Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigtop
I'm trying to be neutral here, but there could be ONE that might have a serious challenge to ayu...and that would be miwa.
Just recently, miwa and the management has announced they would releasing a new album called "ONENESS" - and the miwa team has decided to throw their hat into the April 8th ring and attempt to spoil Ayu's 17th anniversary.
http://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000112854
I understand this is an ayu thread and not miwa (see here), but miwa's new album announcement may pose a challenge for Ayu in therms of the #1 album battle. As of now, when I checked CDJapan, miwa's new album isn't listed on CDJapan yet, but I don't see any other artists - especially Johnny's - that might steal that #1 spot (please no Kisumai album!!!). Last time miwa released a new album ("Delight"), she got #1. And that was back in 2013. The last time Ayu got a #1 album was "LOVE again", that was also back in 2013. We understand "Colours" didn't do as well because of the stiff competition (and, yes, Kisumai), but as of now, the only REAL competition that I am seeing is miwa - and she just announced it yesterday.
Yes, I do like BOTH ayu and miwa, but this is interesting when you've got the ONE empress dueling out against the ONE rising 24-year-old superstar trying to duel out for the #1...!
This is going to be an interesting duel to watch. miwa just recently went to LA area, supposedly for her new album, so hopefully she can put out some good songs. Hopefully Ayu can put out good songs (those eight new songs) as well.
My other favorite artist, Yanawaraba, is also releasing a new album on April 8th as well, but they're doing a cover album consisting of folk songs from the 1970s and 1980s, and I don't expect them to compete for #1... |
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's unlikely miwa's ONENESS will outsell Ayumi's new album. Miwa's last album was released in 2013, and with the market's lack of interest in soloists, artists that space out their releases will their sales drop quite dramatically. I can think of a million examples, Koda being a very good example, as Bon Voyage didn't even outsell JAPONESQUE's first week, even though she had a few singles preceding it along with a slew of promotion. MIKA NAKASHIMA is another example, as REAL sold extremely poorly compared to STAR. Otsuka Ai's return last year was astonishingly poor, even with single releases. Her album only sold about 10,000 copies, compared to LOVE LETTER's 180,000 about 6 years prior.
miwa has had quite a few singles, but I think she'll experience the BoA effect with ONENESS. I genuinely think the album will sell poorly because so many of the tracks will have appeared on singles over the last two years (6 single releases since Delight). She's really stuck in this crappy spot where she'll be hurt if she leaves off songs from the singles, but she'll hurt if she includes them all because of how many there are.
Anyway, I think it's unlikely. What I'm more concerned about are Koda's sales for WALK OF MY LIFE. Koda usually just barely outsells Ayu each year, so really, whatever Koda sells will be a super strong indicator of how well A ONE will sell.
I think most of us will cry a little if A ONE hits #1, but most of us are just hoping this album reflects Ayu more than her last several albums have. It's been so spotty and bad, I think we're all just hoping for a real Ayumi record again. If Ayumi SOMEHOW pulls this off, I think more of us will cry about that than anything else. Hell, I'm just hoping she can make Zeke's adorable ass happy for the first time in several years.