(miss)understood 3rd week sales
 

It's not actually out yet, but that Kinki Kids guy just reached no.1 with 92 thousand copies, which means (miss)understood sold even less.

edit: happy-san from ayuloveayu says the 3rd week sales are 82731. It's probably correct but I guess we'll have to wait for Oricon..

9.2万 is 92,000 actually...

Woah that's pretty low..

not to be mean or something, but .... that's why you need to open a new thread...?

... I think we have enough "weekly sales" threads in where you could write this "news" in.... or not? ....

well i hope Ayu only sold a couple less than Kinki Kids ^_^"

^even if its just a little less, its really low :(
maybe it'll rise back up again *hoping*

^ i doubt it'll rise again, so sad but true :( Ayu should do something to promote it, maybe a handshake session!

:o I wonder how Ayu'll pull herself up into the million mark for this ~ :[

She can do it!

Does this mean that her fanbase has sunk about 50% the past year...? :(

wait the minute i think ayu's sales will be higher than 92.000 maybe its 100.000 because That Kinki Kinds guy only at no 1 for 3 days after that his sales dropped drastically down to number 7 ~ ... the sales figure is a bit disappointing but
i guess its her fault... It is a great album ... and what a pity that it will not raech 1 million ~
She hasnt done anything yet to promote her album ...
All she does just perform the annoying song Bold & Delicious
She could at least perform Rainy Day / (miss)understood / criminal at kouhaku / Music Station Super Live or the CDTV special .. :no :no :no
big mistake by ayu ~

Mmm... only because it sold less than 90,000 this week doesn't mean it won't reach the million mark :rolleyes

No, IMO it means that this album isn't as strong as many of her past ones and that the marketing for it was all wrong.

well, in my opinion, ayu's record label knows what its doing and this album was heavily promoted just like all her other albums. Just performing another song on CDTV would not affect the album sales by thousands of copies. The album has been promoted through the new PVs and radio and... millions of other ways as well. I don't think its sales can be blamed on promotion. We are not record label execs. And most of us aren't even in Japan to see any of this promotion anyway, so how can we know how well it's being promoted?

But I've been on a lot of ayu forums and seen a lot of people criticize the promotion of many of ayu's CDs... and I honestly don't see a lot of basis for it.

On the other hand, I don't really think it's useful to scrutinize every weekly sales and wonder about ayu's popularity. Fact of the matter is, this album is selling about what was expected given what the singles sold, and really, its sales aren't half bad.

--my 2c

Considering the singles' sales, it should be higher. At least compared to MY STORY. Singles sold more than last year. But on the other hand, if one divides the sales of the singles on how many new songs released, the number is much lower.


It seems like (miss) understood is appreciated a lot by fans ( at least english ones), so I don't think the musical quality is to blame.

Perhaps it's too much pure rock on this album, sompared to her other albums? Ayu has always been the queen of j-pop remember, and thus her fans must have been appreciating pop first and foremost. O.o

hmm...I'm still going to wait for the final result, because the koichi album spent only 3 days as number 1 and went down to #7, so I'm pretty sure it's higher. Plus it's barely 4K higher than Mystory's second week sales.

This is depressing.

C'mon Ayu, you can do it! *jumps up and down*

1,000,000 isn't impossible...just really hard right now.

This is not quite true. Even excluding "Bold & Delicious/Pride," the singles for "MY STORY" averaged higher sales figures.

I'm not sure if it really makes sense to do this, because a single with 2 new songs does not automatically mean it will sell double what a single with 1 new song would sell.

how can ayu's sales be higher than the Kinki Kids guy when he already reached #1? shes most likely #2 n probably was off by a few hundred/thousand copies. so, ayu's 3rd wk sales are lower than ~92,000.

well this is an early result, but the rankings are set in stone. only the numbers either go up or down. but, oricon rounds up/rounds down the numbers for the early results, so the numbers can move +/- 1,000 copies.

lets say 3rd wk was ~90,000. so, 654k+90k= 744k. thats lower than MY STORY 2nd wk sales. this will take longer than MY STORY to reach 1m. but i hope it does. if it doesnt, the rumours will start popping up everywhere.

Less than 100 000? *gasp* Oh my god.

hmmn... let's assume ayu got probly 90K this week (No. 2)...

