Quote:
Originally posted by Unimatrix Prime™
I think people mean lower sales in comparison to newer sales, but with Japan's economy, along with the mass usage of MP3s, I guess that somewhat affects why some people think her sales are lagging. First is first, whether she sells 100,000 or 1,000,000 CDs. And even if it's not listed on Oricon, Ayu's CDs are still selling somewhere in the world.
But you're right about how other artists endure, even if they're not on the charts. One can only wonder what people would say when Ayu doesn't debut in the top 10 stats, or her CD sales barely get above 100,000 in a year. Does that mean that she suddenly became a horrible artist? No. As long as you like it, I think that's what matters more than stats and sales info.
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H sold 990,000 and a couple of extras that pushed it barely into the 1,000,000 mark. SMAP has their single sell over 2,000,000 - The economy in Japan doesn't kill cd sales. They have had over a DECADE of depression, CD sales haven't collapsed at the same rate as Ayumi has. If they did, the entire Japanese music scene would be collapsing. Ayu's time is ending,
Someone who once sold over a million to somebody who can't sell even a fraction of that with singles?
Here's some info off the oricon site: & was the 8th best single, quite a drop. The next one is 32 then 36. That's not good by Ayu standards. Rainbow for 22 weeks, I am - 27 weeks and a lot more sales, A best - 45 weeks, Duty - 27 weeks. MA - 10 weeks. She also no longer holds #1 for more than a week. She drops like a rock. Other singers are able to hold the #1 slot. It isn't the economy its the crappy music she is releasing. If the music is good, it will sell.
EDIT: For Ayu, sales matter. Her music isn't whats selling her cd's, its slick promotion. If she doesn't sell enough, she won't get it. That means her sales will fall even further. She is an IDOL first and foremost, not an artist. She is an idol who has taken on artist aspects. We're not talking about Shiina Ringo here who can explore other aspects of music and survive, we're talking about the most commercialized singer in JPOP, who sings pop. The differences are quite striking.