I've been one of those people who've listened to Hikki since her Japanese debut and you know how at first artists usually are good and then somehow later on its harder for people to like their newer songs?

That's kinda like how I am. lol

Also being the song to a video game and having tons of new fans who claim it as the best Hikki song after only hearing that one song is kinda...blah.

^ yea I agree. I like her new songs, but her old songs were so much better. I guess I liked Hikki a lot back in the days it's kinda hard to dislike her music now.

I love her songs (:

i think she & Janice are the only asian girl singers i actually like (:

I do agree that her past work is better, but I guess it happens to all artists.
She's still writing wonderful lyrics, but her music is what startles people sometimes.
She's really changed her style up a lot since the early days. I'm still not sure if I like her newer sounds that much, but all I know is that I'll still support Hikki and all the changes she goes through, musically, personally, etc.
As long as she keeps making music to satiate my ears, I'm a very satisfied fan .

FOUR more days until Beautiful World is released! I just got the short music video, so I'm gonna go watch it !

What do you guys think of Precious?
I just listened to the album recently and I don't know what to make of it...I guess I'm not used to it haha
I don't think I'll ever get used to it tho I didn't even really listen to the whole thing...just skipped around here and there.

I only listened to it once, and it was way tooooo RnB-ish for me. Anyway, it was cute coz her voice sounded really young. I liked the PV for Close to You though....she was so tiny there lol. My brother plays Close to You in his computer over and over again because he liked it! (he's a semi-hikki fan XD)


2 more days...I want to hear the full song of Beautiful World.

Yep Yep 2 more days!

She's going to come out in Hey3x next monday!! Can't wait to see her there and perform one of her songs haha

ONE more day actually, since it'll be out tomorrow !
I'm predicting AT LEAsT 20,000+ sales on the first day since it's getting promotions from Evangelion as well.
Since anime songs usually sell less than mainstream music, I'm curious to see if this will be an exception.

Precious was a rather unique album, like Amydien said, it is VERY R&B-ish, since that's the kind of style she started with in America. It was also the popular kind of music back then, so if I think back to the late 90s (with Monica, Brandy, Brian McKnight, etc.) it actually fits in really well.
I don't think I'd be able to listen to the album very much either, since it's so dated and all.
It's nice listening to a young Hikki though.

Beautiful World / Kiss & Cry debuted at #3 on Oricon with 13,290 sales. It's soso. (s'ok, Korean artists would sell their soul to sale this much, ha.)

No #1 for Beautiful World on any chart.

^ LMAO, so true .
Aiiiii...13k is pretty low, three times less than the first day sales of Flavor of Life.
Maybe it'll pick up, ignorant me, I haven't seen who her challengers ever are lol, so I don't know who she'll lose to.

Edit:

Ohhhhhh...She's against L'arc~en~Ciel and EXILE, so they're definitely a challenge.
*Sigh*
I still love the single, #1 or not.

BW / K&C 's first day sales is actually about 22,593 (your suppose to times 13, 290 by 1.7)

^Oh that's interesting. does that work the same for every chart sales? thanks

I don't think this single will even be close to flavor of life's success.

the flavor of life song was in some drama directed to an audience that are media obsessed, so they will surely buy every song that was in it >_>

Evangelion is famous but I think most of the audience are those anime geeks who will just watch the movie and ignore the music in it. even if they liked it, they'll probably just download it cause the social life they have does not include the latest crap in the media (and a lot of those freak fans hate this mainstream utada dude for being the theme song person )

example: in america that High School Musical soundtrack is one of the best selling crap right now, thanks to the fans similar to hana dori (????) ones. You never see music selling to the #1 spot from scifi movies/games even if they were famous. =/

the sells will mostly be from people who followed utada for a long time, not because of evangelion "promotion." it's more like utada promoting evangelion than the movie promoting her single >_>

i think her promotions are pretty horrible compared to other artists too. people that aren't interested in her won't be pulled in by some theme song, ramen commercial song, pvs of clips she's promoting, etc. =/ well atleast we know she sells because of her music, not other gimmicks

^ I know what you mean. All the complainers and anime freaks who called the song out won't even bother to buy the song :/. It's all about marketing, and the Hana Yori Dango audience was a strong market full of teens who would buy music lol.
I'm still hoping for a 100k+ week.

Hikki stays at #3 today with sales of 11,690 (or 19,873 if you multiply by 1.7) which means she had the lowest sales drop compared to the artists occupying the #1 and 2 spots . 40k so far, not bad at all!

her sales are good...
but compared to her past albums... >.<
still very good

#3 again for today with sales of 6,815 (EXILE was #2 with 6,860!) or 11,585 if you multiply it by 1.7.
Evangelion will be released in two days, let's hope it's not to late to revive the sales!

the oricon sales are calculate like this (sometimes it's times by 1.7 or 1.75)


she will most likely stay at #3 for the whole week unless her sales increase a lot for the next 3 days, and usually sales are higher over the weekend

:OOO it's out! sales are not too bad.
i need to go get me a copy. ^^

woah only 14 pages??..... dude she is AWESOME!!!!!! I love her songs!!