1st week --> ~420K
2nd week --> ~234K --> (654K total)
3rd week --> ~ 90K --> (744K total)
4th week --> ~ 60K? --> (800K total)

hmmn... if from the 5th week onward (m)u can be sold at least 25 - 30K per week.. then it will take another 8 weeks (12 weeks total) to break 1 million sales.. That's not really bad.. of course... that's just the positive side... probly the album's sales are only 10K per week after 7 or 8 weeks.. so it will take longer.. maybe it can't break 1 million border...

Uh oh...

It is.

Just remember that MY STORY sold around 100k after getting out of the top 30. Maybe it will be also the case for (miss)understood and then get over 1 000 000 in a few months. =)

^it'd be a pity if it would not. this album simply is awesome.

i really think that the lower sales are really due to ayu losing her popularity and how kumi koda is rising to the top. i was in japan this winter right before around (miss) understood was released and i would say that the album was promoted very well. i heard 'heaven' a couple of times while walking down shibuya, while each major spots has atleast a couple of (miss) understood billboards. in tokyo dome they played ayu's (miss) understood cm on the giant outdoor tv repeatedly. also shops like hmv, tsutaya, etc has a huge (miss) understood section which you couldnt miss. i dont think ayu performing 'bold and delicious' alot is doing much damage too. ayu did promote her albums in tv live performances by mixing in her older singles like 'step you', 'fairyland', and 'heaven' along with 'bold and delicious'. also, even though you cant ignore the music piracy in the internet, the album is still very capable of selling over a million. just look at ken hirai's album and shuji and akira's single...they sold a massive amount of cds despite downloads through the internet. let's face it, ayu's not as big as she used to be. this day is bound to happen. im still a huge ayu's fan and honestly i dont think shes doing too bad. shes still having a no.1 streak, her music is still up to par, and shes still as georgeous as ever. also, shes still one of the most selling female artists and she's been on the business for about 7 years already. what she'll need in the future is a huge hit single. something that will make the typical non-ayu buyers buy the song just for the sake of them liking the song and not necessarily ayu. also, her tie ins needs to be other than panasonic. hopefully she'll get one with a hit drama or something.

I really doubt she sold that little. If she did, I think she'd be a lot lower than 2nd for the weekly.

now that you say it, I thought criminal would be perfect for a drama theme song *imagining the credits while criminal is playing*

That's not true. Mp3 players have become the fever, a lot of people are just buying the tracks in mp3, separate, one of the reasons Utada Hikaru's sales have been so low. Plus the whole market of CD has kinda of been severely cut, maybe people don't care for carrying huge CDs onto their shelves anymore so they'd rather fill their compact players with the music they want to listen to. Albums like Mika's BEST and Koda kumi Best ~first things~ have been pretty low on sales since they're actually BEST albums, they would surely have sold way a lot more a few years ago (Koda has been pretty strong at the moment). ayu even manage to reach the weekly top of the global charts, shows how much physical CD items have been actually dropping in number of sales throughout the world.

I think this album can last long

Same here. It'll probably get 1 million, like in maybe a couple weeks...or even longer. T_T

hrm. :dead2

well we already know she sold less than 92,000 cos thats the person who took the #1 spot.

thats not that surprisng tho, since japan's 1st wk sales r actually quite comparable to sales in the US+UK. im pretty sure shes done it before even when mp3s werent the rage.

also, japans cd market is doing quite well, sales have gone up btwn '04-'05 for both singles and albums. this is unlike markets such as korea, US where cd sales have gone down.

I hope (miss)understood can break i millon...

I would argue that hikki's single sales have gone down way too much to be accounted for by mp3 downloading and iTunes. Steady slight popularity declines + long hiatus to prepare and promote her English-language album I think have much more to do with it.

Whooaaaa...

(miss) is so low in sales!!!

That's why I've put "one of the reasons". Hikki actually sold way too much more of "Be My Last" on iTunes than actual cd copies as far as I know.

WOW,,that is very disapointing.

Well, it's only for the first three days. So that's not even half a week.

no. it's offical @ ORICON. that kinki kid got no. 1 w/ 92,000 copies. here's the link: http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/ranking/9265/

happy-san from http://www.ayuloveayu.com/information_bbs.html says the 3rd week figures are 82731 copies...I wonder if it'll hit a million? :no

Nope. The weekly numbers actually start and end on Monday. It's just that Oricon posts the numbers on Wednesday.

I think people just don't buy as much cd's as they used to.

I have to agree with someone who said that Ayu is losing her popularity to people like Koda Kumi.

For example I just watched Music Station Super Live. When Ayu sang Bold & Delicious people looked outright bored with that 'is she done yet' look but when Koda came out everyone was screaming and cheering.

