[12/12] 'Secret' 2nd Week Sales
 

Secret 2nd Week Sales
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4...d23178bvi0.jpg
Rank: 3 / Weekly Sales: 108,119 / Total Sales: 494,399

-1st -> 2nd week sales dropped by 72%.

Comparison to the 2 other female studio albums that had 300k~400k 1st week sales this year:
(miss) understood = 653,830 (2-week total)
--------
First Message = 350,580 + 153,124 = 503,704 (2-week total)
LOVE COOK = 334,812 + 167,321 = 502,133 (2-week total)
Secret = 386,380 + 108,119 = 494,399 (2-week total)

Given that both ayaka and Ai broke 700k with their albums, and since Secret is not that far behind to them, I still think the album has a chance of breaking 700k!

a bit disappointing

Wow!, interesting and kinda disappointed but expected at the same time.

ouch.

Be honestly, I do not have confidence that Secret can reach 700k
I wanna cry.....

Oh well, it's kinda expected and it's not that low, just okay.

oh my goddd...
Secret's sales are lower than (m)u?
can't believe my eyes..
how come!!!!!

i thought that Secret will sell more than (m)u!!
oh my god..
what happen actually?

No.3 with that kind of sales!??!..omg..

haiz...sad..i dunno what else to say

As expected

:no

a lil disappointing... =/
I really hope that Secret will sell more than (m)u, let's wait and see.

Come on ayu!! :D

I can't believe the sales dropped by 72% in 2nd week...
Comparing to MU, maybe 2xx k fewer finally.
~>.<~

come on, all ayu's fans..
where are u guys!!!!!!
*Not ayu's fault!*

i thought that by having Secret as the HK's movie's soundtrack will increase its sales..
probably, people tend to buy OS Version rather than Japan Version?
coz..those ranks are counted only for Japan version, right?

I was hoping for her to reach about 600,000 copies like her last album. Oh well. Only 100,000 copies this week... Not so great. But hey, she's reaching 500,000 copies at least.

Damn man what's going on here...

I think her rock-ish music was never as popular in Japan, and since this album has a lot of "harder" sounding songs, I think that probably has a lot to do with it.

Thats not good, but oh well, thanks for the news! :)

OH NO!!!!!!!! why!!!!! its even worse than (m) u. and i thought Secret was better than (m) u???? ayu!! i believe u can do better than this! :D

Er.. pretty disappointing.

just a teeny bit disappointing
but as long as it's consistent with 100,000 for a couple of weeks
the numbers will be phenomonal

and the sales doesn't take away the fact that it's a great album

hmm, as expected but at least Secret is going to pass the 650k mark :yes

What a dramatic drop!

These week has dropped too much...let's hope next week will sell the same!

Come on Ayu fans...buy the album!!!!!!
 

Like everyone else says, I hope Secret sells more the M (u) too. I think M (U) was alright but Secret even better which will be a very big upset to me if Secret doesn't sell more than M(U). Good Luck, Ayu!!!!!!!:D

If she'd sing something OTHER than freaking JEWEL live we'd probably see better sales..
Seriously, she's overdone JEWEL already.. beautiful song and all, nice vid.. but.. get over it already.. do something BETTER live already.. we've had how many JEWEL lives now?

These sales are disappointing of course, but that doesn't change that I love this album alot. .. a 72% drop is just.. gut wrenching..

Hey, people, it isn't the end of the world. What's with the dramatics? You're all acting like someone ran over your kitties. I doubt Ayu's going to be up all night crying and wondering why she didn't sell a million right out of the gate.

Those sales aren't even that bad. You'll all live. No need to get melodramatic over it.

The sell's are still very good for this years!she is still on the top!And I'm 100% sure Secret will be sell a long time so it will get more sells week by week!I'm sure it will grow up at Countdown!^^
anyway, I really LOVE this Album and it did a great sell!^^it got still number one

I'm just wondering about that most of the artist that release a single, an album, a tour or whatever the sales of their old releases increase a bit and maybe they appear again in the charts. But with Ayu that doesn't happen... or that's what I think... With the release of Secret, it could increase (m)u or BLUE BIRD I think... Let's hope that will happen at Christmas and with the COUNTDOWN and the ASIAN TOUR!!! GO AYUU!

it'll reach 700k eventually.. XD

That's disappointing. The album is great and deserves better.

*sigh*

OMG its over

i think that people got fed up with all of these "secrets" and decided not to buy this album. hahaha well thats my theory for these disappointing sales.

but still, with the increase in popularity for other types of music, more rock, emo, etc. : it makes popish singers even harder to sell their albums because it's already been said and done.

72%.
thats crazy

I really think that ayu should sing something else than JEWEL. She needs to give people more felling of what the album is like. She is using one song to promote the whole album. She has done it like 10 time already. The album gives me more of a rock fell to it and she is using a ballad to promote it. Also this album and her style is becoming more diva-ish. I think that it is turning some of her fans away.

