[Charts & Rankings] Rule/Sparkle - ORICON STYLE

[freedreamer]

GREAT! for this context

[SolarAngel]

Originally Posted by maikaru

a lot of people in this forum like to exagerate how unpopular Ayumi is..

Precisely! She may not be the most popular singer in Japan like she was 7+years ago but she is definitely still one of the most popular. Her albums make top 10 and 2nd most profitable artist, that has to count for something. My friend who lived in Japan recently was reassuring me that Ayu's presence is still very strongly felt and even though people don't buy her singles anymore, they definitely haven't forgotten her.

For the single, I was hoping for stronger sales but there's the movie debut to look forward to and can't wait to see how Next Level goes.

[waterballoon]

Oh yay more than a 100k now!

[MissElin_]

Ah that is great! It actually did much better then I thought! ^^

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by SolarAngel

Precisely! She may not be the most popular singer in Japan like she was 7+years ago but she is definitely still one of the most popular.

I haven't seen anyone - including myself - state anything to the contrary though. It has always been - "Yes she is still one of the most popular female singers, but she is also losing some of her popularity." I think it really stands out for Ayu - at least for me being in Japan several times and reading Japanese message boards - because she does in fact have a lot of "anti's" in Japan that just simply do not like her persona and they are very vocal. Whereas you would be hard pressed to find, for example, Namie "anti's."

And yes, I too was very surprised how relatively well this single did. I would also like to know though what the sales would have been had there not been 3 different versions with different track lists. I guess a sale is a sale no matter what, but it would be interesting to see how many people bought more than 1 version.

[aqua_crystal]

*claps* OMG!! Almost 100,000 slaes! Plus, it's great to see she's still on No.1!

[kuri♥ayu]

woo hoo! passed 100k!!

[jbrat2219]

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

2nd Week first Day:

Position: #1
Sales: 3,061 x 1.75 = 5,357

Well it sold over 100,000 =D

Well, damn! O_O....

[rakeru]

100k! respectable sales, especially considering how little everyone else is selling.

[Sironigous]

Over 100k. Very very nice.

[lfe.]

Hmm I'm predicting 125k at the end of the second week

[TITANIC]

i think this single will end with 140K-150K mark

[JCD13]

Niceee. The sales were great, considering the circumstances. Shows that there is still A LOT of interest in Ayu.

[KarenPang]

everyone can breath a sigh of relief now that R&S is officially #1

so it's time for my Johnny's boys ARASHI & KAT-TUN to do their work now , ayumi can just sit back & take a good rest

[Uemarasan]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

I think it really stands out for Ayu - at least for me being in Japan several times and reading Japanese message boards - because she does in fact have a lot of "anti's" in Japan that just simply do not like her persona and they are very vocal. Whereas you would be hard pressed to find, for example, Namie "anti's."

That's good to know. That means Ayu is still relevant as an artist if she provokes that kind of love/hate. I personally believe the relevance of any artist is suppressed once that artist generates consensus and general goodwill.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Uemarasan

That's good to know. That means Ayu is still relevant as an artist if she provokes that kind of love/hate. I personally believe the relevance of any artist is suppressed once that artist generates consensus and general goodwill.

Hmmm, that's true, but I really think it's more true in America than in Japan. For example, B'z, Southern All Stars, Mr. Children, SMAP etc, are pretty much all universally liked yet I don't think anyone in Japan would consider them irrelevant.

[SolarAngel]

Hope her daily index can still be seen for the next week or so. And actually, i think it's a good thing if an artiste generates consensus and general goodwill. Some controversies are inevitable but some hate is completely unjustified. Like when this guy friend of mine knows i support ayu he was like "yuck why?" And I asked him why he said yuck and he couldn't really give me an answer. Kind of -__-"

[Uemarasan]

Originally Posted by SunshineSlayer

Hmmm, that's true, but I really think it's more true in America than in Japan. For example, B'z, Southern All Stars, Mr. Children, SMAP etc, are pretty much all universally liked yet I don't think anyone in Japan would consider them irrelevant.

I think that's because these musical acts have already been around long enough that they are at that stage in their artistic careers that they are regarded as masters at their craft already. For me, the artist always begins as some sort of enfant terrible, dividing opinion, and then matures and eventually becomes the gatekeeper of their chosen art. All the acts you've mentioned are heading towards that already

And Akira Kurosawa and Kenji Mizoguchi were actively disliked in Japan before they became designated as important cultural properties, so I don't think it's more true in America than it is in Japan. The same love/hate happens in a lot of the Japanese arts: ceramics, theater, dance. Butoh is still marginalized, but its influence on modern dance is staggering.

It's too early for Ayu to be beloved and bestowed some sort of greatness at this point in her career. I want her to continue to explore musical and cultural territories even to the point that she is hated for doing such. I know I keep on bringing it up in this forum, but it's disappointing that Hikki has been so willingly embraced this early on. Her music has fossilized, in my opinion. It has stopped evolving artistically.

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Uemarasan

I think that's because these musical acts have already been around long enough that they are at that stage in their artistic careers that they are regarded as masters at their craft already. For me, the artist always begins as some sort of enfant terrible, dividing opinion, and then matures and eventually becomes the gatekeeper of their chosen art. All the acts you've mentioned are heading towards that already

And Akira Kurosawa and Kenji Mizoguchi were actively disliked in Japan before they became designated as important cultural properties, so I don't think it's more true in America than it is in Japan. The same love/hate happens in a lot of the Japanese arts: ceramics, theater, dance. Butoh is still marginalized, but its influence on modern dance is staggering.

It's too early for Ayu to be beloved and bestowed some sort of greatness at this point in her career. I want her to continue to explore musical and cultural territories even to the point that she is hated for doing such. I know I keep on bringing it up in this forum, but it's disappointing that Hikki has been so willingly embraced this early on. Her music has fossilized, in my opinion. It has stopped evolving artistically.

Ok, but with all of those artists that I mentioned, they never had a time when they were actively hated by the general public. So I still don't think that this theory works quite as well in Japan. I agree about Hikki though. Pretty much everyone in Japan loves her for some reason or another. Her first few albums were great but I feel that her music has generally been boring and not up to standard the last few years.

[Meat Pao]

I'm happy as long as this single outsells talkin' 2 myself which isn't too far away, LOL.