I don't know maybe it's just that particular target audience but I think we can all agree that Ayu has lost a part of her audience to artists like Koda this year.

well... to be honest ayu has lost parts and parts of her audience since Memorial address era. I think her popularity dropped suddenly during A BALLADS release. I think the overexposure killed off some of the fans :P. Just like Orange Range. They were really popular in 2004, but they were too popular that people started hating them. Kumi may face the same disaster after the 12 single era (of course I assume her upcoming album will be a hit because those 12 singles could be included in this album).

Furthermore ayu's not producing music that appreciates the audience (I think she's doing sth to make herself happy these days). Like some people said in different threads, all ayu needs right now is a big hit, and the big hit should be released close the the next album. Then, ayu will be happy, and we will be happy... :D

yeah..lately ayu release a stuff that she like not an audience like
but... I LOVE IT
she is still strong and i believe her carier not going to end for 5 - 10 years from now

Its better if she releases music that makes her happy than making music that depresses her. I think Ayu is losing popularity to people like Kumi though. >.< Painfully true. I think Ayu should retire after another album and a greatest hits. And thats it, a legend has been made and retired.

And then this forum's name would probably become Otsuka Ai Sekai.

Otsuka Ai Sekai..? Hmmn.. probly "Avex Ladies Night Sekai" would be safer... :P at least ai chan, kuu, namie, and even boa are all included. no ones know the popularity of ai after a year or two... :P

Yeah, but Love Cook seems destined to be her first million seller. If I remember correctly, the second and third week sales were around 150 000 too. Hardly any drop at all. I love her! ^^

hmmn... lemme check.. before that I would like to point out that LOVE COOK can hardly become a million seller if (m)u can't be a million seller.. :P

edit: LOVE COOK sales: 334812 + 167321 + 167318 (2 weeks sales btw) = 669451 copies in four weeks... hmmn.. i'll say.. the min should be 800K overall, and max is 900K; need some miracles to push it over the 100 million border..

OH! 2 weeks sales, forgot bout the new year clause. Well you never know, Sakuranbo was in oricon for 82 weeks. :D If Love Cook does that, I dunno. But I'm confident that Ai is gonna do well! She already beat the sales for Love Jam and Love Punch.

no way about change this forum name..if that happen i won't go here anymore...right now she has back to her number 1 position...so who know?!

haha i agree!

Pretty much. This album won't sell a million in my opinion. Maybe it'll get 800k as bluegie said but I don't think she'll get one million. It wasn't such a breakthrough album anyhow.

so sad that this album will not be a million selling album !!
i think she should not have used GEO of SWEETBOX ~ and should not have release Bold & Delicious at all ~ i mean .. everything was fine , her sales were fine until Bold & Delicious was released.. it was such a flop for Ayu

now i wonder will ayu's next single sell 300k ~ i doubt ~

oh yeah but this could be due to I TunEs ~ :innocent hehehe
is she no 1 at iTunes ?

yea...all of my friends in japan are talking about how koda kumi is more popular than ayu now. imo though i think that koda's popularity will just be a fluke. her 12 single releases' debuts has been getting lower and lower each week. the album would probably sell alot though. but unlike ayu, koda doesnt have much of a variety on music style, so i think ayu will do better in the long run. as for (miss) understood, it would probably like A-Ballads. A-Ballads did not hit a million for quite a while and i think that (miss) understood will probably sell a million around this year's ayu's tour where she will perform her new songs.

oh yeah... the arena tour... that may help the sales a bit :D

OK, you're overacting. I REALLY want her to sell over 1 million copies, which she probably will, but if she don't, she's STILL POPULAR. If she sells 900k, she'll still be a big artist.

Obviously not as big as she was before, maybe not as big as some other female singer, but with 400k in the first week she's still a huge seller.

I don't think people should be so desperate if she don't reach a million. Yes, she's not as popular as before, but so what? That's past, we can't go back, Ayu is still selling extremely well for an artist (that's an IDOL SINGER) who released her first album in 99 and had her peak in 2000/2001. Even if she's not on the TOP 10 of the best-selling albums of the year. Some big artists in Japan aren't on the list. Some B'z album don't even sell 800k and they're still huge. Seiko Matsuda, the most popular idol singer in the 80s, don't release top 10-albums but she still does big tours in big venues and she's still always on mag covers.

