A Ballads (stylized as 15px BALLADS) is the second greatest hits album by Japanese recording artist Ayumi Hamasaki. It was released physically on March 12, 2003, through Avex Trax, and digitally distributed worldwide on September 14, 2006, by Avex Entertainment Inc. It is her first compilation release in two years since A Best; it premiered three months after her sixth studio album Rainbow. The compilation compiles ballad-inspired singles released by Hamasaki between 1998 and 2003, while the material is divided into new-arrangement remixes and the original versions. With all the tracks written by Hamasaki, it includes two new songs—"Rainbow", which served as the album's promotional single, and a cover version of Japanese singer Yumi Matsutoya's 1975 track "Sotsugyō Shashin".
Released in six formats featuring a photograph by JFKK, A Ballads received favorable reviews from music critics. Many praised the collection for including some of Hamasaki's best vocal work, and commended the songwriting. Minor criticism was aimed on the newer renditions of the original songs. Commercially, the album was a success in Japan, reaching number one on the Oricon Albums Chart, making it Hamasaki's second compilation and eighth album to reach the top spot. It was certified Million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of one million units. The album experienced limited promotion during its release, with some of the tracks appearing during Japanese commercial endorsements.
Background and material
In December 2002, Hamasaki released her sixth studio album Rainbow. Early issues of the album included a code number and URL address that allowed customers to visit an exclusive website that promoted the album and listen to a 40-second demo of her unfinished song "Rainbow". During its promotion, Avex Trax and Hamasaki received over 100,000 messages from fans, telling them their opinions about the unfinished demo. Due to the mixed response of her fanbase, Hamasaki decided to develop the song further and release it as part of an upcoming compilation album, which was later named A Ballads. During the process, Hamasaki confessed that "[she] had never before written lyrics that were based on messages received directly from [her] fans. It was with "Rainbow" that [she] decided to give this approach a try". Each track from the album was released either as a single or as a promotional recording, recorded between the years 1998 and 2003. Six of the tracks on the album were composed and co-produced by Hamasaki, who used the alias Crea. The first song, "Rainbow", was originally composed by CMJK, but Hamasaki felt the finishing product was "missing something", and re-worked the demo version with Japanese musician Dai Nagao. "Appears" was remixed by Japanese group HΛL. According to Hamasaki, she had asked the group to re-compose their original version of the track in order to reflect "current [musical] themes of 2003." "Dolls", a J-pop influenced pop ballad, remained the sophomore original track to make part of the record. In a similar review, a staff member of CD Journal enjoyed the album and complimented its new additions to the album. By the end of 2003, A Ballads was ranked at number eight as the best selling album in Japan of that year. It sold 917,555 units, and was also her second album to enter the annual top ten, just behind Rainbow which sold 1,856,919 units. As of July 2016, it has sold 924,242 units, her first greatest hits album to not sell over the one million mark. Nevertheless, it was certified Million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of one million units. It is Hamasaki's ninth best selling album based on Oricon's sale database.
Promotion
The album experienced limited promotion during its release, with some of the tracks appearing during Japanese commercial endorsements.