instrumentation. "A Song for ××" was re-worked as a live demo, recorded at the Avex Trax studios in Japan. For the promotional track "Who...", Hamasaki asked CMJK to create a more "warmer" version than the original. The closing track for A Ballads was "Sotsugyō Shashin". According to Hamasaki, she had imagined recording a cover for a studio album, but was unsuccessful at doing so. To compose the track, she and the song's co-composer Tasuku composed it by using a Fender Rhodes Suitcase Mk I electric piano in order to reflect the song's original 1960s–1970s pop influence. Release A Ballads was released physically on March 12, 2003 through Avex Trax in five formats, and digitally distributed worldwide on September 14, 2006 by Avex Entertainment Inc. The first five formats were compact discs; each one of the four early editions included a slipcase sleeve that had two clones of Hamasaki asleep next to each other, with the inner booklet portraying four different photographs of the clones. The four alternative covers were different variations of the two Hamasaki figures in a pink-coloured room. The fifth format came without a slipcase, and had the slipcase image as the inner booklet cover. The digital release featured the slipcase cover and the entire photo shoot was photographed by JFKK. Reception Upon its release, A Ballads received favorable reviews from most music critics. Tetsuo Hiraga from Hot Express believed that the album's material was able to connect with both younger and older audiences. He also pointed out the "Royal-esque" tracks "Seasons" and "Dearests" as some of her best recordings. In a similar review, a staff member of CD Journal enjoyed the album and complimented its new additions to the album. Commercially, the album was successful in Japan, with it debuting at number one on the Oricon Albums Chart and replacing 200 Km/h in the Wrong Lane (2002) by Russian female duo t.A.T.u. at the top spot. Hamasaki's entry sold 561,127 units in comparison to t.A.T.u.'s 167,627 unit sales. 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 top ten, just behind Rainbow which sold 1,856,919 units. As of July 2016, it has sold over 924,242 units, her first greatest hits album to not sell over the one million mark. Nevertheless, it