She has such a beautiful voice! Her song Hikari was actually my first favorite japanese song!!

Wow...you guys are really doing maths for Hikki's single sales XD

I finally got to listen to Beautiful World.....it's awesome! I think I like this more than Kiss & Cry. It's very relaxing to listen to. Upbeat but still soft.
In fact, Im listening to it while studying haha. It reminds me of her Ultra Blue songs....almost the same style of music. Nice

-edit-
I think she did a great job on Fly Me to the Moon. I dont really like the song, but her version made me love it XD

Haven't been here in two days!
Must update on her sales !

Tuesday: 13290 (#3)
Wednesday: 11691 (#3)
Thursday: 6815 (#3)
Friday: 5512 (#1)
Saturday: 7326 (#1)

x 1.7 = 75,888 copies approximately sold!

I think she has a shot at #2 this week now seeing as EXILE's sales have gone down by a lot.
I'm too lazy to do all the math lol, but I'm pretty sure L'arc~en~Ciel is only ahead by a bit .
WOOT for Hikki!
I'm hoping Evangelion boosts its sales by more .

EDIT:

I decided to do the math afterall...

L'Arc~en~Ceil - My Heart Draws a Dream = 101, 850
EXILE -Toki no Kakera / 24karats -type EX- = 86522

So Hikki is still behind EXILE by 10,000 for the #2 spot...There's still two more chart days left, so hopefully she'll be able to get it. *Crosses fingers*

She's on Hey x3 today, I shall look forward to seeing it! I still haven't watched her on Music Station yet.

it is a close call between Hikki and EXILE, I wonder if Oricon will count the anime shops' sales into her overall first week sales

she might probably be at the #3 this week (again?) from the looks of this week's Ninki numbers for new releases

ahh I have to go dl the Hey 3x episode so I can see her lol
Does she ever perform Kiss & Cry? She only performs Beautiful World I realized.

^she will only perform Kiss & Cry once and that is on Music Station
the rest of her performances will all be Beautiful World

EDIT:
early numbers
#1 - L'arc~en~Ciel - 113k
#2 - EXILE - 95k
#3 - Utada Hikaru - 94k

^ really?
i can't wait to get my hands back on my PC.
when exactly will she perform Kiss & Cry?

#1 again for today, go Hikki! Just one more day before we see the results! I'm just disappointed that her first days sales we so far behind, if only she was in the 20k realm as well, she'd be guaranteed a #1 spot by now, but instead she's still behind L'arc~en~Ciel by about 20,000 copies. Still proud of her though, she was #3 for three days, and now she's #1 for three days . I'm hoping the song will have staying power and sell at least 300k. A 600k and 300k year for Hikki would be amazing already.

Still have to watch her perform! I hope someone uploaded them on youtube already because I have no idea where to find Hikki videos lol.

i like her new single! The song Kiss & Cry sounds so much like one of her ENglish songs from Exodus.. forgot the name of the title ><

Beautiful World / Kiss & Cry's week rank was #3 (I think her peak position is #3, not #1) and her total sales were 93,518. (without the math >_>)

^ Her peak position was #1 on the daily charts, and she was #1 for the passed four days .

Seriously, if only Hikki's first day sales were better she would've been #2, but oh well...She was only behind EXILE by 2000 copies, and I feel like her single will probably outsell L'arc~en~Ciel and EXILE in the end anyway...Since her single has proven to be more consistent, not dropping by such large percentages like the other two. It'll probably still be in the top 5 next week . Go Hikki!

On a happier note, Flavor of Life is still charting after 26 weeks .

wow flavor of life is still on the charts?? that's crazy did you happen to find out who it was that surpassed her sales?

I'm addicted to beautiful world and i was wondering...did she re-do Fly Me to the Moon or is it just kinda altered somehow? I never heard the original so I don't know. I hope she releases an album next year!!

^ #1 was L'arc~en~Ciel and #2 was EXILE .

I'm not sure if she re-recorded the "2007 Mix" either, since I'm not bsolutely familiar with the one from a few years ago.
I just read that it was mixed with more strings and enhanced sound...I still like it though!

Ahhhh...Yeah, we can only pray for a new album next year lol. Knowing Hikki, she'll take another two years to release one, and she's only released two singles, so she'll probably wait until she has at least four under her belt.

No, Hikki didn't re-record it. She just added a few new changes to the melody. x]

I was very positive that the week ranks are what really matters. o_o well some wiki even says her peak position is 3 right now >_>;

^ Yeah, the weekly ranks are what matter most, but the daily charts still matter...Somewhat . I've been tracking Oricon all along while her single has been out, and she was #1 for four days. She's been #2 all week so far, too, only falling because of *sigh* Arashi...
Funny how boybands can just release songs and manage to get #1 spots, they'll get a 150k+ week since their sales are really high...As expected, L'arc~en~Ciel and EXILE have already dropped out of the top 10 and Hikki has probably already surpassed their sales. She'll probably get 50k this week.

