Billboard 200: “This Is The One” @ #137

aww.. it went down.. 3K units.. -doing good or bad?
it’s been exactly 2 weeks since the cancellation of the appearances… hopefully there will be an update by the end of the week… 0_o

booo

-Forgot to mention.
Brilliant banner RJ. =) That picture is one of my favourites from the set…the lighting is stunning.

Well something better happen soon or This Is The One is gonna turn into another failure.
This should be Utada’s itinerary for June.

1. Come back to America.
2. Post in myspace, blog.
3. New single.
4. New music video
5. TV talk show appearances
6. A magazine photoshoot.
7. Live shows.

If IDJ and Utada really care about the success of this album they are not showing it.
It’s almost seems like Utada couldn’t wait to get out of America and back to Japan where she has been now for 2 months.

I totally agree with Ghostdog. It’s better IDJ schedule more promo right now.

Yeah, that’s not too bad considering there is no promotion whatsoever. I’m surprised stores still have enough copies to sell…GO ON TELEVISION, please?

NOooo its goin down….. =/

Stores were not understocked.

Several reports state stores had only 2-3 copies. The Borders I’ve been to were out of stock, with limited quantities. Target 0, Walmart 2.

Several reports and pictures show that stores had a bountiful amount of copies. More than were expected. In general people seem to be finding the Album just fine.

bad news. good news is amazon sells the album really cheap.

You can’t be sure of such a huge generalizaion.

Let’s not forget that the album was #18 on iTunes, #2 (for a short while) for Pop. That’s quite the accomplishment.
I’ll bet a lot of people bought the album on iTunes throughout the two months it was available before the physical release, and then had no reason to buy a physical copy once it came out (we can’t all buy multiple versions, and copies for our friends); it might have charted even higher than #69 had it been made available digitally and physically at the same time.
It seems like so many of you are unhappy with her current numbers and want her to chart higher and higher, but then choose the “unique and interesting” MCML-FYI as your choice for second single, when many of the more intelligent people on this blog have agreed that it would not do particularly well on American radio. Which is it?

why did she fall from 69th to 137th?

^^ Because CBTM is pretty much off the air, and there’s no promotion for the album whatsoever. All of us ran out to get the album the week it came out, and now sales for the second week are significantly lower because everyone who knows about Utada already bought the album the first week, or in the TWO MONTHS it was available on iTunes beforehand.

^^ Speaking of Kingdom Hearts, it was also stated in an interview with the Director that he has again asked Hikki to do the song for whichever game gets a new song: Birth By Sleep and/or Kingdom Hearts 3.

I want Utada to sell better. I want “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI” to be the 2nd Single. I’m Intelligent.
That’s what it is.
Anyone who thinks otherwise because their opinion differs is ignorant. Of course we all respect each other’s opinions here *COUGH* so this couldn’t possibly apply to anyone present.

^ Hikki has nothing to lose and everything to gain if she releases FYI as a single.
CBTM was supposed to “radio friendly” and “safe” and look what happened, they still didn’t play it on the radio and it barely charted.
It’s time to take a chance, FYI will make her stand out and make people take notice. American mainstream radio sucks ass! it needs a shot in the arm and FYI is just the song. The lyrics are not that strange either, ever listen to Queen? Some of their songs lyrics are quirky and bizaare they did fine.Sometimes it’s ok to be a little weird and not be a boring and generic.

oh my god, why?
the new stuff on radio today
deserves to be dropped down like this
not Utada’s CD

As long as the next single isnt Automatic Part II or Poppin, I’m fine with it. Preferable, On and On or Dirty Desire. Takin’ my money back would be my next choice, followed by Apple and Cinnamon, FYI, Crying like a child, and then Me Muero.

^ Both as in radio friendly songs like ‘On and On’, or ‘This One’, to more creative and innovative songs like ‘FYI’, or ‘Me Muero’.

Pokerface… Boom Boom Pow… Adam Lambert… By the definition repeated on this board, these songs and singer are nowhere near ‘radio-friendly’ and yet they are praised and over-played by many stations/television shows. I think the American market is on its way to a more mature/eclectic radio mix, so FYI should not be dubbed as a ‘loser track’ and actually given a chance. Kudos to whoever pointed out CBTM’s ’safe’ yet low charting capabilities…

Does anyone know where Utada is right now? We haven’t heard from her for a long time.

I agree! If Utada and DefJam really promote FYI it will be a very popular song, because everyone I know that hear FYI like it.

Does anyone know where Utada is right now? We haven’t heard from her for a long time.[2]

I don’t believe the type of music Utada started off with in Japan was popular until she actually came out with it and made it popular because nobody else was really doing it. Practically introducing the genre to Japan. I love how that happened. Perfect Example.