What I'm saying is, Ayu can stop being the huge-seller she was before (she's still a huge seller) but that doesn't mean she'll stop being a big star or, at very least, stop doing good music (that's cliche, I know)

Oh yeah! Forgot! xD
With the tour, I hope she remains in the top 10 weeklies or at least the top 20 for a long time.

and my friend that lives in japan told me Gorie was the new jpop queen:innocent

^who's Gorie??

anyhow, yeah I also think (and hope) the Arena Tour will boost the sales to some extend

I think Gorie is a comedian/TV host who dresses like a woman. I saw him once when Destiny's Child was on his show and he was dancing like Destiny's Child, haha. Hilarious stuff. :tipsy

Gorie is the new queen? LOL... that's really hilarious...

you should download "her" performance at kouhaku this year... it's the best one at red side IMO.

*Punches the Kinki Kids outta any number on the Japanese charts*

:evillaugh

So..
then the total sales for (miss)understood is 736.561 in 3 weeks.. and people are speculating a forum name change, and that Ayu is not popular anymore?..
how is selling 736,561 albums in 3 weeks a BAD thing...?

Just because it is being heavily promoted, does not mean it is being promoted right. B&D should not have been the main song which was performed at all of the end of the year shows and shows in early Jan. I think it's a fun song, but not a good song to promote a new album with, especially since it turns many people off. And yes, those TV performances do have an impact on sales. Then there is the cover art and title which definitely have an impact on casual shoppers when they look on the shelf and both the cover art and title could have been quite a bit better IMO.

I don't think that is it either. If it had been mostly pure rock on the album, it would be one of my favorite albums from her. :)

I would doubt it. Anyone that is willing to fork over $80 for a concert would have likely already bought the CD.

That's actually pretty damn good in Japan.

becuase it is lower than her previous albums, even lower than Memorial Address. then if this fails to reach the million, retirement questions will be asked, then rumours will be made up about avex wanting koda or ai to "replace" her via more promotion on them etc. etc.

Brittany: its not really damn good, its more "average" for an a-list artist to achieve this amount.

Well, I really think there's a reason why record labels choose to market things the way they do. They're not complete idiots or else they wouldn't keep their jobs long. Avex is actually really good about finding creative ways to garner fans for all of its artists. I think that's partly why so many popular artists right now are signed on avex or its affiliated labels.

So... you can say (miss)understood didn't outsell MY STORY because she didn't perform criminal at CDTV, but I personally think it's much more possible that some people just decided NOT to buy the CD.

I really think ayu's popularity is fine right now. She can't be expected to outsell her previous albums everytime a new one comes out. She's still very popular, people.

Also keep in mind that in terms of yen generated, she's still up there because (miss)understood was a more expensive album with the photobooks. That's no accident.

Hmm... I dunno... I'd argue there are very few artists that can consistently achieve these numbers with an original album that is not a best-of single compilation.

That's true, considering how back then, people loved to buy CDs. Now it's all about mp3s and whatnot. So she's still popular, just in a different type of sales: Digital sales and not physical ones.

Yes, but B&D wasn't the reason the album is selling like it's selling right now.

Actually, when an artist is touring the sales usually increase.

No, she's not expetionally popular in digital sales. It's just that she's not as popular as she use to. But she's still popular.

Not true, B'z are a-list artists and they only sell well with singles and best-of albums. Ai Otsuka currently is an a-list artist and she don't sell over 800k.

But record labels aren't always right - the sales for B&D, as well as the general non reaction to it at all of the live performances shows this. Also, it may be Ayu herself who was pushing B&D so much since she does have a large amount of control over her career.

Nobody ever said that. But does how an album is promoted effect its sales? Yes, absolutely.

I agree completely. My arguement was always against the people that thought this album would easily sell more than My Story, Memorial Address etc. Like that it would be a given that she would sell as much as say Orange Range's last album sold or something and maybe overlooking the reasons why it might not.

I believe it was one of the contributing factors, not the contributing factor.

As for the touring, yes usually in the states an artists sales do increase but I've never really seen much of a correlation between Ayu's tours and her album sales.

Good points. Personally I think she should have released a better single before (miss) understood. Bold & Delicious is a fun song but it does get boring. Why didn't she release a single for "In the Corner", "criminal" or "Ladies Night"? Also the covers took ages to sink in especially that monkey face photo. Honestly it sucks. Why couldn't she at least swap the photobook covers with the normal ones? The New York theme got old at once.

Thirdly she should have performed other songs. Personally I'm sick of Bold & Delicious performances. I really wanted to see some new songs instead of Bold & Delicious.