I hate to be a broken record but...

disappointing...

Secret and JEWEL have a lot of legal download , Don't forget that !
(Secret 6th this week (last week 2nd and ?) and JEWEL number 2 !) Now It's very important (watch on Itune or other web site !)

Uhh...maybe people think it's still a mini-album!! THAT'S GOTTA BE IT! lol :)

I think so too.
Japanese probably prefers ballad Ayu?

Only sales made within Japan / Japanese online shops are only counted on Oricon. Furthermore, it's illegal to sell OS versions in Japan, so having Secret as the themesong of Confessions of Pain does not have impact on sales imo.

Damn it!!! now I have to win the lotto and buy 1 million copies myself.

wow, that's quite a drop, but i guess it's to be expected. this album seemed liked it had been rushed, even though the music is still great and all, i guess thats the image that people have of this album.

Disappointing, but not the end of the world. Maybe her sales will be constant and stable.

Worrying will get ya wrinkles.

I really could care less about sales at this point. As long as I like her music, why should I care if people buy/don't buy it? :\

I mean, imagine how it is for the people whose favorite artists sell maybe like 10k a single and maybe 100-200k total for their albums.. :\

Yes but what Ayu could think about it ?
I think she has done a considerably effort for this album, it has not been rewarded.

I wonder if she gonna work even harder or change directions, I just want Ayu to stay Ayu. (like she said in the interview)

I tend to disagree with that. My Story had a lot of "harder" songs and it sold great, also many of her most popular songs are her rock songs. I would say the sub par singles this year is what caused the sales for this album to not be as good as it should be getting.

Honestly the only thing that makes me worry is how this is going to affect future releases! I don't want her to change directions and start making things just to please the audience!

I also wonder how avex sees it all, and how it affects their image of Ayu.

oh well its ok :) I rather her stay with the music she enjoys doing and sell less. I really like this album...all the album tracks, cover, new pvs, etc. are excellent and big improvement to the ones she did earlier this year. Im glad she made a effort to change for the better. Even though the sales arent good compared to even m(u) but as you can clearly see, ayu tried to make the quality of her album tracks and pvs better than the single tracks which she released earlier this year. Atleast she didnt keep doing similar songs like those with the crappy pvs. o_O..that would really suck for me...but Im very happy she put a stop to that and we got such great album tracks from ayu, the 3 new pvs, the cover and booklet. :) It made me remember the old ayu. I hope she will keep it up and hopefully 2007 releases would be as great as these.

It would be nice if she perform other songs besides JEWEL. I want momentum!!

I'm not shocked. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Exactly.

Maybe she should take a break. People take Ayu for granted, let them miss her a little bit.

Try telling her that! She's a self described "workaholic" :D

I'm a little shocked as well as I see the sales figure, but almost every single artist will encounter this kind of situation eventually, so I'm not really disappointed.

just wait and see...i still believe in Ayu..
i think SECRET really a good album...and i believe it can pass M(U) sales

I'm not too upset, I wanted higher sales for this album, but I'm just happy that she is still selling. I think 'Secret' will be a slow, but steady seller from here on out and I definitely see it selling atleast 720,000. :)

That's terribly dissapointing, since LOVE COOK and First Message achieved more. :shrug The drop was really huge.

I was hoping at least 140 000, oh well. I hope sales stay stable soon. Maybe then 70k, 50k, 40k, 30k, 20k, 20k, 10k, 6k, 3k, 2k, 2k, etc. Then it has a chance at 700k.

I hope it'll be a steady seller from now on, but a 72% drop in one week makes things scary. What if it drops another 72% this week? it'll sell like... 40k copies?

I think what happened is that Ayu lost her fans' trust and love by releasing songs like Born To Be and Beautiful Fighter...I mean come on...those were weird (no offense to those who like the songs)..I actually never finished the whole song...I would just skip it half-way, forcing myself to believe I might like them..

But truly, Secret is soooooooo much better than M(u)...and I don't think it's due to the rock sound of Secret...Duty was her best selling album and it was rocker than Secret...me think that Japan in general has weird taste...:P

^ I blame society. And Promotion.

Would it be too late for Ayu to sign to another record company? One that doesn't have a super mega-hit star on them. Like Toshiba-EMI.

Okay Ayu?? Listen, perform something else from your album that hasn't been heard yet!! For example, momentum, Secret, 1 LOVE. I don't care, just ANYTHING!!!

It's quite a drop... Oh my. I hope this album reaches a million! IT HAS TO!! I HAVE FAITH in YOU AYU!!!

If she performs some songs from her new album at CDL, it might help...!