Well Ayumi and Namie constantly release more and they both tour much more and are either touring right now or just finishing up while Utada never tours and her last Japanese single was last year. So naturaly this is why you’re hearing their name more, not that you can base Utada’s popularity solely off of what you, one person, are hearing. I’m not really sure what most of your post had to do with anything going on in America either but there you go.

@innerise.
American R&B (exampke: TLC) was popular in Japan when Utada released her first single. That’s why Cubic U’s Precious sold million copies. Then Utada is the first that introduce the R&B in Japanese, so she was booming at that time.

She did release something common. Very common. And here we are…..complaining and disappointed. :/

I don’t see what anything on Exodus has to do with anything on “This Is The One”. Doesn’t compare at all thus you can’t compare. And I don’t see it as a weird song thus I don’t see them having a hard time playing the song. It’s all subjective. So it all depends on the person. Can’t generalize them all. I’ve never hoped Utada frequented U.Blog more than I do now. Hope she sees the poll and makes the right choice. It’s not as if our musical taste here is so eclectic that our poll represents no part of the American Music Market. I don’t give myself or anybody that much credit. We’re not special.

FYI isn’t a weird song at all the problem is that young people nowadays listen to so much generic pop radio that their idea of what a good pop song is based on that and everything that doesn’t fit into that criteria is considered “weird”.
Listen to some 80’s and early 90’s pop music and tell me how weird FYI really is.
By the way , 80’s and 90’s pop music >>>>>>>>>>>>> 2000 pop music.

If Hikki released songs like FYI,Hotel Lobby, Me Muero or Kremlin Dusk in that time period it would be considered quite normal and all the songs would be hits.
The music industry in America is all about image and American Idol types and good original pop music by people who actually have talent continues to be driven underground.

you people are missing the point. Whether something qualifies as weird is very subjective, but to pop/rythmic radio nowadays, FYI is WEIRD with its oriental piano sampling as well as its lyrics. To hell with the 80s, 90s..it’s the past. If we’re in 80s/90s, then we won’t be having this FYI is radio friendly or not discussion….and can somebody smack Innerise upside the head, he’s debating for the sake of debating. We’re talking about whether Utada should go with radio-friendliness or FYI. She tried something less radio friendly with Exodus and she failed. She tried something generic with CBTM she failed too, but to a lesser extent. YOU CAN’T GENERALIZE and claim that releasing something COMMON like CBTM led her to where she is right now.

lawingding:
When do you decide what we all were talking about? Some think “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI” is radio friendly and no weirder than anything else. Definitely not like the stuff she released for Exodus. No comparison in my opinion. You arrived 3 nanoseconds ago. Calm down. Wanting to smack me upside the head over what song I want for a single is the most ignorant and hilarious thing so far. Grow up kid. What’s to be mad about? I just hope Utada releases another Single period. If it’s what I want I’ll be ecstatic. If it isn’t, I’ll still be glad we got another one. It is not THIS serious. Everyone won’t agree with everyone. You’ll have to accept that fact after you’re done smacking people upside the head for hurting your feelings and not agreeing with you.

Currently, I honestly don’t care about what the next single is going to be. Where is Utada, now? It’s been a good 2 weeks, and we still haven’t word of any recovery or promotion. Are they debating as much as we are about what the next single should be? xD

I envy all those with PSPs, and DSs. D: You all can get ‘Birth By Sleep’, and 358/2 days. I hope one comes out for Ps3 soon. I read somewhere, I think Gamespot, that Squaresoft requested her to do a song for the next KH! Hopefully this rumour is correct.

^I can decide that for myself because it’s my opinion and I clearly stated, “In My Opinion”. I’m not telling you what you’re talking about based off of my logic. You basing the topic of the discussion off of your opinion and dictating what everyone else is talking about is a no. Simple. Thinking you need to knock something into someone because you don’t like what they think is primitive ignorance. It’s okay to disagree. Calm down and stop getting mad over Songs.
You don’t see it because you just joined a minute ago.
FiresEmblem:
Yeah, I’m hearing different stuff too. I don’t know if any of it is true. I heard that she’s doing a new song for “Kingdom Hearts 3″ and “Birth By Sleep” on the PSP. I honestly don’t believe they would waste a new song from Utada on the PSP. I hope not. They better bring her back for “Kingdom Hearts 3″.

Ruka27 that was a long and good interview! Thank you for sharing!! Well I do hope Hikki will do the song for KH3…

UTADA WAS SPOTTED IN CHANNEL [V] SPOT LIGHT.
She is beautiful in the interview. And she said she wrote her own lyrics and melody for TITO (there are some people who doubt about this).
Also during the interview they showed a fanmade alternate album cover.
At the end Chuichi is made an appearance.

This is her best interview!