A Best

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

• Oricon Profile: A BEST | 15th Anniversary Limited Edition | 15th Anniversary Regular Edition
• 『A BEST』TRACK LIST LIVE @ ayu's Official YouTube Channel