Also I was disappointed to see that this album and it's booklet seemed without any concept/theme or direction which was pretty disappointing. The songs were excellent but the way they were presented weren't so good imo.

-

Yes plus let's not forget that Ayu is huge in Japan so bootlegs will probably be more available around than say other not so famous artists.

That is true nick but remember that Japan is more conservative than say USA in the music industry so being sexy is a huge thing there. I remember how people were shocked to see Ayu's LOVEppears cover. I also remember how when she performed at Kohaku and she wore a pair of shorts some guys in the off-stage were hilariously staring at her as if well.. you get me. So yeah Kumi's being sexy is actually getting her attention because few people have actually dared to be sexy over there. Plus let's not forget how avex is hyping her up with all these releases

Yes, I saw so many copies. And the original ones hasnt arrived yet.
:thud

Yeah =/ most people prefer buying cheap bootlegs than actual albums unless they're hardcore fans like us :P

Yeah!And i can't hear the word koda kumi more.I don't like her!she have nothing!And i guess Ayu have much more talent.Her songs are from her soul!!!And you can feel how Ayu feel.Koda is only sex sells.And this is not my opinion.so I guess it is not importenet how much the Cd sells.It is importened what you think about the album and i don't think Ayu will stop!She didn't said so.She always said in Countdown mata rainen.And she will make her way.Go Ayu chan^^

thats actually pretty sad if its true. :no
but with so many different bootlegs out there its getting really hard at times to tell whether something is real or not. thats why I hesitate to buy Ayu stuff or similar at Ebay, but prefer ordering it at YesAsia or CDJapan.
at least that way you can make sure you get an original (I hope)

Why do people think this is the end of the world? "OMG! No one in Japan likes her anymore! She's not popular anymore! Waaah!"

First of all, she's still very popular in Japan. No, she's not as popular as she used to be years ago, but yes, she's still one of the highest selling artists. She's been around for a long time, and to still be selling as well as she has been is pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

Second, people keep complaining about her sales. So, her sales aren't as high as they used to be. Times have changed in Japan. More people are buying music online through iTunes etc. Yes, sales have decreased, including Ayu's, but it's not just for her sales... It's everyone's. Even Utada Hikaru isn't selling as much as she used to. Does this mean she's not popular anymore? No. It just means people are finding other means of getting the music they want.

And since we're talking about sales, I'd like to point out that Ayu has been doing extremely well. Her singles have done very very well. 300,000 consistent sales is great. B&D didn't sell 300,000 sales, but it did pretty good. 100,000 isn't bad! There are a lot of popular singers who don't reach 100,000 single sales every time they release a single, including BoA for example. Her last two singles had about 55,000 each if I'm not mistaken.

Koda Kumi may be gaining popularity, but her sales are nothing compared to Ayu's. (miss)understood sold more than Secret in its second week. If I'm not mistaken, Koda Kumi's only number one album was her Best album, and that was also her only album to sell over 1,000,000 copies. So before anyone freaks out anymore about that matter, I hope you'll realize Ayu is still a huge icon in Japan. She's still very popular and she still has high sales.

And about the weekly sales, I was pretty surprised at the sales. Not just at Ayu's though, but everyone's. Usually the #1 album of the week sells really well, but he didn't even sale over 100,000 copies.

I actually think it was just a slow week because no one's sales were anything but outstanding. But I'm pretty confident Ayu will reach 1,000,000 sales soon. Maybe next week will be better.


edit: found a typo @_@
oops, and another... I really should proofread :/

GREAT POST:luv2 :yes That's exactly what I was thinking.

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!Really great Post!!!!!You said the truth!!!!!Thank you paper bear

I'm not quoting Paper Bear because it's too mcuh to quote but good point. The entire week didn't go well. Maybe people are just getting so caught up that they don't have time to go out...(like I am. Stupid finals).

technically, (m)u isnt "more" expensive than any other albums. true the cd-only version used to be ¥3059 n its now ¥3150, but thats because avex just raised their cd prices from the beginning of the year, i think starting w/BoA's.

cd sales arnt really down if compared '04-'05, if they were then how would it be possible for "Seishun Amigo" to pass the million? or have 2x 900k+ singles last yr? or def tech selling 1.7m+ on their debut album? also, not all artists have declining sales, like otsuka ai, her sales have generally increased. as for BoA, shes not much of a "single-artist", shes more of an "album artist". besides i think shes like the rare artists in avex that doesnt release the dvd extra w/her single, unlike ai or ayu. so that definietly plays a role in her lagging single sales. BoA only releases a dvd extra w/her albums, thus higher album sales.

