By: LazerKim Yesterday as Kim Hyun Joong boarded his flight from Tokyo to Osaka to meet his fans, there were over 3,000 fans already waiting for him as early as 6am at River Place Minatomachi in Osaka. It was said that like in Odaiba some 300 fans camped at the vicinity of the venue overnight!! It was said that these fans were evacuated to a safer place since there was thunderstorm that night and finally rained the following morning. As always the God of Rain and his fans will meet and blessings of happiness poured on them.
Hyun Joong prepared 10,000 bottled water for his fans as he had already anticipated another crowd of fans to be waiting for him, a true star hero. As the fans lined up to take turns in the handshake, the line was approximately 700 meters long. Kim Hyun Joong had successfully completed the handshake event in Osaka and the atmosphere around the venue was so festive and of course Hyun Joong fans are so happy. I’m glad that he had the chance to meet is fans from Osaka since most of Hyun Joong’s activities were always held at the capital city Tokyo.
Yesterday I happen to browse at the Oricon Music chart just to check on the ranking status of HEAT, here’s it is as of yesterday’s rank. Hyun Joong took the 2nd place yesterday July 7, 2012 meaning Hyun Joong gained 5,022 copies on sales for the day.
A lot of fans get confuse since Hyun Joong topped at Oricon taking the No.1 rank on its first day July 4th launching which he gained an overwhelming sales of 137,774 cd copies. While Yamapi gained 54,244 on July 4th his first day of launching too. And on the second day Hyun Joong dropped to No.3 rank which he gained 15,428 cd copies for the day July 5, 2012 while Yamapi gained 23,743 copies.
But if we add Hyun Joong first day sales and its second day sales, Hyun Joong still has the highest sales and he still holds the over top rank No.1. The gap between Hyun Joong and Yamapi is still huge. And if we add these figures for three days, Hyun Joong gained as much as 164,352 copies while Yamapi gained 88,747 copies. May I mention that I got nothing against Yamapi, this basis of comparing figures is just that both artists their album at the same date, nothing more nothing less.
For me, the first day launching of an album is the most significant of all, because this is where we can see how the artist’s fans responded in anticipation of the album. Hyun Joong fans were aware that he has an up-coming album and that pre-orders were opened to anyone who would like to purchase in advance. We all know very well that Hyun Joong’s music is meant for his fans and his fans to be.
I think we fans have that understanding as we support any project of Hyun Joong, even we have not heard the music but knowing it’s Hyun Joong it’s guaranteed that it’s something new and a good one. And he never fails us, HEAT was in fact a good music accepted by the majority.
Many were wondering how Hyun Joong was able to attain such overwhelming sales only for one day and on his first day of release. If my assessment may be right, I think the number of sales from pre-orders was included in the 137,774 copies. And the record shows that Hyun Joong covered the first five ranks by HEAT in all versions.
I researched further at Oricon who ranked No.1 in the recent album releases particularly Kpop. So far there was Kim Hyun Joong, Jang Geun Suk on Kpop solo idol singers, then Super Junior and Girl’s Generation for idol group. The record shows that Kim Hyun Joong and Super Junior had the same case of gaining an over 100,000 copies in their first launching day and dropped on the third rank the following day, but had still maintained on the over all ranking at No.1 being the highest album sales in a week
In the 4th of July Kim Hyun Joong and Yamipi launched their albums at the same date, and obviously Hyun Joong has an overwhelming gains on his first launching day but Yamapi is closely tailing. I read that Yamapi had started his handshake events too yesterday after Hyun Joong had gone to Osaka!! As I have mentioned earlier I’m not familiar with Yamapi nor do I know him at all, but I viewed his video clip out of curiosity as he performed in one of his concert and the concert venue was full of his fans. I dig a little dipper and read a blog that seems to me that Yamapi fans were in panic mode, to think of plan A or plan B whatever that means
I think Yamapi’s handlers were complacent of his popularity thinking that advertising and promoting is unnecessary. That it took them four days to decide to let Yamapi do his part in promoting his own album. It somehow made me think it took them by surprised that a foreign artist like Kim Hyun Joong gained as much over a 130,000 and still increasing as Hyun Joong kept meeting his fans in person from here and there.
I do understand that since Oricon is a Japanese music chart, it should have been better if a Japanese artist to be on top of the line. But Kpop has been competitive all along and if you notice they can sometimes dominate the chart. Now I’m starting to wonder, does Kpop idols tends to exert extra effort in promoting their album to keep their fans aware of their activities which I think is better appreciated by their fans? Are the handlers of Kpop stars and agents has a better sales strategy in promoting their stars than the Japanese? Or the Kpop idols now are becoming an apple of the eye for Japanese audience?
I’m not so familiar with other Kpop idols and their fans since my concentration is solely on Kim Hyun Joong. I would still think that even Hyun Joong wouldn’t be out there to promote his album his fans would surely support his album or any of his project. For as long as his fans are aware about his projects. Just being notified even just once, then word of the mouth can take care of the rest.
It just takes a notification from KeyEast about Hyun Joong’s activities the the Alien can spread the word. Hyun Joong;’s fans have been very active in posting and news spread like a fire ball!! The chain reaction among the fans community is just remarkable regardless of nationality.
The Aliens do take actions whenever Hyun Joong is out there on his exposure, we do unite as one in supporting the our star hero in every way we can. And so for those who are still questioning as to how Hyun Joong was able to attain his initial figures on the chart, I can only give you a simple response, Kim Hyun Joong fans unite in supporting our star hero. Because we know very well he is deserving to be on top.
With Hyun Joong’s effort and his fans effort winning may matter, but being together with him in his journey matters the most above anything else. It’s our star hero Kim Hyun Joong….
