[Charts & Rankings] The IV Oricon Thread of NEXT LEVEL ~Keeps rollin'~

[waterballoon]

ayumixfan: I honestly understand where you're coming from, cos one of the modules I'm taking is Media in Society, and they do talk about the Power Effects Theory and Minimalist Effects Theory.

For her albums, Ayu has always been using the Power Effects Theory, where she puts out a lot of direct promotion, which in terms of music, is letting the public LISTEN to what the album has to offer, and that's what the singles are there for. Singles provide a sort of 'prelude' to an album... and if you like the singles, well you might just buy the album.

So with TV promotion, Ayu basically gets to perform her single, sometimes album songs to the public, and as what another member have mentioned, the honestly best promotion for music is to sample songs to the public.

Moreover, with magazine shoots etc, they will do interviews about upcoming albums etc, and that's how we get linear notes about the songs in an album from Ayu, cos the magazine interviewed her.

I'm an avid magazine reader, and if I chance upon an Ayu interview, I'll most definitely KNOW that she IS releasing an album etc.

But look at NEXT LEVEL. Release date: 25/3/09. And the magazines ABOUT it come out in like... May? Like... hello do they expect magic skyrocket sales in the first month of sales? I really don't know, but I have to say that TV and magazines - DIRECT promotion are the BEST promotions for music, simply because they let the public KNOW about the album, and also get chances to SAMPLE the songs in the album.

Now, back to NEXT LEVEL's promo. With only ONE TV performance of Rule, and a few TV performances of Days... how much will the public know about the single songs? Let's not talk about GREEN and Sparkle cos Ayu has always been promotion one song off a single slightly heavier than the other. But Rule? Like... only once is just really reliable.

Remember: Ayu is not God and not all of Japan likes her. Of course, fans like us would keep up to all her latest news/songs... but casual Japanese? What if they have never heard of Rule before?

That's what TV performances are for. To send out the message of, "Hey Ayu has a new song called Rule! Come check it out!"

Thus, with that pathetic TV performances... I doubt the public knows ENOUGH about NEXT LEVEL to judge whether they wanna buy it.

Also, with the magazines, I've already explained in a previous paragraphs, so yeah.

And yes, I agree with njanjyrap... SunshineSlayer has indeed mentioned that there are LESS billboards about NEXT LEVEL compared to her previous albums.

Of course it appears so large-scale and glam from the photos... but we don't live in Japan either. You told ayumisrael that he doesn't live in Japan, but neither do you, neither do I.

How can you determine whether the outdoor promotion was "enough", or comparable/on par with her previous albums when you yourself don't live in Japan? At least for SunshineSlayer, she's a regular tourist to Japan so her statements about outdoor promos in Japan would be slightly more reliable than mine, or yours. (Sorry if you're like SunshineSlayer but you've not really mentioned that you often go to Japan... so yeah s).

All in all, it's undeniable that NEXT LEVEL had pathetic EFFECTIVE promotion compared to her previous albums. Perhaps we can attribute that to her poor sales, perhaps we can't. But I'm more inclined to the former, seeing how her chart position almost always rises a day after a concert.

Usually, the album promotes the concert. But this time round, I have this hunch that it's the concert promoting the album. Fortunately for Ayu, she's re-singing songs at PCDL = old songs that are also a factor for fans who dislike NEXT LEVEL (for whatever reasons; bad promo, different style) to attend her concert, and in turn, come out of it appreciating NEXT LEVEL more, and even buying it (I think I've mentioned this in a previous post.).

@Karen: Thanks! #7 is a good number. Hopefully it'll go to #5 or something by the end of the Oricon year. *crosses fingers*

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by waterballoon

@Karen: Thanks! #7 is a good number. Hopefully it'll go to #5 or something by the end of the Oricon year. *crosses fingers*

not to be negative sounding Jun Xiang but I kinda doubt it can climb up & prob by Dec , it might not even be in the top 10

you see currently :

TOP 50 ALBUMS 2009

*1 1,222,782 **1,305 SUPERMARKET FANTASY / Mr.Children 08/12/10
*2 *,802,920 **2,214 EXILE BALLAD BEST / EXILE 08/12/03 累計1,746,821
*3 *,618,327 **8,300 DO YOU DREAMS COME TRUE？ / DREAMS COME TRUE 09/03/21
*4 *,466,052 **2,760 レミオベスト / レミオロメン 09/03/09
*5 *,400,735 **1,072 My song Your song / いきものがかり 08/12/24
*6 *,384,192 ***,466 TRICK / 倖田來未 09/01/28
*7 *,357,375 **3,439 NEXT LEVEL / 浜崎あゆみ 09/03/25

difficult leh but miracles can happen somehow or another

[waterballoon]

^ I think it might have a shot in overtaking Kuu, but #5 seems really hard.

