J-pop diva Ayumi Hamasaki recently released a new single titled “Terminal”. Unfortunately for the former Oricon queen the single debuted at #16, and by the end of the week she was nearly out of the top 50 on the daily charts.

“Terminal” finished with a weekly rank of #24 and sold 2.8k copies.

This is the first time a standard Ayumi release has failed to rank within the top 20 on the weekly Oricon chart. Expectations for this single weren’t high since it’s a re-cut single from her last studio album “Colours”, but Ayumi has always been known for her large and dedicated fanbase. “Colours” itself had disappointing results on Oricon, the album has only managed to shift 53k copies. In comparison her previous album “LOVE again” sold 53k copies in just one week.

Cyzo Woman also reports that the membership fee of Ayumi’s fanclub “Team Ayu” has been slashed nearly 50%, with many seeing it as an attempt to get fleeing fans to renew their subscription. Team Ayu originally had two tiers of annual fees, the most popular choice was the more expensive 6000 yen fee. The lower tier cost 4000 yen but included less benefits.

The new annual membership costs only 3400 yen and omits incentives like a physical Team Ayu membership card, magazines, posters, and greeting cards. When compared to her peers a 3400 fee is quite low.

It’s natural that artists decline as years go by, but why do you think Ayu has taken such a hard fall recently?