If you were to reccommend ayu to a friend...
 

I'd pick Memorial address. It has a little bit of everything, IMO.

That's really hard. I thought the same thing many times, like what would be the first performance to show, first pv, first song, etc.

I think I would go with MY STORY or Secret. Shows the range she is able to pull off.

I wouldn''t introduce albums but specific songs instead. It really depends on the tastes of the friend. I'd avoid ultra happy/animeish kinds of a song for a start since they can be a bit scary for people who doesn't know JPOP. Best to try songs in which ayu has a clearer voice, and in which the arrangements doesn't drown the entire song. However, again it would all depend on the taste of the friend. Whenever I feel like getting my mom to enjoy an ayu song, I play Voyage, JEWEL and the likes. She loves them. As for a friend, I sent her alterna and the Above & Beyond remix of M, which she enjoyed but I lent her my RAINBOW album (the only ayu album I have) and she didn't even bother to listen to it at all. I usually don't bother to tell my friends my tastes in JPOP though.

^ I agree on the specific songs bit. I'd probably make a playlist, mixing together all of Ayu's work with a few songs from each album just so they can see her range and growth as an artist. I might heavily feature her latest stuff, just to show what she's doing currently. I actually made an Ayu playlist today that I think works kinda/sorta okay for introducing people to Ayu:

A Song for XX
Fly high
SURREAL
I am...
M
Dearest
HANABI
ourselves
About You
(miss)understood
JEWEL
Born To Be...
talkin' 2 myself
Together When...
Marionette

The way it worked for me was I just shoved Ayu down some of my friends' throats XD. But her tearful performance of Memorial address also helped that.

Wow, I definitely need more time to think of this, but if I chose a specific song, I'd choose JEWEL or fairlyand.... AND IT ACTUALLY WORKED BEFORE xD

I made my friends watch JEWEL & fairyland and they fell in love with the PVs and the songs, from there on it was easy hehe.

Definitely would recommend specific songs rather than albums. If you absolutely NEED albums... I'd go with MY STORY, Secret and GUILTY.

Good songs to introduce people to Ayu include:
RAINBOW
Jewel
Endless Sorrow
Memorial Address
About You
Is This Love
It Was
Marionette
Guilty
Momentum
Talkin' 2 Myself
Naturally
Heartplace
(Miss)understood
TO BE

SIGNAL is good for a laugh.

If introduced a lot of my friends to JPop.
I usually start out with letting them hear Utada before Ayumi because Utada sounds more western, so it's not that big of a switch yet.
After I show them Utada I usually start out with MY STORY and Memorial address. Songs like Moments, Memorial address (take 2 version), Because of You, and About You tend to do really well with my friends. ayu-mi-x is a good place to start out too, maybe some (miss)understood.

I would recommend A Ballad and i have introduced some of the songs from that album to my friends. They really like it . . especially Hanabi . . I just ask 'em to listen Hanabi and they like it . . unfortunately they don't like her up-beat songs and they prefer her chill and ballad songs . .
they like Dearest acoustic piano version too . . .

The beginning of Hana is hilarious :laugh So corny

I wouldn't play her older songs, it would come off as too screechy to people who are not used to her voice.

It so should be the introductory song for every person who doesn't know ayu. This way, it would help on ayu being something exclusive to us :laugh

I'd go with the song approach first, then recommend an album, to find out which songs my friend liked best. Actually, I think I'd go with some of her PVs. Like, if my friend was a romantic and a lover of all things symbolic, I'd go with Together When... If they were into the weird and surreal, alterna or Ladies Night, etc.

Probably "I am...," since it's such a classic and has a good mix of styles. Otherwise, I second the recommendation to show the new potential fan a mix of PV's. I myself got into Ayu after watching the "ourselves" PV.

When I first introduced a friend of mine to Ayu I made her a mixed CD full of Ayu songs. I gave her a range of different songs to see what she prefered. Afterwards I brought her her first Ayu album, MY STORY, and she loved it.

I Am..., (m)u, MY STORY, it's probably best to do the 'illegal' thing and burn a CD with a variety of all her songs to show that she's not just a one note happy-happy pop star (Which everyone thinks she is >.> )

All of them^^

I already recommended all of Ayu's album to my new friend in the university^^

I showed Ayu to one friend, didn't work on her, but she did like Talkin' 2 Myself, I swear she listens to too much MCR and Fall out Boy. But I showed her to another friend and she liked Jewel and Alterna.