[Connected]

Something's up...

1. It's clear now that Ayu's rushing to meet the release date.
2. Ayu's releasing a single when she's still touring, especially weird since her summer singles always has lots of promotion.
3. Ayu hasn't released anything in June for five years.

I have two theories about this. Just hear me out.

I think Ayu would have had that last-week-of-July spot if it weren't for Koda. She's had that for 2002 and 2004, and was a week later in 2005, possibly to avoid SMAP (proved to be a good move). So my first theory is, Ayu made way for Koda. Avex is trying EVERYTHING to lift Koda's single sales, as you can see, and as if 12 singles and quadruple A-side ain't enough, Avex is giving Koda the week in which "H" was released.

Or, my second theory is, since the Jan. 1 release date didn't really work for "(miss)understood" or "I am...", for both albums had HUGE falls in second-week sales and never recovered, Avex is targeting the good old second-week-of-December release date again. And to have four singles (as for "(miss)understood") released before then, Ayu has a lot of time to make up. Add to that the fact that "Startin'/Born To Be..." was released earlier in the year than "Free & Easy", "Moments" and "STEP you/is this LOVE?".

Just my two cents.