I'm so happy she won, 2008 was definitely her year.

It's kinda frustrating for other artists with good studio/original albums to see a Best winning the award...

waw.. BF is big hit this year... congratz for Namie

Foxxy, Ikr! :laugh If anything, DOUBLE's BEST COLLABORATIONS deserved it more than BEST FICTION. I still happy for her tho. So doesn't win too many JRA awards these days.

^ That always makes me rofl. Pure comedy gold! These awards are more about status so a BEST album winning is pretty irrelevant. Obv BEST FICTION is of the highest quality though and it absolutely deserved it. :mischief

That's because she won TWO grand prizes during her prime. Only six Japanese artists have won it twice in its fifty-year history. Only one artist has ever won it three times.

Like the others, I'm surprised a best album won. This is the first time a best album has won the award OR even been nominated.

For those who want to know who those five Japanese artists are:
Yukio Hashi
Hiroshi Itsuki
Takashi Hosokawa
Akina Nakamori
Mr. Children
Namie Amuro

Can anyone guess who won it three times? :P We have a whole forum dedicated to her. Haha!

Well I personally don't like the entire album...but it does seem to be the best she has to offer...and the songs are decent to great, which is actually saying A LOT for Japanese artists...or just...artists in general.

Namie does deserve this. And while I don't feel the album was as good as some other artists I LIKE...after listening to her other albums, I feel she did a really good job and I think she deserves it more than anyone else. Proud of Namie atm.

I know what you mean. BEST FICTION was decent, but it felt more like a marketing album (a very successful one) to me. I wonder who the other nominees were?

Really? That makes me very happy. :) Which albums of hers won?

i think that it was SWEET 19 BLUES.

i'm not sure.

the album reaaaaaaallly rocks...
congrats to namie, great goal

Oh, the grand prize for this awards (Japan Record Awards) goes to a single. It's like Record of the Year. Best album is among the main awards, but it's not the top award.

Namie won for Don't Wanna Cry and Can You Celebrate?

Legend:D:yes

These awards are all about status and BEST FICTION made the biggest splash this year. EXILE had an amazing year too so they won the artist award.