[Charts & Rankings] NEXT LEVEL Official Sales & Positions Thread II ~the opening Run~

[v3lun420]

^ I doubt it. The name "UTADA" itself worth something, even without promotion I believe Utada should sell more than, if not at least, 100k in its 1st week. Something is really going wrong there nowadays.
And yes... this IS the first time ever for Ayu, and probably also apply to other artists, that Ayu beat Utada in its 1st week sales. And Utada had higher NINKI index, so probably we really can't rely on that index number anymore...

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

this week has like NO new albums coming out...that's soooo weird o_O...ayu could have had a second week at numer 1 if DCT wasn't there xDD

[baoanhnguyen]

Originally Posted by tokyoxjapanxfan

this week has like NO new albums coming out...that's soooo weird o_O...ayu could have had a second week at numer 1 if DCT wasn't there xDD

thats been the case lately....just one artist keeps her from the #1 stop in the second week....its annoying.

[~Inori~]

Originally Posted by v3lun420

^ I doubt it. The name "UTADA" itself worth something, even without promotion I believe Utada should sell more than, if not at least, 100k in its 1st week. Something is really going wrong there nowadays.
And yes... this IS the first time ever for Ayu, and probably also apply to other artists, that Ayu beat Utada in its 1st week sales. And Utada had higher NINKI index, so probably we really can't rely on that index number anymore...

Well Ayumi had a full week, Utada had three days. So comparing the two isn't really fair. A name is just a name. "UTADA" means nothing without any promotion.

NINKI means nothing it doesn't predict sales, just how many people, out of 400, are interested in the album.

[v3lun420]

^ I know this is off topic, but how come she only had 3 days??? She released TitO on friday/saturday???

edit:
and for some people, NINKI means a lot. I knew there's someone here who showed off that Utada had higher NINKI than Ayu... He/she posted it with much proud which made me cringe a bit... at that time
And sorry.... I still think Utada's name worth something, and I'll drop this name's worth something issue right at this moment, I won't say anything anymore about this.

[~Inori~]

Originally Posted by v3lun420

^ I know this is off topic, but how come she only had 3 days??? She released TitO on friday???

No clue. It was originally supposed to be released on Wednesday though.

edit:
and for some people, NINKI means a lot. I knew there's someone here who showed off that Utada had higher NINKI than Ayu... He/she posted it with much proud which made me cringe a bit... at that time

They should know NINKI doesn't mean anything. They go into megafan mode over stuff like that, that's why you gotta try your best and ignore some fans.

[sparkle glitter]

Originally Posted by Yoo Bin

You can't really say that about any artist. Just because it's their name doesn't mean it's going to sell especially if there is no promotion at all. You see how Namie's single did...girl didn't really do no promotion (other than that VS cm) and it's a drastic decline when you compare it to 60s70s80s. ** You can say the same for American artists in America. No promotion, the more likely it'll flop....no matter who you are. Promotion is key to everything when it comes to releasing music which TITO and W/D didn't really have at all. Now that I think about it, Best&USA didn't have much promotion either.

The promotion for WILD/Dr. was excellent. WILD HEALTH. BoA had like 4-5 TV lives performing Eien, and a performance for UNIVERSE. BoA was featured in many japanese magazines. Pretty good promotion. Utada should have been able to sell better than she did, promotion or no promotion, english album or not. She's Utada.

Why do some people like to live in denial and not accept that maybe just maybe people are losing interest in their favorite artist?

[v3lun420]

^ Agree.... Same goes to Ayu too....

[jbrat2219]

As long as we're still interested that's all that matters, right? hahaha.

[Yoo Bin]

Originally Posted by sparkle glitter

The promotion for WILD/Dr. was excellent. WILD HEALTH. BoA had like 4-5 TV lives performing Eien, and a performance for UNIVERSE. BoA was featured in many japanese magazines. Pretty good promotion. Utada should have been able to sell better than she did, promotion or no promotion, english album or not. She's Utada.

Ummmm ok Namie had two CMs. whatever. It still was bad compared to 60s70s80s. =/ Also, the Eien/Universe performances were to promote the single, not the best album and she had like 3 magazine articles...decent promotion but not that decent. TITO virtually had nothing to persuaded people to buy it. There are tons of American singers who are just as popular as jpop singers but sell just about the same as TITO did (and that's with little promotion). I'm not trying to make excuses for Utada but even if her name is Utada, it still doesn't mean much to nothing without promotion. That same goes for every artist.

Originally Posted by sparkle glitter

Why do some people like to live in denial and not accept that maybe just maybe people are losing interest in their favorite artist?

I dun know. Would you care to share what you think?

[TITANIC]

Originally Posted by v3lun420

^ I doubt it. The name "UTADA" itself worth something, even without promotion I believe Utada should sell more than, if not at least, 100k in its 1st week. Something is really going wrong there nowadays.
And yes... this IS the first time ever for Ayu, and probably also apply to other artists, that Ayu beat Utada in its 1st week sales. And Utada had higher NINKI index, so probably we really can't rely on that index number anymore...

not the 1st time.. in 2002 Ayu's single H outsold hikki's single travelling and all singles in 2002 "D

[sparkle glitter]

Originally Posted by Yoo Bin

Ummmm ok Namie had two CMs. whatever. It still was bad compared to 60s70s80s. =/ Also, the Eien/Universe performances were to promote the single, not the best album and she had like 3 magazine articles...decent promotion but not that decent. TITO virtually had nothing to persuaded people to buy it. There are tons of American singers who are just as popular as jpop singers but sell just about the same as TITO did (and that's with little promotion). I'm not trying to make excuses for Utada but even if her name is Utada, it still doesn't mean much to nothing without promotion. That same goes for every artist.


