Hey, I know Music Station did a countdown of the 50 Best-selling artists ever in Japan in a special back in 2005 (with singles+albums included) and Utada was #9 with upwards of 32 million units sold at that point. Obviously there have been several albums and singles from her since that point, so I wanted us, the fans, as a community here utada.net to research and assemble here the latest info and stats on all the following from LEGIT sources online(I've almost given up in frustration finding out much if any of this on my own ):

1. Her Total Japanese Single Sales/Shipments/RIAJ certification/Oricon Chart Run through October 2010
2. Her Total Japanese Album Sales/Shipments/RIAJ certifications/Airplay/Digital Downloads/Oricon chart run through October 2010 (including her Single Collection Volume #1)
3. Her Total English Album Sales/Shipments/RIAJ certifications/Oricon chart run through October 2010
4. Her Total English Single Sales/Oricon chart run where applicable/Airplay/Digital Downloads through October 2010
5. Her Total Sales of ANY/ALL Albums and Singles (Japan) through October 2010
6. Her Total Sales of ANY/All Albums and Singles (Worldwide) through October 2010

Even more difficult and ominous to come by, can someone please figure out or find somebody who knows for sure what her DVD/VHS sales (include DVD singles) and RIAJ certifications are? I can find them so easily on any other major mainstream J-pop artist of the moment(Ayu,Koda,Glay,Mr.Children,all the Johnny's Boy Bands,etc.) but not Utada despite the fact she's won the Golden Disc twice for the highest sales of 2000 and 2004 in that category ~go figure~. I know Arashi recently broke her record for longest stint at returning to #1 on the Overall DVD chart, but I'd really like (no, LOVE) it if someone can tell me the individual chart run and overall sales stats of the following !:

1. Utada Hikaru Single Clip Collection Vol.1 - December 12, 1999
2. Bohemian Summer 2000 - December 19, 2000
3. Utada Hikaru Single Clip Collection Vol.2 - September 27, 2001
4. Utada Hikaru Unplugged - November 11, 2001
5. Utada Hikaru Single Clip Collection Vol.3+ - September 30, 2002
6. UH Live Streaming 20Dai wa Ike Ike! - March 29, 2003
7. Utada Hikaru in Budokan 2004: Hikaru no 5 - July 28, 2004
8. Utada Hikaru Single Clip Collection Vol.4 - September 27, 2006
9. Utada United 2006 - December 20, 2006
DVD Singles
10. Wait & See: Risk - June 30, 2000
11. Traveling - January 30, 2002
12. Colors - March 12, 2003
13. Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro - July 28 2004
14. Easy Breezy - August 3, 2004

I tried backtracking in Oricon yearly and weekly archives, as well as Utada's profile page on the site, using Google's translator but to no avail; I'm thinking someone out there reading this is much better going about this then me. Anyways, let us all know what you can find out by posting answers here or if you need any help from yours truly! I'm a mere private message away...

I wanna see :)

mmm interesting

Quote:

Me, too!

Let me see it!

let's see

don't see anything

I wanna see

Search through google

some of her album sales record

http://forums.flopofthepops.com/showthread.php?t=1960

Albums released by Utada (sales in Japan only):

Japanese albums:

First love (1999): 8,53 million (estimated by RIAJ)
Distance (2001): 4,47 million
Deep River (2002): 3,6 million
Ultra Blue (2006): 1,082 million
Heart Station (2008): 1,35 million

Compilation Albums

Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1 (2004): 2,6 million


US albums:

Precious (1998): Japan: 702,000++ (failed to chart in the USA / no Soundscan information available)
Exodus (2004): Japan: 1,075 million / USA: #160 Soundscan: (55,000)
This Is the One (2009): Japan: 235,000 / USA: #69 [#19 US iTunes] Soundscan: (??? / estimation: 25,000-35,000)

Utada's achievements

Albums on Oricon's list of most successful albums ever:

