2006Hamasaki's thirty-ninth single, Startin' / Born To Be..., was released on March 8, 2006. The single debuted at the top of the Oricon chart with sales of 116,000, becoming Hamasaki's 26th number-one single and thus breaking the record of most number-one singles in Japan for a solo (female) artist, previously held by Seiko Matsuda.
She then embarked on the Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2006 —(miss)understood—, which spanned three months with its first stop in Saitama on March 11, 2006 and made its last stop at Yoyogi on June 11, 2006. With 30 concerts, it was her largest tour to date. The last concert of the tour was recorded and released on DVD in November. It entered both the music-DVD and general-DVD charts at the top position.
Hamasaki released her 40th single Blue Bird on June 21, 2006. Blue Bird scored the number-one position on the daily Oricon chart. Just one day after the release of Blue Bird, Oricon confirmed the single had outsold its competition already, securing the weekly number-one spot for Hamasaki's 15th consecutive and 27th total number-one single. selling 160,572 copies in its first five days.
The music video for Jewel, directed by Wataru Takeishi, is one of the most expensive music videos ever madeHamasaki released her eighth full-length album, Secret on November 29, 2006. Originally, the album was intended to be released as her second mini-album with seven songs overall. The speculation proved to be false when her official website announced a change of plans in October 2006, and that Secret would be a full-length album. The album was completed on November 8. Hamasaki also raised media attention for the music video of Jewel, in which 100 million yen (almost $900,000 U.S. dollars) worth of diamonds, jewels, and Swarovski crystals were used. The video is one of the most expensive videos ever made. On that same day, she sang Jewel on 130,000,000 Choose Best Artist 2006. The album debuted at the top spot of the Oricon weekly chart with first-week sales of 386,280 copies, outselling the number-two album by 160,129 copies.
Not only did Secret top the Japanese charts, the album topped the charts in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and China, surpassing the international success of (miss)understood.
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