I dun know. Would you care to share what you think?

Yeah, you have no idea what you're talking about. You know what Utada had to persuade people to buy it? Her NAME. Same with Ayumi Hamasaki. Whether you want to believe it or not, it's the truth.

[Yoo Bin]

^That's only a fraction of the truth. Dude, I could give you soooo many examples as a name meaning nothing without promotion...or shall I say without decent/great/excellent promotion but even if I did, you prolly be too blind to see what I mean. Let's just agree to disagree ok.

[zyoeru]

Well, Ayumi's 2nd week sales are fairly abysmal, but we have to consider the recession, I mean, whoa, her albums cost quite a lot compared to British and American artists who are much more well known than Ayumi.
But there is a possibility that the people of Japan are tired of her, but who can say? She's still in the top 3 at least, which is something. To me good record sales aren't all that important really, because a lot of Japan's best artists regularly fail to make the top spots in ORICON.
We've just gotta calm down about her losing her placements, she's had 10 fantastic years of being number 1, so what if her records falter a little.

But having said that, avex have been so stupid releasing Rule/Sparkle, NEXT LEVEL, and now PCDL 08-09 more or less at the same time.
They should have released NEXT LEVEL more towards the summer after releasing Rule/Sparkle in March, then NEXT LEVEL/Curtain call in April, then NEXT LEVEL in May, even a month after each other is better than nothing. Also, she should have performed Rule more than once, Sparkle at least once, and maybe NEXT LEVEL and Curtain call.
I mean, a TV live for promotion really isn't a lot to ask for, it's not like it'll hinder her tour preps.

And maybe the USBs will bump her sales a little, but not THAT much. It's okay, two low selling albums isn't a lot. ;P

^^ That's my two-pennies worth. xD

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by Yoo Bin

Ummmm ok Namie had two CMs. whatever. It still was bad compared to 60s70s80s. =/ Also, the Eien/Universe performances were to promote the single, not the best album and she had like 3 magazine articles...decent promotion but not that decent. TITO virtually had nothing to persuaded people to buy it. There are tons of American singers who are just as popular as jpop singers but sell just about the same as TITO did (and that's with little promotion). I'm not trying to make excuses for Utada but even if her name is Utada, it still doesn't mean much to nothing without promotion. That same goes for every artist.


I dun know. Would you care to share what you think?

Eien single was made to promote the best of. All the Eien perfs were actually there to promote BEST&USA as we all knew the single would flop.

And just because she is Utada don't u think she should sell more than other American artists in Japan with almost the same amount of promo the other US artists have in Japan (PVs being aired and occasional magazine interviews)?

But then again this has nothing to do with Hikki..Hopefully in the long run Ayu will manage to sell over 400k. And I am hoping that she'll take a more serious approach to her albums in the future and work on the lyrics like she did with MY STORY, compose more or write a song like Days that people will be able to relate to easier.

[freedreamer]

Lol..they dont release on April's fools? ahha

[babamon]

2nd week 3rd day

*1　8,132　ドリ
*2　7,209　浜崎
*3　5,107　東方

Not a big drop..

[MissElin_]

^Thx for the update. Not to big drop but yeah. I really thought it would still be higher in all...

[keikeiaznqueen]

Well, here's to the hope for longetivity. It's the only thing left (and the USBs.) I hope NEXT LEVEL surpasses 400k. 450k if it gets an A COMPLETE style longetivity. (ASFXX style would be nice, though. 100 weeks charting. )

And kinda off topic, but as for the discussion about whether or not a name means something, I think what Yoo Bin means by 'a name meaning nothing when there's no promotion' is that if you don't promote, or in other words, let the consumers *know* that this name is now releasing something, the value of the name goes down. Because while the name is there, it's not reaching people. A name has value when people immediately recognise it and are drawn to it after seeing it being promoted.

So for example, if I see Ayu's NEXT LEVEL promotion on a billboard in the subway, I will recognise Ayu's name and think to myself that I'll go get the new album. But if Ayu's promotion wasn't there at the subway, or at places that I walk pass, then the name, even if normally would have value if I see it, will now lose its value because I *can't* see it. Does that make sense? I, as a casual listener, am not reminded on an occasional basis that Ayu's new album exists. Because I don't actively try and seek new information about Ayu out, I won't remember that she has released something and won't make the effort to go buy it.

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by keikeiaznqueen

Well, here's to the hope for longetivity. It's the only thing left (and the USBs.) I hope NEXT LEVEL surpasses 400k. 450k if it gets an A COMPLETE style longetivity. (ASFXX style would be nice, though. 100 weeks charting. )

And kinda off topic, but as for the discussion about whether or not a name means something, I think what Yoo Bin means by 'a name meaning nothing when there's no promotion' is that if you don't promote, or in other words, let the consumers *know* that this name is now releasing something, the value of the name goes down. Because while the name is there, it's not reaching people. A name has value when people immediately recognise it and are drawn to it after seeing it being promoted.

So for example, if I see Ayu's NEXT LEVEL promotion on a billboard in the subway, I will recognise Ayu's name and think to myself that I'll go get the new album. But if Ayu's promotion wasn't there at the subway, or at places that I walk pass, then the name, even if normally would have value if I see it, will now lose its value because I *can't* see it. Does that make sense? I, as a casual listener, am not reminded on an occasional basis that Ayu's new album exists. Because I don't actively try and seek new information about Ayu out, I won't remember that she has released something and won't make the effort to go buy it.

But hikki got 17 articles in 17 different magazines for This Is The One.
People never mention it like it's not a big number of magazines and it's at least a decent promotion. =D

Meanwhile at least sales are consistent for NL (in dailies).