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A Best

From generasia
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 - Japan)
2016.04.06 (15th Anniversary Edition - Taiwan)
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 51 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.

Charts & Sales

Hamasaki promoting the album.

Oricon Chart Positions

Original release
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Week Rank Sales
- - - - - - - 2 2,874,870
- - - - - - - 1 510,160
- - - - - - - 2 240,950
- - - - - - - 3 130,390
- - - - - - - 4 103,250
- - - - - - - 5 89,550
- - - - - - - 9 37,020
- - - - - - - 9 30,890
- - - - - - - 9 24,260
- - - - - - - 16 20,140
- - - - - - - 17 18,370
- - - - - - - 16 14,960
- - - - - - - 21 13,840
- - - - - - - 23 12,570
- - - - - - - 23 10,840
- - - - - - - 21 11,630
- - - - - - - 26 9,530
- - - - - - - 34 8,030
- - - - - - - 30 7,500
- - - - - - - 31 8,060
- - - - - - - 24 10,370
- - - - - - - 37 7,330
- - - - - - - 40 7,880
- - - - - - - 45 5,270
- - - - - - - 43 4,360
- - - - - - - 55 3,820
- - - - - - - 52 5,010
- - - - - - - 42 5,070
- - - - - - - 38 5,040
- - - - - - - 41 4,980
- - - - - - - 76 3,680
- - - - - - - 78 3,490
- - - - - - - 87 3,090
- - - - - - - 95 2,440
- - - - - - - out for three weeks
- - - - - - - 74 3,980
- - - - - - - 68 4,910
- - - - - - - 47 16,270
- - - - - - -
- - - - - - - 55 4,380
- - - - - - - 72 3,440
- - - - - - - out for forty-three weeks
- - - - - - - 242 1,415
- - - - - - - 280 3,071
- - - - - - -
- - - - - - - 254 1,239
- - - - - - - 281 1,111
- - - - - - - out for sixty-three weeks
- - - - - - - 133 1,326
- - - - - - - 293 766
- - - - - - - 293 696
- - - - - - - out for 146 weeks
- - - - - - - 155 1,425
- - - - - - - 252 868
- - - - - - - 299 642
  • Total Reported Sales: 4,294,179
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 21 34 16 5,097
18 42 36 40 40 36 22 33 1,364
27 - - 49 46 - - 59 819
36 - - - - - - 112 589
- - - - - - - 178 467
- - - - - - - 212 309
- - - - - - - 292 219
  • Total Sales: 18,277 (#258 album of 2016)

Chart 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