cube wrote:
OK, I'm seeing a lot of whining and dissapointment here so I'm gonna post what I said in another forum:

First: do these sales include the pre-orders, because IIRC the album hit the top of the pre-order charts (incl Amazon JP) the 1st day it was available for pre-order. Also, honestly, we should be happy with this situation. It's at #1 and it hasn't even been a week yet. In addition to that, a read on another forum that her December concerts had already sold out.

Let's stop and think about all she's done this year:

U.S. / U.K. Tour
In The Flesh 2010 digital video release (apparently by the end of next month)
Pepsi NEX CM (Hymn a whatever)
Pepsi NEX CM (Can't Wait Till Christmas)
Involved in Morinaga's '1 Choco for 1 Smile' campaign (Arashi no Megami)
Movie theme (Show me Love (Not a Dream) for Ashita no Joe)
5 new songs
A PV (Goodbye Happiness)
Best Album
Some public (radio, magazines) appearences
Her first Japanese concerts in 4 years (WILD LIFE)
WILD LIFE will be screened across theatres in Japan, "making this the largest screening of its kind in Japan"
She's on Twitter
WILD LIFE will be broadcast on TV
Her face plastered all over Japanese streets (have you seen those pics on Twitter?) and Japanese magazines

All this keeping in mind that she's essentially dissapeared from Japan for the past 2 years. Considering she's like the quietest celebrity in Japan, we got a lot this year. This must be the most public she's been in her whole career. I'm not happy with these numbers either; but with all that said, we should all stop (censored)ing over sales.

She's still number one (literally) and, shouldn't it only matter that we love her and her music, regardless of sales?