[quote="overAmped"][quote]Yamanaka Sawao sure caught the hearts of the younglings.[/quote][/quote]
And then he killed them.

[quote="overAmped"]There was also something on the the pillows' 2005 SXSW page.

[url]http://2005.sxsw.com/music/showcases/band/15920.html[/url]

[quote]After the release of "Strange Chameleon", the number of people coming to their shows increases. The life style of Yamanaka Sawao sure caught the hearts of the youngs.[/quote][/quote]

well, we do know for sure that 'swanky street', 'tiny boat' and 'trip dancer' were all featured on music shows in japan (it's noted on the official discography), which would have certainly given them more exposure. but that says nothing about how well they sold.

i found their [url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/artists/27739/]oricon page[/url] and it has a little information about how their releases did in comparison to each other.

albums in order of sales:

1. fool on the planet
2. runners high
3. my foot
4. good dreams
5. smile
6. little busters
7. penalty life
8. please mr. lostman
9. thank you, my twilight
10. another morning, another pillows
11. turn back
12. happy bivouac
13. flcl soundtrack #3

singles in order of sales:

1. ride on shooting star
2. nonfiction
3. third eye
4. sono mirai wa ima
5. terminal heaven's rock
6. carnival
7. i think i can
8. shiroi natsu to midori no jitensha, akai kami to kuroi GITAA
9. rush
10. no self control

Man, that's weird.

I wonder why Runners High was so popular.

[quote="overAmped"]I wonder why Runners High was so popular.[/quote]

It's a great album. I can't think of a single song on there that I have to skip.

It's good, but it sold so much better than albums that are of equal or higher quality, which is peculiar. One of the singles must have caught on for some reason.

What I found weird is that Happy Bivouac sold the SECOND-least copies and RH sold the second-most; yet they were both released in the same year!

It's especially strange because Happy Bivouac is better.

[quote="Jomei"]It's especially strange because Happy Bivouac is better. [/quote]

that's true right there. HB is a step above RH. i defintiely can't explain why RH sold so well, but i may be able to explain why most of the newer stuff has been selling better. with the pillows being around for 16 years, i'm sure plenty of people have heard their older stuff either on FLCL or from their friends old CDs, or maybe they're just downloading the songs like most of us are. but now since they like what they here, whenever something new comes out, they get it. i'm pretty sure in the past 3-4 years, the pillows popualrity has gone up. not becuase of their new stuff, but becuase of their older stuff. the public just wants to buy the stuff they haven't heard yet and that's what makes these newer albums and singles get up higher on the charts

People and their opinions.

HB has to be my favorite album of all time.