ORicon annual from last year, CAROLS was still in the chart for one or two more weeks after this was published. So yes, 2004 single sales weren't all that great. No big hits for Ayumi . But I think that HEAVEN ang fairyland will do better, at least HEAVEN. Looking at the top sellers there are movie tie ups.
1 834,448 Hitomi Wo Tojite Ken Hirai 04/28/04
2 749,208 Sign Mr.Children 05/26/04
3 675,807 Jupiter Hirahara Ayaka 12/17/03
4 661,175 Hana ORANGE RANGE 10/20/04
5 651,696 Sho / Kurumi Mr.Children 11/19/03
6 591,897 Katachiarumono Shibasaki Kou 08/11/04
7 487,267 Locolotion ORANGE RANGE 06/09/04
8 452,130 Kimi kozo Star da/Yume ni Kieta Juria Southern All Stars 07/21/04
9 430,535 Sakura Kawaguchi Kyogo 12/10/03
10 428,233 Mickey Gorie with Jasmine&Joann 09/08/04
11 406,987 Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana SMAP 03/05/03
12 405,600 Sakuranbo Otsuka Ai 12/17/03
13 395,406 Kibou - Yell NEWS 05/12/04
14 365,206 Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro Utada Hikaru 04/21/04
15 330,764 Kimi ni BUMP Ketsumeishi 07/28/04
16 329,145 INSPIRE Ayumi Hamasaki 07/28/04
17 326,791 Ne, Ganbaruyo KinKi Kids 01/15/04
18 310,534 READY STEADY GO L'arc En Ciel 02/04/04
19 301,843 Moments Ayumi Hamasaki 03/31/04
20 301,275 CAROLS Ayumi Hamasaki 09/29/04
THese are the numbers in 2004/2005
50: Takeuchi Mariya 13.400000
49: Mariah Carrey 13.460.000
48: T-Bolan 13.610.000
47: Wands 13.730.000
46: Yazawa Eikichi 13.930.000
45: Matsuyama Chiharu 14.030.000
44: Judy and Mary 14.130.000
43: Kuraki Mai 14.220.000
42: Koizumi Kyouko 14.230.000
41: Kudo Shizuka 14.820.000
40: Nakayama Miho 14.970.000
39: Imai Miki 15.220.000
38: Checkers (Chekkazu) 15.300.000
37: Mori Shinichi 15.400.000
36: Morning Musume 15.470.000
35: Gou Hiromi 15.620.000
34: Sawada Kenji 15.660.000
33: Inoue Yosui 15.670.000
32: Himuro Kyosuke 15.710.000
31: Yamaguchi Momoe 16.190.000
30: Misia 17.150.000
29: Spitz 18.290.000
28: Kome Kome CLUB 18.320.000
27: Itsuki Hiroshi 18.700.000
26: Fukuyama Masaharu 18.760.000
25: Speed 19.280.000
24: Makihara Noriyuki 19.830.000
23: Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi 20.038.000
22: KinKi Kids 20.079.000
21: Nakashima Miyuki 21.310.000
20: TRF 21.500.000
19: Every Little Thing 21.630.000
18: Ohguro Maki 21.890.000
17: TUBE 23.880.000
16: Nakamori Akina 25.100.000
15: Amuro Namie 25.750.000
14: L'Arc~en~Ciel 25.760.000
13: SMAP 28.400.000
12: globe 28.600.000
11: Matsuda Seiko 29.260.000
10: CHAGE and ASKA 31.220.000
09: Utada Hikaru 32.160.000
08: ZARD 35.450.000
07: GLAY 35.800.000
06: Matsutoya Yumi 37.790.000
05: Dreams Come True 40.030.000
04: Hamasaki Ayumi 41.030.000
03: Southern All Stars 44.680.000
02: Mr.Children 46.220.000
01: B'z 71.640.000
(Personally I don't think she'll ever outsell B'z. They're still releasing stuff.)
http://www.jmusiceuropa.com/en/jamef...les.php?id=116