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by waterballoon

^ I think it might have a shot in overtaking Kuu, but #5 seems really hard.

yeah I agree with you , it's not easy

then again the rest of the top 50 albums contenders ain't faring well too

TOP 50 ALBUMS 2009
*1 1,222,782 **1,305 SUPERMARKET FANTASY / Mr.Children 08/12/10
*2 *,802,920 **2,214 EXILE BALLAD BEST / EXILE 08/12/03 累計1,746,821
*3 *,618,327 **8,300 DO YOU DREAMS COME TRUE？ / DREAMS COME TRUE 09/03/21
*4 *,466,052 **2,760 レミオベスト / レミオロメン 09/03/09
*5 *,400,735 **1,072 My song Your song / いきものがかり 08/12/24
*6 *,384,192 ***,466 TRICK / 倖田來未 09/01/28
*7 *,357,375 **3,439 NEXT LEVEL / 浜崎あゆみ 09/03/25
*8 *,309,167 **2,021 アルトコロニーの定理 / RADWIMPS 09/03/11
*9 *,249,578 ***,677 シャンブル / ユニコーン 09/02/18
10 *,239,448 **3,918 The Secret Code / 東方神起 09/03/25
11 *,239,057 **1,605 PUZZLE / 関ジャニ∞ 09/04/15
12 *,227,234 **9,219 Break the Records -by you & for you- / KAT-TUN 09/04/29
13 *,217,557 **4,904 This Is The One / Utada 09/03/14
14 *,212,411 ***,*** GIRL NEXT DOOR / GIRL NEXT DOOR 08/12/24
15 *,203,188 **7,754 What's Love？ / JUJU 09/03/04
16 *,195,941 ***,808 アイのうた２ / Various Artists 08/11/26 累計286,559
17 *,193,600 *16,550 つるのうた / つるの剛士 09/04/22
18 *,191,199 **8,005 湘南乃風 ～JOKER～ / 湘南乃風 09/04/08
19 *,179,670 ***,*** LOVE LETTER / 大塚 愛 08/12/17
20 *,161,403 ***,467 AwakEVE / UVERworld 09/02/18
21 *,159,866 **1,220 ファンキーモンキーベイビーズ３ / FUNKY MONKEY BABYS 09/03/04
22 *,158,942 **2,958 銀魂BEST / サウンドトラック 09/03/25
23 *,151,318 **1,315 ANSWER / アンジェラ・アキ 09/02/25
24 *,129,513 ***,935 BEST&USA / BoA 09/03/18
25 *,126,485 **1,110 HeartY / HY 08/04/16 累計418,706
26 *,125,074 ***,515 VOICE / 中島美嘉 08/11/26 累計341,625
27 *,124,841 ***,589 Path of Independence / 平原綾香 08/12/03 累計142,541
28 *,122,710 ***,593 告白 / チャットモンチー 09/03/04
29 *,117,501 ***,*** BLEACH BEST TUNES / Various Artists 08/12/17
30 *,112,435 ***,420 今、キミへ / Lil'B 09/02/11
31 *,107,545 ***,659 Mamma Mia！ The Movie Soundtrack / サウンドトラック 08/12/29
32 *,104,340 ***,*** LOVE！～THELMA LOVESONG COLLECTION～ / 青山テルマ 09/02/11
33 *,102,876 ***,672 うたい去りし花 / Aqua Timez 09/03/11
34 *,102,193 **2,711 そしてもう一度夢見るだろう / 松任谷由実 09/04/08
35 *,*96,578 **1,867 あっ、ども。おひさしぶりです。/ GReeeeN 08/06/25 累計875,156
36 *,*96,198 ***,636 J Soul Brothers / J Soul Brothers 09/02/25
37 *,*93,363 ***,517 RAINBOW / 福原美穂 09/01/28
38 *,*91,015 ***,891 NO LINE ON THE HORIZON / U2 09/02/25
39 *,*90,302 ***,*** touch Me！ / 倉木麻衣 09/01/21
40 *,*89,698 ***,998 マクロスＦ(フロンティア)VOCAL COLLECTION 娘たま♀ / 菅野よう子 08/12/03 累計176,148
41 *,*87,976 ***,932 supercell / supercell feat.初音ミク 09/03/04
42 *,*87,584 ***,783 スタジオジブリの歌 / Various Artists 08/11/26 累計130,296
43 *,*85,569 ***,651 Circus / Britney Spears 08/12/03 累計115,909
44 *,*85,319 ***,*** CODE GEASS COMPLETE BEST / Various Artists 09/01/14
45 *,*84,868 **1,206 セカンド・ストーリー / 秋元順子 08/08/06 累計109,525
46 *,*84,451 ***,828 HYDE / HYDE 09/03/18
47 *,*80,731 ***,*** 雪と氷の旋律(And Winter Come...) / Enya 08/11/12 累計167,817
48 *,*80,491 ***,758 I LOVE UNICORN ～FAN BEST～ / ユニコーン 09/03/18
49 *,*78,278 ***,883 美 我 空 -ビ ガ ク ～my beautiful sky / 剛紫 09/04/10
50 *,*74,460 *11,578 40/40 ～The Best Sellection / Carpenters 09/04/22

