imo...i think japan really respect her...and she trully has the place on every japanese people, wether they like her songs or not..but i think deep inside them...they really respect her

Actually, they do report digital sales :P or at least, certificate it... so, we can have a ideia of how well a song did

I don't get the argument in this thread.

You ask a person in Japan who is not a fan of Ayumi questions about her. Of course they aren't going to know much. They don't follow her, what's she's doing or what she's going to release. If you ask them whether they know FIVE is coming out, the answer's going to be no. Do you know what's being released in your country every single week? No.

I guess in her peak, avoiding her was difficult because her releases were plugged everywhere (TV, billboards). This is done on a smaller scale now, so people's awareness of Ayu's career goes down.

She's not going to win any new fans. The best she can hope for is catching some casual listeners who like a single.

^ agreed!

Yes but it is good information to know when it comes to the type of pull she has on casual fans/the general public. Of course we know the followers will follow and purchase stuff. It's the majority of the public's opinion and views on her at this point in her career that really intrigue me and bring light to the situation. I love this discussion actually.

I don't think any of those have ever reached the Ayu or Hikki status. Ayu has seen the rise and fall of all of those and she is selling better than most of them even now. Managing to keep such a solid fan base is where the others have failed and imo that's enough to say that they are far from what she is and in 10 years who knows if anyone will remember Nishino Kana or Ai Otsuka, but I am sure that one way or another people will still know who Ayumi Hamasaki and Utada Hikaru are.

About the male singers I've noticed that their careers tend to drag on for ages and that they rarely become less popular.

I always think: ayu was the new Seiko (Matsuda) maybe, so in the future we will see another girl with this huge success, I don't think now exists a ''new ayu'' yet.

^ I also don't think we have a new Ayu. Kana Nishino is a great artist, but her musical variety is not as huge as Ayu's. Who knows if she will change in the future, but right now i can't see anyone becoming the "new ayu".
And about her popularity, I think that Ayu is the less belived of the BIG THREE (Hikki, Namie and Ayu). Everyone talks about how beautiful Namie is, how amazing her dancing is etc. Plus she had a huuuuge success on 2008. Lots of people considere Hikki the most talented japanese artist ever, considering her voice so good (Hikki is my favourite artist beyond Ayu but I don't see her voice that amazing) and her songs so unique.
But few people seems to talk that good about Ayu. They admire her clothes and lyrics, but lot of people say that she is a diva, that her music is always the same, that she doesn't know how to sing, that she had lot of surgery....
It is quite sad, but I think Ayu's reputation is the worst of those three =(

I think it's impossible to find a new Ayu now, because the korean bands are in the top at the moment.

Well I don't think it's that bad...but I think it's kinda cause she has....less to offer?

Like, Namie has her dance, and how huge she was in the 90s. And hikki is an extremely talented musician who comes from parents that were both famous musicians.

And honestly, it doesn't seem like a lot, but I think that, just Namie dancing with her cool girl image, and Hikki with her ability to be versatile and creative, like you said, most talented japanese musician ever, really impresses the youth...who I think are kinda the biggest focus of the music market in Asia.

I think what gets Ayu so far is how much she built Avex, and in general, her love for music and dedication to working....

but lots of artists are like that, and they never get anywhere...

I think Ayu's image will always work against her too. Honestly, she didn't look like a standard Japanese girl to begin with....and well, dying her hair and being her own person...the edgier she gets, the further away from relate-able she gets.

There are only so many ageha in Japan lol

And I don't wanna say that people be jealous...but...:innocent lol She looks like she walked out of a freaking anime.

I would agree that Ayu has the worst reputation of all three in Japan. One of my friend hates her because "she cries at concerts and because she's a professional she shouldn't be crying like that." Japanese people, in my experience, can be really, really petty. "She looks like she's had plastic surgery. I hate her." "She act too cute sometimes. I hate her." "She married too fast. I hate her." "Once I heard she yelled at a staff member who stepped on her dogs tail. I hate her." Stuff like that.