^^Well Toshiba-Emi has Utada Hikaru. Ultra Blue might outsell both of Ayu's new albums at this rate.

But I think the main "issue" here is that she has released 2 albums within the same year. Plus, Secret kind of came out of nowhere. First it was a mini-album. Then a full-length album. And the singles released for it weren't all that promising. This was a rather rushed project, so the sales reflect that a little (even though the sales a quite good). I don't think she's declining in popularity. Her Japanese fans just need a bit of a break.

But I have a feeling that if she had released Kiss o' Kill as a single, those sales might've been a tad different. I would've bought the album just for that song alone, it's too awesome ^_^.

Rival Artists in the music industry on the same label? Nah uh. If Ayumi should go somewhere, she should go with Sony Music. Though honestly, what other record company will give an artist 7-9 PVs per album?

Agreed 100%.

Ayu should make her own label.

CREAtion Records :yes

Disappointed but thanks for the news.

^ I quite like that... CREAtion Records, genius. lol.

I'm surprised the drop wasn't even lower, honestly =/ ~500,000 in two weeks is pretty impressive for Ayu these days.

ULTRA BLUE already has outsold both of the new Ayu albums...

About the 2 albums within the same year thing, I don't really see it as much of a problem. This is her 4th time doing it and the 1st 3 times turned out alright as both albums did sell well. Plus, fans didn't get any new material for ~5 months.

My Story also had 4 covers, which is why I think it did as well as it did. It also had a good deal of ballads.

I guess I don't consider her most popular song rock songs...they may have guitar riffs, but they're not like 1Love or Kiss 'o Kill (both great songs!). Evolution is the closest to rock, and it's still very much pop/dance. M, Boys & Girls, Trauma, Fly High, basically the songs she does at every concert are her most popular and they're very pop-y. I think it's her foreign fans that like her rock music most. Opinions on a forum like this are not necessarily reflective of the tastes in Japan.

OMG...

goodbye million selling....

i hope this is what people are thinking

"I will buy Ayu's when Koda wan is released..Buy both together is better..Yup thats the way"

"O man...the concert just out. I have no money..Maybe end of next month when i get my pay"

or something else...(excuses i find actually)
o well...lets see what happens from now...we know she is going to continue singing anyway

oh it is a big drop. i hope secret will sell as much as (m)U

JOLIN TSAI!!! XD

well, little bit diappointed

Quite disappointing.... HIKKKKZZZZ

Sorry Ayu, it's not my fault that ur latest album hasn't reach Indonesia rite? So I haven't buy it... Hehehehehehe anyway if I buy it will just add 1! hhhhh.......

anyway I myself think dat (m)u is better than Secret... Sorry... Maybe many people also feel the same?

^ no if you buy it nothing will add to the sales number. Because it's only Japanese sales. :yes

Wow the sales are pretty poor. :/ I wonder why it's like this? I think we need some releases from other big stars around this time period to see if this is normal sales behaviour in Japan now.

I'm guessing the singles really help then. Her singles have been pretty weak in terms of quality and repeatability, so I'm guessing it drove fans away? I think if they were to air 1LOVE, that would change minds.

at least its on the 3rd spot still.

Ummm...I put Otsuka Ai and ayaka. Unless you're talking about artists that have been in the industry as long as/longer than Ayu...

im pleased that is such a good album, if a asia tour happens this album will reach 1m worldwide with no doubts, a tour in other countries is a HUGE promotion that ayu never done before

Definitely. ONE MILLION!! :D

Seeing how (miss)understood hasn't reached 1 million mark after a year of being on market, I don't think Secret has any chances to do that, surely not anytime soon...

It's simple, the era of CDs selling super high is over in Japan. There's so many artists that nobody wants to limit themselves to one idol star. Many fans have grown out of her releases and many others have just downloaded the album through Mu-mo (I believe Oricon doesn't count digital downloads yet) or got the download from other sources, thus they're not really keen on getting the whole CD thing. Utada is a good example, once she was an complete outseller, now she's barely selling more than Ayu (10,000 copies more or smth).

Sure there's a lot of people who attend the lives, becouse live performances are simply fun, even if you're not Ayu-crazy, and I bet that is the thing that's gonna keep her around for some more time (especially with the Asia tour coming up), while her sales will most probably keep decreasing.

It seems to be either the market breaking apart (as in there's more artists and now they also get some of the attention) or a dawn of the idol era in Japanese music (with new generations being not as reactive to the pop personalities as the previous ones used to be - kinda like it happened in the west with bubblegum pop boybands and teenage girls making their exist). But hearing various information on digital sales/downloads, it would be too reluctant to just say their time is coming to an end, maybe it's just people's reactions that have changed...

Ayaka is doing really well.

