much that "shuji to akira" single sold! i loved the drama and all, but the songs werent all that great...

Utada Hikaru kicks butt.

1. Automatic / time will tell > Sold Copies: total 2,063,000 [1998]
2. Movin' on without you > Sold Copies: total 1,227,000 [1999]
4. Addicted To You > Sold Copies: 1,784,000 [1999]
5. Wait & See ~リスク~ > Sold Copies: 1,662,000 [2000]
7. Can You Keep A Secret? > Sold Copies: 1,485,000 [2001]

WOW. The difference between the sales in the first post with the sales are now are just WOW.

Yeah, Dustie. her singles used to sell like CRAZYYY.

People are just getting too lazy to move their butts to get those singles. :laugh

I miss those good old days...

yep i blame internet downloading....i hardly ever download music and keep it. i usually keep it for a few days just long enough to see if i like it, then i buy it. but since online sales don't count, the music is suffering even more because a lot of people cant go to the store and buy it (think of me, living in kentucky, wanting an Ayu cd) i spend 30 dollars that doesnt even count.

interesting, according to ORICON, Addicted To You is Hikki's best selling single. I always thought that was a little strange.

^I think it's because of the 8cm CD + 12cm CD additions?

^Yup, the official explanation given was that the 8cm and the 12cm releases were considered as two separate products, and hence the appearance of both on Oricon charts.

A part of the reason is also the decline in number of teens and youth which were the core consumers of bubblegum pop/popular music and culture. As the population ages, CD sales decline. Old people buy less music.

Right now, the japanese economy is considered to have one of it's most promising years in a long time, but CD sales this year aren't as great.

CD sales haven't ever been as high as in the 90's, and might not ever get back up, as legal downloads and not so legal downloads are getting more common. CD is definetly outdated in some ways, like the LP became outdated by the introduction of CDs. Of course, the sales of virtually any goods, including CDs may increase in China, but as chinese wealth raises, it will probably have more impact on the amount legal downloads than on the CD's sales as Cd's will e old news already.

If the sales are to incease elsewhere, the birthrate will have to go up, or some music shopping craze must hit the older generation, and that will probably rather increase the sales of enka. :P