Kind of like people who hate someone because they're popular. "Oh no I don't listen to -them- since they've become all mainstream and popular." And because Ayu was so popular, she's an easy target for them. She replaced Amuro, who ended her popularity at a good time, Komuro was still going strong so she was out of the picture before people started getting tired of him and his "family".

While Utada is "more respected"--she was still going downhill with sales. Not even the "great Utada" could keep up with how the market was changing.

People assume that because Amuro is getting a lot of promotion now means that everyone likes her again, but that isn't necessarily the case. That would suggest Iconiq was extremely popular, which we all know isn't true. The reason she became popular again was due to her "Ohhh how nostalgic!" factor. Best album, solid hit. The next album, solid hit but didn't sell even close to the best albums sales, the next collabo best album, pretty big hit, but again, mostly old songs. And her single sales are not the greatest either (And let's not forget, she used to sell a million --or close to it-- copies every single...)

Her second peak (in terms of sales) is slowly declining. And her "cool" factor is also surrounded by rumors of her being quite a *****, sorry to say. I know someone who danced for her and said she was really unpleasant.

Generally speaking, a lot of people, like in the states, dislike pop music. Which means disliking all three ladies. They were all super trendy, but now they are not new artists breaking new grounds. They all release the same version of old songs, sorry to say. (Well, Utada doesn't release anything anymore haha, which is the easy way out. "I'll stop making music as to escape the criticizing").

If you can say "Oh Ayu/Amuro/Utada? I prefer her old music", then those people are already seen in a different light. haha

I asked my Japanese friend what he thought of Utada and all he could say is, "oh, First Love!" and "She's really ugly". He only knew songs up to DEEP RIVER but especially songs from First Love. After that, not even a single track. I haven't asked about Namie but I will. I think I already covered Ayumi.

Haha yeah.

Ayu = SEASONS
Utada = First Love
Amuro = CAN YOU CELEBRATE?

As I said, Michael Jackson is considered to be the King of Pop, has the best selling album in the whole world and was pretty much one of the most recognized people in Earth...

Still, when he died, most tributes only played the same 4, 5 tracks of his whole discography... as much as we, pop music fans, tend to find natural to listen to it all the time and to know all the discrography from our artists by heart, 4, 5 tracks that where so big everyone knows still is A LOT...

It would never be different with Ayu, Hikki or Namie... And I dare say all of them did pretty well, cuz usually an artist is remembered by only 1 song (can a non-Celine Dion follower point me one of her songs that is not My Heart Will Go On, for example?), all of those girls have 3, 4 well recognized songs...

I don't believe another female will surpass Ayu's peak...the record industry has changed too much. The day another solo female songwriter tops the Oricon album, single and DVD charts like Ayu did in the same week, will be a cold day in hell.

could you be any more bitter.

people tend to say bad things about Ayu probably cuz shes a louder personality compared to most artist there, larger popularity outside japan, more singles and albums to compare, alot of photos, foreign husband and generally more daring as well. this gives haters more opportunity to start talking bad and spread useless rumours. unlike hikki and namie who is really quiet and shy---generally less things to talk about. IMO.

First Love is the best selling album in Japan... it sold around 7,000,000 copies, what is A LOT by Japanese standarts...

Japan's population was 126,925,843 people in 2000 (one year after First Love release)

+- 5% of Japan people of that time had First Love... not that impressive xD
And they are even less considering crazy fans would buy several copies to keep safe in the case one gets damaged

I'm not bitter o_O... I was just comparing feelings towards Ayu from the Japanese perspective to feelings towards other popular singers in Japan.

A lot of people on AHS/forums love and/or obsessed with following their favorite artists. But in Japan, like any country, most people are casual listeners. They listen to a song or see a video and if they like it enough, they buy it. Not everyone keeps up with what's going on with the music industry.

From my point of view, generally speaking, reputations are kept by the majority as opposed to the minority (general public vs the fans), as well as media. Fans tend to be very one-sided, while casual listeners form opinions on what they see and hear. If both a fan and a casual listener hears that Ayu yelled at a handicapped concert attendant for not standing up, chances are the casual listener will take and use that information completely different.

And because I write way to much...

dont forget ayu sold 50 million copies..
it means almost 1/4 japanese population ever had her cd...
lol..