Ayu not in Oricon's "Top 20 Favorite Artists"... losing popularity?
 

http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/music/60075/

Oricon does this survey every year to see the most liked artists; 20,000 people were asked who their favorite artists were and Ayu... wasn't there... Do you think she's losing popularity? Come to think of it, when was the last monster hit ayu had? You know, like REALLY REALLY popular? Wasn't it BLUE BIRD? What do you think of this? ...I'm a little sad and shocked.

If anyone is curious, here are the top positions:

1. utada hikaru
2. kobukuro
3. aiko
4. mr. children
5. dreams come true
6. southern all-stars
7. amuro namie (WOAH! didn't expect that one so high...)
8. b'z
9. spitz
10. arashi
11. fukuyama masaharu
12. shibasaki kou
13. exile
14. pornografitti
15. ayaka
16. yui
17. hirai ken
18. yuki
19. kuwata keisuke
20. yuzu

She's been losing popularity very very steadily since mid-2002.

I really wish ayu's fans didn't freak out like the sky is falling every time something like this happens.

Ayu's career is currently mostly driven by the die-hard fans - casual listeners are, for the most part, no longer interested. That's how it goes.

But I don't want it to be like that! She's going to be like that one old singer that ayumi surpassed at most consecutive number ones: a living legend, but a living legend with bad sales. I don't want that to happen.......

Her sales haven't reached the "bad" level yet. Anyways, plenty of artists on the list don't sell as well as she does, so it's arguable how popular or not popular she is.

I would say that Step You was her last really popular song, not Blue Bird.

um...i don't think she's at the point of having bad sales....sometimes i think fans worry more about her career than she does...

^ totally agree lol.

It's OK. Because Ayu still has us! Isn't it?

lol that's a really good point.

I'm a bit surprised not to see her there, but she hasn't really been doing much this year anyway.

wow, hikki is no. 1! I'm sad to see that ayu is not in the top 20. maybe it has to do with her left ear deafness :shrug and kuu's not even in the top 20.

I don't care about polls, they use it as a method to show whos "supposedly" important and who's not ;)

I think I agree with that too. She's already 30 and is running on her 11th year, and I think the new wave of young guns are coming to attack on her. There seems to be better choices. But there are really exceptions:
1. Kumi Koda isn't on the list either. Remember on February this year that she said something bad that made Avex to suspend him and cause popularity to decline? I think that is the case why she isn't on the list because of her earlier actions that I specifically talked about.
2. Ai Otsuka isn't on the list either, but I don't know why she's not on the list...maybe she's not really very much popular as Ayu do?

I think it's the lack of DAI(+CREA) compositions. :P

Even BoA, SMAP and KAT-TUN aren't on the list...

lol... everyone knows oricon members are all hikki/aiko lovers. If you look back on past years' rankings you can only find ayu at #18 in 2005.

nah you shouldn't be worried , all these polls that Oricon conducted are fake & attention hungry to a certain extent

you should look at the big picture instead to see whether or not is she doing well or not , you can't judge based on this poll alone

i dont remember hikki had released anything else beside her album and a single. what make her popularity so steady?

well this poll have been in the asian music section for a while, and people say it's because they can relate to hikki, as in a laid-back kind of person

Flavor of life was a very succesful single (and I agree, the ballad version is a pretty excellent song) and her HEART STATION album is close to reaching a million copies sold. Not too sure about Prisoner of love though.

To be honest, the best album released this year in JPOP that I listened to was without a doubt, HEART STATION. I feel that Hikki songs have a good radio playing feel too. I'd love it if I were to hear the song HEART STATION playing on a radio here.

I personally can't understand ayaqa's popularity that much though..she has some good singles, an amazing voice, but her albums suck tbh.

i think so


many new talents, bands, etc
plus all the heavy competition (utada, namie, koda, etc)

and also, she has changed a lot, shes far away from her most successful works (M, evolution, RAINBOW, etc)


PLUS, this year she didnt have anything new for a long time

She hasn't been in that list for a long time... :\

Some of the rankings feel out of place too, like some should be higher while others should be lower. I don't really think this is a trustable poll, though I don't deny ayus popularity has in fact been going down the past few years.

Well.. she's Hikki. She could release a track of her coughing and it would sell like hot cakes. :P

That's very sad...to know that her popularity has really dropped by a lot..

Nevertheless I will still continue to support her! Love ayu!

