Ayu ~Anything Goes: A Thread for XX~

[pedronekoi]

Anyone know where this picture is from? Saw on Instagram!

[YUKARI]

^ it's from a calendar
2004 or 2005

[Aderianu]

yes, calendar 2004 http://zyrex.org/gallery/Ayumi1/Calendars/2004/

[Bigtop]

Looks like Ayu's reign as the highest-selling female artist in terms of CD sales has come to an end, unfortunately.

【オリコン】AKB48、音楽CD総売上5100万枚超え 女性歌手1位/歴代3位に浮上
http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2096754/full/

AKB48's 49th single "#SukiNanda" sold 1,089,288 in in the week. It is their 36th #1 single and their 31st million seller (30th consecutive). But that's not the key takeaway.

The key takeaway is that with "#SukiNanda," AKB48 has now put themselves on top of the Oricon all-time female artist CD sales rankings, with nearly 51.3 million CDs sold throughout the 11 and a half years in existence. Ayu has 50,675,000, and her CD sales (if she ever releases more) are pretty much all but dead.

Oricon rankings: All-time CD sales ranking, female artists, top three

1. AKB48 - 51,298,000
2. Ayumi Hamasaki - 50,675,000
3. Yumi Matsutoya - 39,581,000

(Well, the bulk of the sales were on the first day, so Ayu's reign was already over just on the first day of #SukiNanda's release last week...)

(To be clear though Ayumi Hamasaki is one soloist while AKB48, as what someone said, is a revolving door of members. Ayu's still the highest-selling among not just female soloist but ANY soloist, since the only two artists that AKB48 are behind all-time considering all artists are two male groups - B'z and Mr.Children.)

[lizzylovesongaku]

Originally Posted by Bigtop

Looks like Ayu's reign as the highest-selling female artist in terms of CD sales has come to an end, unfortunately.

【オリコン】AKB48、音楽CD総売上5100万枚超え 女性歌手1位/歴代3位に浮上
http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2096754/full/

AKB48's 49th single "#SukiNanda" sold 1,089,288 in in the week. It is their 36th #1 single and their 31st million seller (30th consecutive). But that's not the key takeaway.

The key takeaway is that with "#SukiNanda," AKB48 has now put themselves on top of the Oricon all-time female artist CD sales rankings, with nearly 51.3 million CDs sold throughout the 11 and a half years in existence. Ayu has 50,675,000, and her CD sales (if she ever releases more) are pretty much all but dead.

Oricon rankings: All-time CD sales ranking, female artists, top three

1. AKB48 - 51,298,000
2. Ayumi Hamasaki - 50,675,000
3. Yumi Matsutoya - 39,581,000

(Well, the bulk of the sales were on the first day, so Ayu's reign was already over just on the first day of #SukiNanda's release last week...)

I mean, I guess it's kinda sad, but she's still the highest selling solo artist, so I'm okay with it. With the way AKB48 sells, it was bound to happen sooner or later. But it doesn't take away for all of Ayu's success or accomplishments. Let them have the title, it doesn't really take anything away from Ayu.

[pedronekoi]

It doesn't even bother because it's AKB48. We know their career can't be compared to Ayu's... (no shade to akb48 but...)

[Aderianu]

I wish artists like akb have their own chart ...

[Toniayu123]

But they're a band, it's not the same imo.

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

Not to mention AKB is a revolving door of members. It's not even the same group of people representing all of the sales.

For the sake of sales, yes they've reached number 1. But Ayu still holds it for solo female artist.

Though I feel like the lack of plural in Japanese allows for this type of overlapping lol. A group is not an artist, it's a group of artists working as a collective unit.

Reading the Japanese comments, it seems for the most part people are agreeing that their being in the same category is unfair. I also read a comment that essentially said "they're probably number 1 in the world for artists who's CDs are being thrown away/treated as garbage as well." (in regards to individuals buying multiple copies)

[Gustavopc]

This reminds me of when their DVD topped Kuu's secret first class limited live lol But indeed she still holds it for a female soloist which is already good for itself

[kendelle]

I'm not bothered since it's AKB lol they're in a different league, even though I don't really follow them much anymore. I think it's still amazing that no 1 is a group and the 2nd and 3rd are soloists, it still shows they are amazing on their own merit

[Katsuyuki012]

Isn't Ayu at like 80 million due to Recochoku?

[Corvina]

Originally Posted by Tio/Tayumi

Isn't Ayu at like 80 million due to Recochoku?

Oricon is physical sales only.

But man, I'd like to see a day, where people would stop turning everything into a popularity contest.

[EndOfTheWorld]

I don't care about AKB48 and all their sub groups. It's too bad that creative artists aren't the ones selling millions anymore.
But it doesn't take away from Ayu. Sales don't matter too much. I care more about the music.

[DonkeyKongRemix]

I'm once again working on a new story, and I'm considering using Ayu as slight inspiration for one of my characters.

Which means...I need to put together a really specific playlist when working on their design.

[melissalove]

No one can stay on top forever, so I'm not mad. Ayu has accomplished a lot and I'm proud of her.

[Bigtop]

Just want to clarify: Ayu's still the highest-selling soloist - male or female - in the all-time Oricon CD sales numbers.

She may have lost the female artists overall (if combining groups and soloists), but she's still the top-selling soloist of all time in Oricon history.

[kendelle]

I think we should make a thread about all the weird stuff Ayu's face is plastered on

I had no idea there was apparently a COLORS red wine!

Spoiler:

https://web.archive.org/web/20170905...ion/t530458520

[Aderianu]

^prize at pachinko game?

[~angel*ayumi~]

Originally Posted by Aderianu

^prize at pachinko game?

Jup^^