Maybe if Koda's here for 4 or 5 more years, her sales will start to go down too. But I bet it'll go down in 2 or 3 years. Ayu's time at the top has ended, and somehow it feels nice to finally acknowledge that and accept it.

I don't think we have to acept it, because IMO this isn't true. Of course she has dropped but this doesn't mean that she's dead. I mean, a lot of new artists appear like Ayaka, but this success doesn't tell us that she's going to beat ayu. Maybe she has released an album that sells a lot, but next album flop, and this has happend many times. Ayu can't be beaten by a new artist even if it sells a million. An artist that can beat Ayu is an artist that has more #1's singles, that has sold over 46,000,000 of albums and stills #1 with almost 9 years of career. So, a girl that sells 700k with her first album isn't as important as ayu.

No one's beating Ayu anytime soon, unless they do a total revamp on the method of counting sales data (including downloads, etc.). Ayu's just past her prime and now she'll just descend until she reach a stable level. It'd be nice if Ayu's sales from now on remains at 500k or more per album, and more than 150k per single. That's still a very high average.

ayu's #8 today for daily oricon
kinki kids and mika nakashima are fighting for the top spot
that's probably why Hitoiro didn't do so well, cause everybody's waiting for THE END

Go Mika!!!! i knew this album wasnt going to be a hit!!!! i knew it everyone is waiting for koda's new one i bet watch the sales be explosive!!!! ayu's reign of queen is over!!!! and this shows it

Yes, no. 8 today.
It is a good position.
At least, she beats OR.
I hope Secret can keep #4-5 in this week, sales is around 70-80k.

Wow!! Ayu's #8 this week!!!! T.T
 

Her Secret album is decreasing very fast off the chart. I guess Ayu didn't do a good job promoting the album in a way that people would get into...!!! But then again when have Orange Range, Kinki Kids, Mika and soon Koda Kumi putting good albums too. I just hope in the first week of Kumi's Black Cherry album doesn't sell as well Ayu's first week debut sells of her Secret album. If that does happen, Ayu is really losing her edge on. By the way, I hopeMika can obtain the #1 spot. Go, Mika!!!!!

I just read the post... pretty sad. I can't believe that "LOVE COOK" beat out Ayu. Oh well, all we can do is hope that it sells more. But as long as she countinues to produce quality music, she's got at least one fan until she announces her retirement, and several more by the look of the forums. But I don't think she'll be retring anytime soon.

Everyone seems so depressed like it is the end of Ayu, end of the world.
It is not, even if she is down (she is not) in Japan, she will never be down in my heart :mischief

There really is no "beating". No one can beat Ayu just as no one can beat Namie, Hikki, Yuming etc.

The 46 million thing: Ayu (and Hikki) happened to have debuted right when Japan experienced its' CD peak. I think it's unfair to those that had their careers before and after the peak since it will be rare for any artist to sell 46 million in their careers. Such artists are: Matsutoya Yuming, Seiko Matsuda, Namie Amuro, Koda Kumi.

About the singles, it really depends on how many singles the person's released. Namie's released less than 30 singles, and Hikki's released less than 20. Obviously, they aren't going to have 27 #1 singles.

Also, I think that a debut album selling 700k+ for a female solo artist is actually a pretty big deal. It could mean she's the "next big thing".
~~~~~
About the "reign" thing, if "reign" means being the most popular female singer of the year, then her "reign" ended in around 2004, 2005. Isn't it a fact that Kuu is the most popular female singer in 2006, thus beginning her "reign"?

Aii, Ayu's 8th today. Why must this album have such low sales? It's such a good album!

It's okay! I'm sure this album will end up selling over 1 million!

Although this really disappoints me (I wish she had higher sales ; . ; ) this isn't that surprising. I think it might be just the fact that the entire album was released online first, which probably hurt her sales a lot > <

We will just...

Sit back and wait...

Come on, Ayu fans! You're acting like it's the end of Ayu's career. Come on, people, think positive. Maybe with the CDL coming up, people will really find the joy in Ayumi's new songs and more people will buy the album!

You have to look at life on the positive side, or else you'll never live life at its happiest. When you look at the negative side, you are basically giving up on life. Looking at things with a positive attitude can even make your life healthier! Remember that.

Half the reason of typing that was for Ayu's album. The other half was for your own benefit. :yes

I'm quite glad actually...Masaharu Fukuyama and Orange Range both sold less than ayu's first week sales :D
200K?ww

X-mas is coming so I hope the sales will increase a little ! (but Kuu is coming too)

disapointed but finally not so disusted !
only 100k less than (m)u comon thats not so bad after all

madonna used to sell like maddd coww..she doesnt sell as much as she did back then, but she's still a legend, n stil produces good music n there's still lotsa people supporting her.. shes still the queen no matter how much britneys or beyonces or michelle branches popped out..

dont worrie guys, ayu's still ayu ;_)