and then

I noticed there were a lot of people coming through Ayu-Vogue searching for the results of the GUILTY drawings at CDJapan.jp and Yesasia.com. I don’t think I won anything, but poking around fan forums like AHS suggest that

• CDJapan.jp winners received e-mail notification*
• Yesasia.com winners had an additional item added to their order (accessible from their customer account)

Good luck, everyone!

*Edit: Oh! Mine was just delivered (pre-ordered from CDJapan) and it did come with “F Prize: Poster”. There’s still hope for those of you who haven’t received a congratulatory e-mail from CDJapan!

After a surprise early release, GUILTY secured the top spot on the daily charts. Hopefully it will be able to maintain its position until its official Janauary 01 street date. Congrats Ayu!

Ayu’s official site announced that GUILTY has already shipped to stores all over Japan, five days before the official January 1st, 2008 street date! If you pre-ordered your copy from online retailers like CDJapan.jp, chances are you’ve already received your shipping notification.

Ayu’s official site has updated to showcase her upcoming album GUILTY, complete with a new layout and a new CM to download and a preview of her latest PV, “marionette”!

Popular mobile download service Chaku-Uta has posted its rankings for the top 100 ringtones of the year. Two of Ayu’s songs made the list, including “JEWEL” at #50 and summer anthem “glitter” at #73.

The top spot was held by Utada Hikaru and her song “Flavor of Life (Ballad Version)”

• Chaku-Uta Ranking

The PV for “(don’t) Leave me alone” — a new track from her upcoming album GUILTY — has made its debut on MTV Japan.

Continuing its year-end summary, Oricon Style has declared Ayu to be among the biggest earners of 2007. She comes in at number two with 7.3544 billion yen (approximately 65 million USD), trailing label mate Koda Kumi by a mere .3 billion yen.

Oricon calculates revenues based on CD and DVD sales. Previously Ayu released an average 10 singles, at least 3 DVDs, and an album for every year she held the top spot. Considering she only released two singles and a two-part single collection in 2007, these numbers are especially impressive.

In addition, Oricon has published its official list for the top selling Japanese singles and albums of 2007. Ayu’s glitter/fated came in at #39 while talkin’ 2 myself finished up at #79. A BEST 2 -WHITE- and -BLACK- came in the previously-reported 5th and 7th place. Congrats Ayu!

• Oricon Style: 2007 Artist Total Sales Ranking
• Oricon Style: Single Yearly Ranking
• Oricon Style: Album Yearly Ranking

Ayu’s official site has updated with the tentative dates for her 2008 arena tour, ayumi hamasaki ASIA TOUR 2008 ~10th Anniversary~. So far no dates outside of Japan have been announced.

The official site also updated its News&Information page for her upcoming album GUILTY. According to the update, we can expect the bonus photobook to span at least 32 pages!

• ayumi hamasaki ASIA TOUR 2008 ~10th Anniversary~ (Tentative)
• GUILTY Information

With 2007 coming to a close, Orcion Style has posted a list of the best selling albums and singles thus far.

Only releasing two singles this year, Ayu still managed to crack the top 100 with both, glitter/fated coming in at #58 and November’s talkin’ 2 myself reached #78.

Her highly anticipated single collection fared better. Both A BEST 2 -WHITE- and A BEST 2 -BLACK- are within the top 10 albums of the year, -WHITE- at #5 and #7 respectively.

The PV for “Together When…” has made its debut on MTV Japan!

For those not currently in Japan, it has predictably leaked onto online Video sites like Dailymotion.

Thus far, the PV isn’t yet available for download on digital music providers.