A Song for XX was Ayumi Hamasaki's debut album on a major label. Though the official release date was January 1, 1999, the album was sold in the record stores since mid-December. To surprise of many critics, the album debuted at the top position of the Oricon Charts and topped the chart for five weeks, a remarkable feat for a debut album. The album debuted at #1 with more than 548,210 copies sold. This was mainly due to the fact that A Song for XX debut sales was the first and second week sales combined (Oricon only has 51 weeks instead of 52). The album stayed on the charts fpr 63 weeks and eventually went on to sell a more than a mmillion copies. As of 2008, A Song for XX is the Japan's 139th best selling album of all time. The title "A Song for XX" refers to Hamasaki's estranged father,