First Love: #1 (8,53 million: Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) / 7,65 million (Oricon, no catalogue sales included)
Distance: #4 (4,47 million)
Deep River: #8 (3,6 million)
Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1: #35 (2,6 million)
Heart Station: #271 (1,35 million - the list has not been updated since early 2009.)
Exodus: #247 (1,075 million)

Some other Utada records/milestones:

Japanese Achievements:

1) She has released 4 million selling singles
2) She has achieved 12 #1s on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart
3) Her album "Distance" (2001) sold well over 3.000.000 during it's first week of release, more than any other album worldwide. In the US the fastest selling album is "No String Attached" by *NSync which sold 2,4 million copies during it's debut week in the USA only. It's worldwide sales during that week must be between 2,5 million - 2,6 million approximately. Thus, Utada's record as the fastest selling studio album worldwide still stands (with a margin of approximately 500,000 copies)
4) Utada's 2007 blockbuster #1 single sold about 651,000 physical copies. Nevertheless, EMI has announced total digital sales of over 8,180,000. Those sales were generated by iTunes and other Japanese music download sites, which have become staggeringly popular nowadays in Japan. Digital single and album sales are way higher than the respective US digital record sales nowadays, even though, the USA is expected to replace Japan as the #1 country in digital sales very soon.
5) Utada has released one 8 million selling digital single, two (almost) 3 million selling ones, two 2 million selling ones, and three more 1 million selling ones (of which one has sold 1,96 million and will soon have surpassed the 2 million mark). Generally, she must be one of the biggest digital selling artist ever.
6) According to Music Station Utada is the 9th best selling artist of all time in Japan. She is also the 4th most successful female artist according to the same source.
7) All of her Japanese albums have debuted at #1 on Oricons Weekly Album Chart with record-breaking sales.

International Achievements:
1) Utada has achieved several #1 and top 10 albums in Asian countries such as Korea, China, Singapore etc. Her album "First Love" has achieved worldwide sales of about 10-11 million copies (most of them sold in Asia).
2) Utada has achieved one #1 single, one #5 and one #24 single on the US Dance/Club Play ("Devil Inside" [2004], "Come back To Me" [2009] and "Exodus '04" [2005] respectively).
3) Her US single "Come Back to Me" (2009) hit #93 on the US Pop Charts. It also received substantial airplay peaking at #69 on the US Pop 100 Airplay and at #39 on the US Rhythmic 40 Airplay.
4) Utada has also achieved minor commercial success in the UK, with her 2005 single "You Make Me Want to Be a Man" hitting #227 on the UK Singles Chart


Utada has also released two albums that have failed to chart on the Oricon Weekly chart under the pseudonym U3, titled "Star" (1993) and "Are Kara 10 Nen Kinen Ban" (2003).


And other info about Utada,
http://www.hotexpress.co.jp/artist/337/all.html#review

An example or litmus test of how difficult it is to get independently verified audited figures that make any sense can only be gleamed from EMI published performance information...

http://www.vernimmen.com/ftp/OC-EMI.pdf


Above is EMI 2003 September issue of US$243,343,000 Guaranteed Convertible Bonds that are due 2010.....

Page 2 shows Utada?s Deep River audited sales of 4.2 million this figure has to be to proven, as an income bond of this type must assure the investor that there will be agreed and thus guaranteed income with a payment structure that shows a set amount during the whole period of the investment, thus affording a guarantee that the capital will remain intact at the end.....

Move to page 76 ....and a breakdown of Hikki 3rd album is consolidated and reconciled.....

Bluesfighter09 calls for legit on line sources....

I will endeavour make a request for 10 years worth of EMI annual reports , that will highlight EMI artists success in hard numbers that have to be proven on the balance sheet, and show a consolidated cash flow statement, all available on request of communication to the Board.....

I agree it is frustrating that RIAJ certifications frankly draw sales returns from 26000 outlets, and physical CD sales only, although this is an electronic process we have to be aware that these sales are commiserate to 26000 outlets only.......

To build an official Sales/Certification report/database on Hikki's VHS/DVD etc. sales? (By Fans for the Fans) that that resembles any accuracy will take time ...