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''Duty'' is the third full-length studio album by Ayumi Hamasaki, released September 27, 2000 by Avex Trax. As with her previous works, Hamasaki wrote the album's lyrics, which share a central theme of loneliness, chaos, confusion, and the burden of the responsibilities carried with fame. Musically, ''Duty'' takes influences from rock music and rock-pop, a departure from the sound of previous effort ''Loveppears'', which was primarily an electronic dance record. To build hype for ''Duty'', Hamasaki released three singles between April and June 2000. These are referred to as the "Trilogy"; their music videos form a story about a post-apocalyptic world. Lyrically, they express hopelessness and reflect on Hamasaki's disappointment that she had failed to express herself in writing her previous songs; they also express a sense of shame in her public image. The first single, "Vogue", debuted at number three on the Oricon Singles chart and went on to sell over 700,000 copies. The second single, "Far Away", sold over 510,000 copies, but, like "Vogue", failed to reach the number one spot, stalling at number two. Third single "Seasons" became her fifth number one on the Oricon Singles chart. It remains her second-best selling single to date, with sales exceeding 1.3 million copies in Japan. Two further singles, "Surreal" and "Audience", reached the top five of the Oricon singles chart. Duty was also promoted with a number of live performances, including her first countdown concert. Duty experienced immense commercial success, debuting at number one on the Oricon Albums chart with first week sales of 1,682,760 copies and topping the chart for four weeks. It became her second consecutive album to sell over one million copies in its first week. The single "Surreal" was released simultaneously along with the album and the DVD ''Ayumi Hamasaki Concert Tour 2000 Vol.1''. All three claimed the top position on the Oricon Weekly album, single, and video charts, making Hamasaki the first artist to accomplish this feat. ''Duty'' is also Ayumi Hamasaki's highest selling studio album and second best-selling release (after ''A Best''), with sales of 2,904,420 copies in Japan. The album has been certified 3x Million by The Recording Industry Association of Japan. The album also stayed in the Top 30 for 20 weeks, and is her only album to remain in the Top 30 for that long. ''Duty'' is the 22nd best-selling album in Japan of all time〔(List of best selling albums of all time in Japan )〕 and the 6th best selling Japanese album of the 21st century. ==Background== She released two albums in 1999: ''A Song for ××'' and ''Loveppears''. The first spawned her debut single "Poker Face" (April 1998). The song was not a major hit and peaked at twenty. Her second single "You" also reached twenty in Japan. The next singles "Trust" and "Depend on You" were more successful, peaking inside the top ten on Oricon and was certified gold by the RIAJ. Both albums sold over one million units in Japan and the first was certified million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ); the latter sold over two million and was certified double million. ''A Song for xx'' was not well-received from most music critics, calling it "unassuming" and felt the music was "plain" and "cautious pop rock." ''Loveppears'' transitioned to dance music and achieved better reviews. Hamasaki released three limited edition singles in 1999 and 2000: "Appears" (November 1999), "Kanariya" (December 1999) and "Fly High" (February 2000), all achieving a gold certification by RIAJ.〔 Hamasaki begun work on ''Duty'' and followed a similar musical concept like her first two albums.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Duty (album)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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