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A Best

Revision as of 21:31, 2 April 2016 by Brener (talk | contribs) (Oricon Chart Positions)
Album Cover
15th Anniversary Limited Edition Cover
15th Anniversary Regular Edition Cover
Artist
Hamasaki Ayumi
Album
A BEST
Released
2001.03.28 (Japan)
2001.03.29 (Overseas)
2006.07.31 (South Korea - Special Edition)
2012.03.21 (Japan - PLAYBUTTON)
2016.03.28 (15th Anniversary Edition)
Catalog Code
AVCD-11950 (CD - Japan)
AVTCD-95461 (CD - Hong Kong)
AQZD-50667 (PLAYBUTTON)
AVZD-93409/B/C (15th Anniversary Limited Edition)
AVCD-93410 (15th Anniversary Regular Edition)
Price
¥3,059 (CD)
¥2,800 (PLAYBUTTON)
¥9,720 (15th Limited Edition)
¥3,024 (15th Regular Edition)
Tracklist
  1. A Song for ×× (New Vocal & Mix)
  2. Trust (New Vocal & Mix)
  3. Depend on you (New Vocal & Mix)
  4. LOVE ~Destiny~
  5. TO BE
  6. Boys & Girls
  7. Trauma
  8. End roll
  9. appears
  10. Fly high
  11. vogue
  12. Far away
  13. SEASONS
  14. SURREAL
  15. M
  16. Who...
DVD/Blu-ray Tracklist (15th Anniversary Edition)
  1. Trust
  2. Depend on you
  3. LOVE ~Destiny~
  4. TO BE
  5. Boys & Girls
  6. appears
  7. Fly high
  8. vogue ~ Far away ~ SEASONS
  9. SURREAL
  10. M


Information

A BEST is the first "best of" album released by Hamasaki Ayumi. There is some controversy surrounding this album as it has the same release date of Utada Hikaru's Distance album, thus staggering the sales of both albums. Whether avex intentionally pushed the release of this album to be at the same time as Distance remains a controversial topic. It is also rumored that the cover image, depicting Ayumi with a tear rolling down her cheek, was chosen by her as a protest to the false media reports that she and Utada are personal rivals.

The songs "A Song for ××", "Trust" and "Depend on you" were re-recorded for this album along with "End roll," which wasn't announced to be re-recorded, and "Boys & Girls," which had a new instrumental part but the voice still being the same as the older version. Though this was her best selling album, Hamasaki Ayumi opposed of it publicly, stating "it was too early for release". This album sold more than 4,300,000 copies to date. The album reached #1 on the Oricon Album Charts and charted for 48 weeks. A BEST was re-released the same day as for A BEST 2 -BLACK- and A BEST 2 -WHITE-.

The album was re-released as A BEST -15th Anniversary Edition- fifteen years later, including remastered tracks by Stephen Marcussen. It was released in two versions: a deluxe CD+DVD+Blu-ray that comes with a t-shirt, anniversary book, sumapura music, and sumapura movie, and a CD Only edition that comes with sumapura music.

Covers

The album came in a slipcase, with 6 different possible cover images for the booklet.

ABESTJacketA.jpg
ABESTJacketB.jpg
ABESTJacketC.jpg
ABESTJacketD.jpg
ABESTJacketE.jpg
ABESTJacketF.jpg

Charts & Sales

Oricon Chart Positions

Original release

Oricon Chart (Japan)

Week 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
Position 2 1 2 3 4 5 9 9 9 16
Sales 2,874,870 510,160 240,950 130,390 103,250 89,550 37,020 30,890 24,260 20,140
Week 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Position 17 16 21 23 23 21 26 34 30 31
Sales 18,370 14,960 13,840 12,570 10,840 11,630 9,530 8,030 7,500 8,060
  • Total Sales Reported: 4,295,353


A BEST -15th Anniversary Edition-
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Week Rank Sales
- - - 9 25 11 2 9 9,413
4 20 17 18 19 - - x x
- - - - - - - x x
- - - - - - - x x
- - - - - - - x x
- - - - - - - x x
- - - - - - - x x
- - - - - - - x x
Year Month Month Rank Sales
2016 March x x
  • Total Sales: 9,413*

Charts Positions

Country Chart 2006 Weeks 2007 Weeks

01

02

11

12

Japan Worldwide 2 1 - -
Japan All Music - 1 327 -
Japan Greatest Hits Best Sellers 1 1 30 -
Japan J-pop Best Sellers - 1 135 -
Japan J-pop Greatest Hits 1 1 23 -

Downloads

  • A BEST was the 3rd most downloaded album in Japan in 2014, 13 years after the original release.
  • A BEST was the 2nd most downloaded album in Japan in 2015, 14 years after the original release.

External Links