Duty (album)

Duty is the third full-length studio album by Ayumi Hamasaki, as well as being her best-selling studio album to date, with over 2.9 million copies sold. The single "SURREAL," an initial pressing-only single, was released simultaneously along with the album and the DVD ayumi hamasaki concert tour 2000 A Part I. All three claimed the top position on the Oricon Weekly charts, making Ayumi Hamasaki the first person to hold the top position on all three charts. Prior to this, the most number of charts that a single artist or musical act topped was two. Duty is also Ayumi Hamasaki's highest selling studio album with sales of 2,904,420 in Japan. It debuted at the number-one position and held that position for four weeks, the album also stayed in the Top 30 for 20 weeks, making Hamasaki's only studio album to stay on the Top 30 for that long. Duty is the 22nd best-selling album in Japan of all times.

Singles

This album features five singles, two of which were able to reach the number-one position on the Oricon charts.

The first three singles, "vogue," "Far away," and "SEASONS" were released from April to June of 2000. Vogue and Far away sold over 700,000 and 500,000 copies, respectively. "SEASONS" is the most successful single of the album and one of Ayumi's best-selling singles, with over 1.3 million units sold.

"SURREAL," the fourth single, was released on the same day as Duty, and the final single, Audience, was released as a recut single a month after the album. It debuted at the number-two position and sold over 290,000 units. Unlike Hamasaki's previous singles, no music video was shot for the song.

Commercials tie-ups and themes songs

Duty was used in a commercial promoting the Takano Yuri beauty clinics.

vogue was used as background music in a tv commercial promoting a lipstick for Kose Visee.

The original version of Far away featured in three ad campaigns for the Tu-Ka cellphones. The song End of the world was also used in a commercial for the brand.

SEASONS was the theme song of a popular Japanese drama broadcast on Fuji TV called Tenki Yoho No Koibito (Weather Reporter Lover).

Track listing

1. "Starting Over" – 1:36
2. "Duty" – 5:15
3. "Vogue" – 4:27
4. "End of the World" – 4:40
5. "Scar" – 4:17
6. "Far Away" – 5:34
7. "Surreal" – 4:42
8. "Audience" – 4:06
9. "Seasons" – 4:15
10. "Teddy Bear" – 4:18
11. "Key ~Eternal Tie Version~" – 3:14
12. "Girlish" – 4:55

Credits

1. "Starting Over" – 1:36
   Music: Ken Harada
   Arrangement: Ken Harada
   Programming: Masayuki Kumahara
2. "Duty" – 5:15
   Words: Ayumi Hamasaki
   Music: Ken Harada
   Arrangement: Naoto Suzuki & Ken Harada
   Keyboards: Naoto Suzuki
   Guitar: Naoki Hayashibe
   B.G. Vocal: Junko Hirotani
   Programming: Takahiro Iida
3. "Vogue" – 4:27
   Words: Ayumi Hamasaki
   Music: Kazuhito Kikuchi
   Arrangement: Naoto Suzuki & Kazuhito Kikuchi
   Keyboards: Naoto Suzuki
   Guitar: Naoki Hayashibe
   Programming: Takahiro Iida
4. "End of the World" – 4:40
   Words: Ayumi Hamasaki
   Music: Yasuhiko Hishino
   Arrangement: Naoto Suzuki
   Keyboards: Naoto Suzuki
   Guitar: Naoki Hayashibe
   Programming: Takahiro Iida
5. "Scar" – 4:17
   Words: Ayumi Hamasaki
   Music: Kunio Tago
   Arrangement: Naoto Suzuki
   Keyboards: Naoto Suzuki
   Guitar: Naoki Hayashibe
   B.G. Vocal: Junko Hirotani
   Programming: Takahiro Iida
6. "Far Away" – 5:34
   Words: Ayumi Hamasaki
   Music: Kazuhito Kikuchi & DAI
   Arrangement: HAL
   Keyboards: HAL
   Guitar: Naoya Akimoto
   B.G. Vocal: Junko Hirotani
   Programming: HAL
   Mixed by Atsushi Hattori
7. "Surreal" – 4:42
   Words: Ayumi Hamasaki
   Music: Kazuhito Kikuchi
   Arrangement: HAL
   Keyboards: HAL
   Guitar: Naoya Akimoto
   Programming: HAL
8. "Audience" – 4:06
   Words: Ayumi Hamasaki
   Music: DAI
   Arrangement: HAL
   Keyboards: HAL
   Guitar: Naoya Akimoto
   Programming: HAL
9. "Seasons" – 4:15
   Words: Ayumi Hamasaki
   Music: DAI
   Arrangement: Naoto Suzuki
   Keyboards: Naoto Suzuki
   Guitar: Naoki Hayashibe
   B.G. Vocal: Junko Hirotani
   Programming: Takahiro Iida
10. "Teddy Bear" – 4:18
    Words: Ayumi Hamasaki
    Music: DAI
    Arrangement: Shingo Kobayashi
    Acoustic Piano: Shingo Kobayashi
    Keyboards: Shingo Kobayashi
    Synthesizer Operator: Keishi Urata
11. "Key ~eternal tie ver.~" – 3:14
    Words: Ayumi Hamasaki
    Music: Kunio Tago
    Arrangement: Naoto Suzuki
    Keyboards: Naoto Suzuki
    Guitar: Naoki Hayashibe
    B.G. Vocal: Junko Hirotani
    Programming: Takahiro Iida
12. "Girlish" – 4:55
    Words: Ayumi Hamasaki
    Music: Yasuhiko Hoshino
    Arrangement: Shingo Kobayashi
    Keyboards: Shingo Kobayashi
    Wurlitzer: Yoshihiro Tomonari
    Drums: Kaoru Abe
    Electric Guitar: Nozomi Furukawa
    Acoustic Guitar: Nozomi Furukawa
    Bass: Enrique
    Guitar: Yoshio Nomura
    Synthesizer Operator: Keishi Urata

Charts

Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)

Release	Chart	Peak position	First Week Sales	Sales total	Chart run
27 September 2000	Oricon Daily Album Chart	#1
27 September 2000	Oricon Weekly Album Chart	#1	1,682,760	2,904,420	27 weeks
27 September 2000	Oricon Yearly Album Chart	#2

• Total Sales: 2,904,420 (Japan)
• Total Sales: 3,000,000 (Avex)
• Total Sales: 3,750,000 (Asia)
• "Duty" is Hamasaki's highest selling studio album in Japan.

Singles

Date	Title	Peak position	Weeks	Sales
April 26 2000	"vogue"	#3	17 weeks	767,660
May 17 2000	"Far Away"	#2	13 weeks	510,460
June 7 2000	"Seasons"	#1	21 weeks	1,367,400
September 27 2000	"Surreal (500,000 Limited Copies)"	#1	7 weeks	417,210
November 1 2000	"Audience (300,000 Limited Copies) & (re-cut single)"	#2	8 weeks	292,950

Total Single Sales: 3,355,680

Total Album and Single Sales: 6,260,100

References