[lfe.]

Lol J Soul Brothers sold less than 100k for their 2009 album and Exile thought it was smart to merge with them?

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by lfebaggins

Lol J Soul Brothers sold less than 100k for their 2009 album and Exile thought it was smart to merge with them?

lol

looks like that didn't worked , Charles

[lfe.]

Maybe Karen, I guess we'll see in the long run

Waterballoon, it doesn't have to be that complicated either. Just simply put, Ayu isn't as popular as she used to be and physical album sales in general are on a decline. Less promotion, recession, they can all be excuses but even if those things didn't happen, she probably would have sold around the same amount.

That top 50 albums list kind of goes to show that physical album sales have been steadily declining. There are the few top artists like Mr. Children or EXILE that aren't affected by it but everyone else's have been going down. It makes sense, people would rather digitally download the albums for cheaper than pay for a physical album. The world going digital makes CD sales obsolete, and other things too.

Like streaming websites such as Hulu, where you can watch shows on your computer whenever you like rather than having to watch it on TV on its airing time (unless you have TiVo). You see a lot of TV shows now having less viewers but most of the time its because the networks don't count digital viewing on streaming websites. Why buy CDs or watch TV shows on a television when you can do everything through a computer now?

I think if NEXT LEVEL was released around the same time as GUILTY, it would have better sales because imo NEXT LEVEL is the better album. But as for now, it likely won't reach GUILTY sales, but its reached the standard for present day physical sales.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by lfebaggins

Maybe Karen, I guess we'll see in the long run

Waterballoon, it doesn't have to be that complicated either. Just simply put, Ayu isn't as popular as she used to be and physical album sales in general are on a decline. Less promotion, recession, they can all be excuses but even if those things didn't happen, she probably would have sold around the same amount.

That top 50 albums list kind of goes to show that physical album sales have been steadily declining. There are the few top artists like Mr. Children or EXILE that aren't affected by it but everyone else's have been going down. It makes sense, people would rather digitally download the albums for cheaper than pay for a physical album. The world going digital makes CD sales obsolete, and other things too.

Like streaming websites such as Hulu, where you can watch shows on your computer whenever you like rather than having to watch it on TV on its airing time (unless you have TiVo). You see a lot of TV shows now having less viewers but most of the time its because the networks don't count digital viewing on streaming websites. Why buy CDs or watch TV shows on a television when you can do everything through a computer now?

I think if NEXT LEVEL was released around the same time as GUILTY, it would have better sales because imo NEXT LEVEL is the better album. But as for now, it likely won't reach GUILTY sales, but its reached the standard for present day physical sales.

And considering it's rate at oricon, the single sales and all those tour dates, it seens to be a more popular album than guilty too... Totally agree with u here. People keep comparing Next Level sales with Guilty ones but forgets that everyone was selling better last year... This MEANS something, all the album sales are not declining just because people are not liking the music...

