Stuck In A Pagoda With Motoko Aoyama

…there’s a few things everyone should realize regarding the current sales figures and ranking for Morning Musume’s new single, “Mikan”:

1. I don’t think anyone in Japan is selling the singles numbers that Morning Musume used to sell back in their so-called “glory days”.
2. I don’t believe Oricon counts digital download sales (from Japan’s iTunes store, not America’s, of course) along with the sales of tactile compact discs like Billboard does here, and they might not count import sales either.
3. Being #6 in the weekly singles chart is nothing to sneeze at for anybody.
4. Morning Musume just put out the ALL SINGLES COMPLETE album a month ago. A new single so soon after an album (even if it is an anthology) is almost like glutting the market. With Koharu’s current solo single, a Biyuden album, and a Berryz Koubou single all coming out around the same time, the market is going to get a bit crowded with H!P releases, don’t you think?
5. There’s still that old devil of illegal downloads that doesn’t help ANY artist (irregardless of label affiliation or locale).
6. It doesn’t mean that the single sucks. I do wonder if the peppiness of “Mikan” threw singles buyers off after the angry tone of “Kanashimi Twilight” and “Onna Ni Sachi Are”, though.
7. Don’t go by first week sales. Not every person that buys a Morning Musume single is going to run out on the day of release (or even the week of release) and buy it.
8. Morning Musume is far from finished.

And one other thing… These aren’t “excuses”. These are facts. Our girls will be fine. Sales have wavered up and down before. I’m sure this single will have sold between 30,000 and 40,000 copies before it falls off the charts. Their last so-called “low-selling” single, “Ambitious Yashinteki de Ii Jan”, still sold over 47,000 copies.

Now… to all the bloggers stressing over “Mikan”’s allegedly low sales… knock it off with the motherfucking overdramatic stress trips and just enjoy the motherfucking music already!!. Jesus Xavier Christ!