GO HIKKI.

i love utada...
she's my #1 over everyone else...
2nd is Dir en grey 8D


i LOVE her new singleeee.....
beautiful world...
beautiful world indeed =]

Akikawa Masafumi's Sen no Kaze ni Natte is the best selling single of 2007 as of now, this single sold more than a million copies (for 2007) and 2 million overall

it is expected Arashi will grab the #1 position cause they have their #1 streak to protect (they have 8 consecutive #1 singles), good thing this didn't happen for their Love so sweet single when Flavor of Life was released

EDIT:

Flavor of Life is the best selling single released in 2007 but it has yet to exceed the 2007 sales of Akikawa Masafumi's single
the oricon year-end charts usually run from December to November

^ I was wondering about that single since it was released in May of last year, would it still count towards the year-end charts? Unless...The single sold 640,000+ in 2007, I don't think it would count, right? If it does indeed not count towards the yearly charts, I can't think of anyone who has had more than 600k...

As for Love So Sweet, they better just be happy it wasn't released at the same time as FoL lol.
I don't think boybands in general have good selling-staying power, the majority of their total sales come from the first week and then they drop rapidly after that (it's the same for most artists, but boybands drop the quickest IMO).

Love So Sweet had a 200k week and so far has a amassed a total of 425k.
FoL had a 270k week and now it's at nearly 640k (I wonder if she'll be able to keep selling around 1k for the next ten weeks to make it a solid 650k?).

An update on her sales:
Beautiful World for this week:
Tuesday: #2 (4088)
Wednesday: #2 (3425)
Thursday: #2 (2367)
Friday: #2 (2604).
Sales total this week (x1.7): 21,223

FoL rose up 35 spots last week to #96 with sales of 1,036!
Only 82 more cds to sell and it'll be exactly 640k.

wow straight 2's. don't think she'll ever truly get #1

btw all her promotions ended with just a few performances

Another #2 for today with boosted sales of 4941 (8400 if multiplying by 1.7) so she scored about 30k this week.
Still not too shabby considering her promotions suck arse...Seriously, I know that Hikki doesn't need the sales anymore since she's already the #9 best selling Japanese artist of all time, but she should still do a bit more to promote her songs.
I just want more people to hear her music, and selling "moderately" isn't going to help much...

*Selfish fan here*

her promotions have finished yeah? man i wanted more perfs of beautiful world and kiss&cry, the utaban 'beautiful world' perf was the best1!

Yep, another #2 for today, with a little boost in her sales. Today was 5513, so up by about 600 copies .

So it'll be 40k this week bringing her total to about 130k for Beatiful World, which is still great seeing as she did hardly any promoting...It has already surpassed last week's #1 and #2 singles in total sales as well .

I really think the only reason why Arashi is doing so well is because they're from Johnny's and we have MatsuJun and Nino in the group. Sorry Arashi fans >.<

Anways... another no.2 for Hikki but yes 130k is still really good ^^

What's that site where you can buy the single and let it count towards the charts?

Wow, Hikki was only 1k behind today from scoring the #1 spot (Another #2 with 3203 copies sold). ^Don't worry, you're not the only one who feels that way lol. JE has all the promoting power in the world, their artists usually will score #1 songs regardless of how 'good' they are.

You can purchase Japanese goods off of http://www.hmv.co.jp and they'll count towards Oricon, pre-sales count, too. Not to meantion, HMV usually prices their cds for much lower prices than you'd find at YesAsia or Amazon.

I wonder if Beautiful World will be able to reach 200k?

...

Beautiful World's second week sales: 51,637 (#2 weekly charts, 145,155 altogether)
Which means she has in fact surpassed EXILE and L'Arc~en~Ciel's sales already, by about 20k.
FoL's sales have not been updated for this week yet.

ahh I feel so bad for asking again ><

does anyone know where I can get all of Hikki's singles? i've checked Boajjang but they only had a few ><

buy the singles collection lol

<3 Kim, there's a lovely thread at bww2 which has just about all her singles (I think he's missing some instrumentals for like...Two singles) but other than that, it's a pretty substantial collection . It's in the Jpop > Singles subforum I believe.

Hikki was at #9 yesterday, but Beautiful World rose two spots to #7 today .
FoL fell to #126 with weekly sales of 836 for the previous week, and I'm still amazed it's stil charting!
I wonder if it'll have a longer charting life than COLORS?

Beautiful World rises to #5 for today .

And she's no.3 today! yay!!

I'm kinda disappointed with the Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry promotion... The PVs were bland and most of her performances were just OK, some were bad.

I love Beautiful World though.

^ Me, too. Having a tie-in with a poplar anime would've translated into massive sales, but her PR team isn't very good. Either that, or Hikki just doesn't want to promote as she used to anymore lol.

Yay, up another two spots to #3! She's still the only artist from 8/29 to still have her single in the top three, let alone top ten. I'm hoping it'll cross the 200k mark.