Editing Ayumi Hamasaki (section)

===2003–2006: ''My Story'', ''(Miss)Understood'', and ''Secret''===
[[File:Ayumi Hamasaki 2007.jpg|thumb|Hamasaki in [[Taiwan]] (2007)]]In 2003, Hamasaki released three singles, "[[& (Ayumi Hamasaki EP)|&]]", "[[Forgiveness (Ayumi Hamasaki song)|Forgiveness]]", and "[[No Way to Say]]". The singer then held the ''[[30th Single Collection Live (Ayumi Hamasaki)|A Museum]]'' concert at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Interview With Ayumi Hamasaki|magazine=Casa Brutus|date=September 2004|volume=54|pages=24–28|language=ja}}</ref> The singer's next release, the EP ''[[Memorial Address]],'' topped the Oricon chart and sold over a million copies.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.riaj.or.jp/data/others/million_list/2003.html | title=Million-Selling Albums of 2003|publisher=RIAJ| access-date=January 25, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080117095927/http://www.riaj.or.jp/data/others/million_list/2003.html| archive-date= January 17, 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/041222_01.html|title=Yearly Album Rankings for 2004|publisher=[[Oricon]]|access-date=December 1, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081214060904/http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/041222_01.html| archive-date= December 14, 2008 | url-status= live|language=ja}}</ref> Despite this, sales of Hamasaki's singles began to wane — although all three of the album's singles topped the Oricon charts, "&" was Hamasaki's last single to sell over 500,000 copies.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/ranking/22658/ | title=Ayumi Hamasaki: Newly Released Details of Her Singles| access-date=April 23, 2008 | publisher=[[Oricon]]| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080317021012/http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/ranking/22658/| archive-date= March 17, 2008 | url-status= live|language=ja}}</ref> By the end of [[Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2003–2004 A|''Arena Tour 2003–2004'']], Hamasaki had grown disillusioned with her position in Avex.<ref name="MyStoryInt">{{cite magazine | title=The First-Time Stench of Being a Human|magazine=[[Oricon|Oricon Style]]|date=December 27, 2004|issue= 49–1275|pages=17–19|language=ja}}</ref> This period of reassessment led her to begin work on her next studio album, ''[[My Story (Ayumi Hamasaki album)|My Story]],'' ahead of schedule.<ref name="CawaiiF2005">{{cite magazine |author=Tsuriya, Takako |date=January 1, 2005 |title=Ayumi Hamasaki: Always our Princess |magazine=[[Cawaii]] |pages=10–15 |language=ja}}</ref>

''My Story'' and its singles, "[[Moments (Ayumi Hamasaki song)|Moments]]", "[[Inspire (song)|Inspire]]", and "[[Carols (song)|Carols]]", all topped the weekly Oricon charts; moreover, with sales of over 1,100,000 units, ''My Story'' became Hamasaki's last million-selling studio album according to Oricon.<ref group="fn" name="oricondiscrep">''(Miss)understood'' is listed as a million-seller by the RIAJ, but the RIAJ's certification is based on the number of albums shipped to retailers; Oricon gathers its tallies from the retailers themselves.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.riaj.or.jp/data/others/million_list/2004.html |title=Million-Selling Albums of 2004 |publisher=RIAJ |access-date=April 9, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080418094110/http://www.riaj.or.jp/data/others/million_list/2004.html |archive-date=April 18, 2008 |url-status=dead |language=ja |df=mdy }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/051219_01_2.html|title=Yearly Album Rankings for 2005|publisher=[[Oricon]]|access-date=December 1, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081215165044/http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/051219_01_2.html| archive-date= December 15, 2008 | url-status= live|language=ja}}</ref> From January to April 2005, Hamasaki held the nationwide [[Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2005 A|''Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2005 A: My Stor''y]] tour.<ref name="MyStoryInt" /> ''[[My Story Classical]]'', a classical version of ''My Story,'' was released in March 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/050323_01.html|title=A Classical Version of Hamasaki Ayumi's My Story Is Released!|last=Igeta|first=Satoru|date=March 23, 2005|work=[[Oricon|Oricon Style]]|publisher=[[Oricon]]|access-date=November 3, 2009|language=ja|archive-date=March 23, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050323090950/http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/050323_01.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[(Miss)understood]]'', Hamasaki's seventh studio album, was released in January 2006.<ref name="GirlpopBD">{{in lang|ja}} {{cite magazine |last=Fuji |first=Miho ({{nihongo2|藤井美保}}) |date=January 5, 2006 |title=Ayumi Hamasaki: Bold & Delicious/Pride |magazine=Girlpop |pages=16–18 |volume=76 |issue=462}}</ref> In support of the album, Hamasaki held the [[Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2006 A]] tour, which spanned three months with thirty concerts.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.avexnet.or.jp/ayu/news/060217.html | title= Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2006| publisher= [[Avex Trax|Avex Marketing Inc.]]| access-date=February 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060313141823/http://www.avexnet.or.jp/ayu/news/060217.html |archive-date=March 13, 2006|language=ja}}</ref>

"[[Startin'/Born to Be...|Startin']]", Hamasaki's twenty-sixth number-one single, was released in March 2006.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/ranking/15343/ | title= Ayumi Hamasaki Completely Dominates in Three Major Areas | publisher=[[Oricon]] | date= March 13, 2006 | access-date=February 22, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080218060728/http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/ranking/15343/| archive-date= February 18, 2008 | url-status= live|language=ja}}</ref> The subsequent studio album, ''[[Secret (Ayumi Hamasaki album)|Secret]]'', was released in November 2006.<ref name="hpsecretinterview">{{cite web |title=Secret Special Interview |url=http://avexnet.or.jp/ayu/jp/special/secret/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081019212432/http://avexnet.or.jp/ayu/jp/special/secret/ |archive-date=October 19, 2008 |access-date=October 8, 2008 |publisher=[[Avex Trax]] |language=ja}}</ref>