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I kinda hope ayu can at least manage to get her album sales back to ~600K one day (note: not by making 10 covers tho...)
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I think at best, she'd be able to get to 400-500k at the very most...
If someone as big as Namie right now is only able to manage <600k with an original album (which is what Ayu was able to do in 2006 with Secret and then some with 666k) at this point in time, where does that leave Ayu? I hope that with the upcoming album, she is at least able to sell as much as NEXT LEVEL did in the first week.
Regarding Hikki's "comeback", perhaps it had a lot to do with the very strong drama tie-ins (the songs themselves were also easy to digest) that album had? But overall, I don't think Hikki really ever has much to worry about because she has such a strong casual fanbase that she could avoid releasing an album for the next 5 years and it's still possible that her album afterwards will be able to sell a 900k+. It's
scary. As for Ayu's album, musically, I really wonder where Ayu will be going with the next album, and hopefully it'll be a sound that the public can enjoy. Judging from S/S and Y/B, the songs will be traditionally Ayu, but since when have the first two singles ever dictated how the album will sound? Haha.
You know, in order for Ayu to sell more copies, she's going to have to reach out to the public when releasing an album. Go on more shows, promote on the radio, be on more magazine covers, and actively try to gain more casual fans. It seems almost as though she's simply keeping the 300k+ who are hanging on from the 1.1 million from MY STORY/Memorial address instead of trying to attract new listeners. That's one of Ayu's biggest issues right now when it comes to selling more. There's a possibility that she feels that she has already oversaturated the market and doesn't think it's necessary to continue getting more fans, but I really hope that's not how she feels. Doing ARENA TOURS in place of the usual methods of promotion just doesn't make sense to me. If that's what's going to happen this year, I hope the promotional schedule for the album isn't as barren as it was for NEXT LEVEL.