^ The sales ARE lower than last year, the fact someone sold a million copies in singles doesn't mean it isn't. SEISHUN AMIGO was a HUGE SELLER, but back in the 90s, the whole top 10 sold over a million copies.

Ayu popularity is DOWN, with downloads or without downloads, she don't sell as much as she used to. I mean, her singles were always on the TOP 10 of the year, but they aren't anymore, they're 20th. Her albums were always on the TOP 5 on the annual sales, but they aren't anymore. Does that mean she's not popular anymore? NO!!! This mean she's not as popular as she was in the past, but she's still the biggest female singer. Bigger than Koda Kumi, much bigger. Bigger than Ai Otsuka. The end.

And no 90,000 albums in the first place isn't so unusual, last year lots of albums reached the first position selling that.

^well obviously 2005 sales are lower than 2001 or 1999 sales. thats y i said "sales are actually up if compared to 2004->2005".

dont know if it was directed at me, but i never said ayu wasnt popular nor did i deny that ayu's popularity is down. and also, not only is it because her popularity is down that caused the delcine in ranking, it is also because they r newer artists (last yr it was OR) coming out.

Well, the CD created for Seishun Amigo was composed of a guy who was in a group who hadn't released CDs, and the other was a megapopular hottie guy in NEWS. Thus meaning that the two fanbases would collide together as well as new fans coming to buy it because

a) drama tie-in

b) fans of japanese pretty boys

c) song is stuck in head

:D

But album sales aren't up.

And it wasn't directed at you. But it wasn't because of new artists that Ayu is not as popular as before, there are old artists in the top 5.

This is very true.

last yr sales r indeed up from 2004's. its even evident in ayu's single sales. in 2004, the only single that was close to the million mark was hirai ken's "hitmoi wo tojite" which sold in 800-850k region. in 2005, there were 3x900k+ singles. albums: in 2003 there were 7x million albums; '04 6; n in '05 it increased to 10. in '05 there were 2 albums that was really close or past the 2m mark, in '04 there was only 1. in 2005, for albums, you needed a 1m selling album to get into the top 10; in 2004 you only needed about 900k

wow... iTunes... rockz heheheheh.... I think that it is hard nowadays to reach 1 million... if this album is released in the 2001-2002.. surely... I believe that this album wont only break 1 Million... but 2 Million is possible ^^

yeah no one's saying Ayu's not popular but right now Koda Kumi's definitely MORE popular and talked about than Ayu. We are talking about declining sales for Ayu and increasing sales for Koda and Otsuka so there's always a risk that one day they eclipse Ayu's popularity.

Plus, I think the only reason Ayu's still up there in the charts is because of her hardcore fanbase. She's not gaining new fans; why? she's too old to be an idol singer so teens won't start to like her; 30+ something probably listens to their B'z and Southern All Stars, not Ayu. So the only people buying her cds are her fans and very very few casual listeners. Her single sales are consistent because of her fanbase - she no longer makes hits like M or Seasons like she used to, and those hits are important to attract new fans.

Anyway personally I wouldn't feel a thing if Ayu's no longer as popular as before I mean no one's popular forever, I'll be happy as long as she still makes music.

Gakkun... did you know that it is adults and '30+' Japanese folk that are the main supporters in the music industry? Most children tend to not have any money to buy the physical CDs (mainly due to phone trends) so they rent or pay-download the songs. Ayu is still VERY popular in Japan. She was still EVERYWHERE when I visited, much more so than any other artist.

Also, ORANGE RANGE's hanabi single released in 2004 sold have outsold Ken Hirai's 'hitomi wo tojite' if it was released earlier. It has sold up to this date, only a few hundred copies away from 1 mil.

I didn't say 30+ people don't buy cds but since when have they been Ayu's main supporters? Ayu's music has always been aimed at girls in their late teens and 20's but now they have other idols like Koda to attract their attention.

Again I'm not saying she's not popular anymore, I'm just saying I think she's no longer the 'in' artist right now and she definitely isn't as popular as before.

What I wonder is..

who are all the people who go to Ayu's concerts then? :p

I'm not a little sad.

Well I think one reason why MY STORY sold better than (miss)understood is that MY STORY has four covers but (miss)understood has only two. *,*
What's more the covers are ugly.

Anyway I hope her next album can be better and sell more.

i think she should take a break for at least a year

Oh, that's pretty low. I hope the sales will increase soon...