About the promotion... I don't really know if it's bad for ayu to promote less for some time... people already is tired of her, and putting her face everywhere everytime is just going to kill her image there IMO...

If you have a billboard on a place for 3 weeks, you will pay attention at it... if you have the same billboard on the same place for 3 years, it will become part of the landscape and people will not even notice it. This happens to pop artists too

[waterballoon]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

If you have a billboard on a place for 3 weeks, you will pay attention at it... if you have the same billboard on the same place for 3 years, it will become part of the landscape and people will not even notice it. This happens to pop artists too

Excellent point, mate. That's one problem with extensive promotion... I don't know; sometimes it's hard to say if Ayu is losing popularity because she has been *****d out by avex all these years, or some other reason...

And lfebaggins lol, yeah you summarized my post well, and that's the point I'm trying to make. She really isn't getting any popular anymore, and also the sales for physical CDs have been on the downfall, and it's more prevalent now.

But it's just that the promotions issue was brought up so I gave my 2 cents of it.

[lfe.]

^ Oh haha I haven't been keeping up with this thread so I thought you were saying something else.

And Andrenekoi is right, less promotion is probably better. Too much promotion makes the general public get tired and think that the artist is being desperate, even though its the marketing company that does all the promotion rather than the artist.

[SolarAngel]

I just hope her next album will fare better. I really can't see how much worse it can get. I thought selling under 600k was already a tragedy for Guilty, and now this. I hope for more orchestral, classical sounds for her next album. I'm not really feeling all the electronica, dance and light instrumentals =p

[ayumisrael]

Out of the top 50 today.

[Uemarasan]

Originally Posted by njanjayrp

「NEXT LEVEL」 VS 「GUILTY」
1st week : 240,810 | ORICON's Holidays
2nd week : 050,271 | 432,113 [Combined 1st+2nd week]
3rd week : 028,575 | 072,027
4th week : 013,131 | 024,715
5th week : 009,368 | 012,340
6th week : 006,863 | 008,826
7th week : 004,918 | 004,371
8th week : 003,439 | 003,392
Total 8w = 357,375 | 557,784

It seems it's selling the way GUILTY did now.

Would you happen to have a comparison of ranking position instead of sales numbers?

I think Avex has been using Ayu as a guinea pig of sorts for testing new promotional strategies. First was a download-only single (Together When), then an album in USB form, and now using a tour as the primary means to promote and sell an album. Well, even before, they were doing this kind of thing: with the song Rainbow, for instance.

[njanjayrp]

Originally Posted by Uemarasan

Would you happen to have a comparison of ranking position instead of sales numbers?

Sorry, I don't have those though I've managed to find this:
01st week : ORICON's Holidays
02nd week : 432,113 [Combined 1st+2nd week]
03rd week : 072,027
04th week : 024,715
05th week : 012,340
06th week : 008,826
07th week : 004,371
08th week : 003,392
09th week : 002,004
10th week : 001,886
11th week : 001,371
12th week : 001,245
13th week : 001,024
14th week : 000,800
15th week : 000,755
16th week : 000,800
17th week : 000,619
Total 17w = 568,288

NEXT LEVEL's pattern is similar to GUILTY's the last few weeks. So NL might not be able to cross 380k in the end, hopefully it will drop slower from now on

[Andrenekoi]

9th to 17th week sales = 10,504 (Guilty)
if Next Level sales goes more or less like this, in the end it's going to be +- 367,879...
But her stuff is resisting more time on the charts after MW...

[jbrat2219]

Can we really compare anything she did during 2008 to now, considering all the stuff released that year had the 10th anni attached to it, except for the remix albums and GUILTY...

[truehappiness]

I think the tour might help NEXT LEVEL since it's so.. close to the tour, while GUILTY was 3/4 months before the tour.

[ayumisrael]

Because the dates in Osaka were cancelled (unless if ayu plans to do something alternative), the next show is on Wednesday so no any tour boost this week.
Hopefully the sales won't drop too much.

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

Because the dates in Osaka were cancelled (unless if ayu plans to do something alternative), the next show is on Wednesday so no any tour boost this week.
Hopefully the sales won't drop too much.

I hope you're right on that dude because tours definitely can help her in this aspect

& with that we need thread V now xD

[ayumisrael]

^Done. ^__^

I do wonder which alternative show/thing she can possibly do. XD