Guilty (Ayumi Hamasaki album)

Infobox Album |
Name = Guilty
Type = Studio album
Artist = Ayumi Hamasaki

---

Released = January 1, 2008
(see release history)
Recorded = 2007 Japan, Los Angeles
Genre = J-pop
Length = 56:00
Label = Avex Trax
Producer = Max Matsuura
Reviews =
Last album = "A Best 2 (-White-/-Black-)"
(2007)
This album = "Guilty"
(2008)
Next album = "A Complete ~All Singles~"
(2008)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate covers
Type = studio


Lower caption = CD+DVD Cover Singles
Name = Guilty
Type = studio
single 1 = Glitter / Fated
single 1 date = July 18 2007
single 2 = Talkin' 2 Myself
single 2 date = September 19 2007
single 3 = Together When...
single 3 date = December 5 2007

"Guilty" is the ninth studio album (tenth overall) by Japanese pop singer-songwriter Ayumi Hamasaki, released by Avex Trax on January 1, 2008 in Japan. Hamasaki herself wrote all lyrics of the album which went to sell over 400,000 copies its first two weeks release period. It reached #7 on the United World Chart in its first week of release and climbed to #3 in its 2nd week. Two weeks after its release Avex announced over 750,000 copies of "Guilty" have been shipped to stores. [ [http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68591 [news+pic ayu back to Japan! - Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai ] ] According to Oricon's 2008 album chart, "Guilty" is the 8th highest selling album by far and the third highest selling album by a female artist behind artists Hikaru Utada's "Heart Station" and Kumi Koda's "Kingdom".

Information

"Guilty" sold more than 202,000 copies within its first initial week of release, and the combined totals for the first and second weeks put it at the number-two spot with 432,113 copies sold, with Kobukuro's "5296" outselling it by 22,488 copies. Even though this is not Hamasaki's lowest first week sale for an original studio album, it is the first original studio album from Hamasaki to not debut at the #1 position in Japan. However, it did debut at #1 in other Asian countries such as China and the islands of Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, with 39.78% of total J-pop sales and 6.7% of total music sales for its' 1st week for the latter.

The album was released in two versions in Taiwan, a CD+DVD and a CD Only version. The first initial copies on sale came with a limited edition photobook. The CD+DVD version included all the music videos from the single "glitter" to the digital single "Together When...", including making-of's. Though the official release date was January 1 2008, the album was released in stores a week early. The album debuted at number two on the G-Music Combo Chart behind boy band Fahrenheit's sophomore album "Two-Sided Fahrenheit" but topped the charts on the G-Music J-Pop Chart having 39.78% of all Japanese albums sold in Taiwan. On February 28th, "Guilty" took the #1 position on HMVV HK Chart after 56 days on the chart. [ [http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1352002#post1352002 Guilty #1 at HMVV HK chart - Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai ] ]

Hamasaki's official website announced on March 17, 2008 that "Guilty" will be released digitally in over 26 countries worldwide, a first for any Japanese artist. The album will be digitally released in North America, Oceania, Europe as well as Asian countries where the physical version of the album is already released in Apple iTunes stores. This is officially Hamasaki's first release outside Asia.

Promotion

In the month of December in 2007, Hamasaki performed live on Japanese TV shows ten times for promotions, [ja icon [http://www.avexnet.or.jp/ayu/jp/schedule/#tv SCHEDULE｜ayumi hamasaki(浜崎あゆみ) official website ] ] mainly with the song "Together When" (its main promotional track). Hamasaki was also featured on the cover of eight different Japanese magazines during the promoting of "Guilty", [ja icon [http://www.avexnet.or.jp/ayu/jp/schedule/#magazine SCHEDULE｜ayumi hamasaki(浜崎あゆみ) official website ] ] such as "Sweet", "Voce", "Bea's Up", "Vivi", "Popteen", "Cawaii", "S Cawaii", and "Tokyo Headline". As of late December in Shibuya, Tokyo, there have been many promotional pictures posted around Shibuya. [ [http://ayu.no/news.php?readmore=589 On buses, Lorries and Promotional billboards] ] [ [http://ayu.no/news.php?readmore=589 ayu.no - Norsk Ayumi Hamasaki forum ] ]

Track listing

CD

*Lyrics written by Ayumi Hamasaki

# "Mirror" - 1:58
#:music: Yuta Nakano
arrangement: Yuta Nakano
# "(Don't) Leave Me Alone" - 4:18
#:music: Tetsuya Yukumi
arrangement: HAL
# "Talkin' 2 Myself" - 4:56
#:music: Yuta Nakano
arrangement: HAL
# "Decision" - 4:22
#:music: Yuta Nakano
arrangement: Yuta Nakano
# "Guilty" - 4:35
#:music: Tetsuya Yukumi
arrangement: CMJK
# "Fated" - 5:36
#:music: Shintaro Hagiwara, Akihisa Matsuura
arrangement: CMJK
# "Together When..." - 5:14
#:music: Kunio Tago
arrangement: CMJK
strings arrangement: David Campbell
bass: Chris Chaney
drums: Makoto Izumitani
# "Marionette -prelude-" - 1:15
#:music: Yuta Nakano
arrangement: Yuta Nakano
# "Marionette" - 4:37
#:music: Kazuhiro Hara
arrangement: Kazuhiro Hara
# "The Judgement Day" - 1:41
#:music: CMJK
arrangement: CMJK
# "Glitter" - 4:55
#:music: Kazuhiro Hara
arrangement: HAL
# "My All" - 5:27
#:music: Tetsuya Yukumi
arrangement: HAL
# "Rebirth" - 1:40
#:music: HAL
arrangement: HAL
# Untitled ~For Her~" - 5:35
#:music: Kunio Tago
arrangement: Shingo Kobayashi

DVD

#Short film「nihongo|Kyo Ai ～Distance Love～|距愛 ～Distance Love～」（Glitter/Fated）
#Talkin’2 Myself (video clip)
#Decision (video clip)
#Together When... (video clip)
#Marionette (video clip)
#(Don't) Leave Me Alone (video clip)
#Glitter (making clip)
#Fated (making clip)
#Talkin' 2 Myself (making clip)
#Decision (making clip)
#Together When... (making clip)
#Marionette (making clip)
#(Don't) Leave Me Alone (making clip)

Release History

United World Chart

* Total Sales: 568,288 (Japan)
* Total Sales: 750,000 (Avex)
* Total Sales: 1,800,000 (Asia)

ingles

Total Single Sales: 276,831

Total Album and Single Sales: 845,119

Total Downloads: 4,452,541

References

External links

*http://www.g-music.com.tw/GMusicBillboard0.aspx
*http://www.g-music.com.tw/GMusicBillboard3.aspx