Maybe ayu should get back to producing songs similar to M, evolution, Boys & Girls, plus many of her other popular hits. And of course more 'CREA activity' :P

But it happens ti everyone. Ayu will always remain famous for her songs/success. Oh and that list doesn't make much sense, I mean Ken Hirai's sales are pretty weak, and as someone said KAT-TUN's not there~

You know... I don't trust Oricon polls anymore. They always create more than a few EACH month. You dun really know how they exactly survey these polls.

Even tho I'm glad that hikki is at the top of the list, it doesn't mean anything to me anymore. It's not like a really special poll to me anywayz...

While I don't completely trust these polls like most of the people in this discussion board, I feel that it indicates that her popularity is waning. Never fear though - if wiki is right, then a good chunk of her sales are now generated from Asia ex-Japan countries. I feel that that's a better thing than just having her fan base in Japan now =D

I thought this was WHICH ARTISTE CAN YOU RELATE MOST TO?????
and not the fav?

Ayu is very diva
Koda is...well ero-kakkoii
Ai is wacky AHHAHA

so I mean...certainly people cant really relate to them...

i thought it was like tat?... it was said at Hikki's thread

No, this is really the "20000 people choosing their favorite artists" poll.
I remember hikki got no. 1 as well last year. Ayu was never in top 15 anywayz at least since 2005. So I dun see that's a big problem at all if she's not top 20 this year..

She didn't really release much this year and it would be kinda absurd to have her up there actually.

ayu is just generally loved by the public.

so when people vote, they're gonna pick the one their most obsessed with at that moment.

ayu's probably like, 5th on everyones "favourites list", but at least she's on everyones list! (well not everyone, but most people who are into pop music)

How is Hikki on #1 o_O

Well Kuu's not on the list so I don't mind that Ayu isn't either

I feel really sad... This is quite a shock for me. I think ayu has been just doing her thing and being true to herself. She didn't do anything to warrant this. Other artistes should have their moments but not even in top 20? Gosh.

I disagree. Fairyland was playing absolutely EVERYWHERE you went to in Japan when it was released: on the super market, on record stores, on the streets. I think that was her last really popular song.

KinKi Kids, the world record holder for the singles, isn't even on the list. Maybe the same thing as Ayu is - not too much actions, I should say?

Eh. It's just one poll.

It's not like this decides whether she's popular or not. Remember, polls just take the opinions of fans.

I don't think she's losing popularity. Every artist has their peak and hers, unfortunately, didn't last for a few years.

It's just a poll.
Most of the artists in the list are the same who done good sells in this year/past year.
For example Namie, with BEST FICTION she have done great sales and it increased her popularity. Maybe some persons are really young and they discover Namie only with BF, so it's naturally that you say 'My favourite artist is Namie Amuro ^^'.
But you can say the same things with kobukuro, EXILE, Ayaka, YUI and other..

Ayu's releases this year are really poor so.
But It's just a poll, don't trust in this things XD

lol sorry for my english >_<

OMG~
thats only survei for only 20.000 people how about a billion population of japan another people?
-_-

I don't think that should be taken seriously...i still remember the poll when Ayu was chosen as number one in "my fashion leader" and was a very little while ago... so from a few weeks from then ayu is not popular anymore??? hahahahaha

Plus, Smap,Kat tun ,Ootsuka Ai and Kuu weren't on the list either... don't cha think thats a bit suspicious, considering how popular they are? i mean, that's ridiculous. i don't believe that stupid poll is reliable, those jerks seem to be supporting only a few artists.

also, may be 20,000 people didn't vote 4 her, but 200 000 people went to her concerts this year...

I don't see why everyone's so surprised about Ootsuka Ai not being on the list. Her past three singles have bombed, she's lost her signature style, and no one's going to buy LOVE LETTER. I was talking to another Ai fan that didn't even know/heard of Rocket Sneaker and Kurage, Nagareboshi. She used to be really popular...

Nevertheless, I love Ai chin AND I love the past three singles and I'm so going to buy LOVE LETTER, but what I mean is that she's really lost popularity. She doesn't want to be "cute" anymore...

The thing about this list is that it's chosen by Oricon Style subscribers, who all are very much Mr. Children / aiko / Hikki fans. This is a very biased list, as it only samples like 20,000 people who all generally have the same music interests.

^ Yeah I too thought the list was biased or inaccurate. I mean even after the scandal, I doubt Kuu's popularity woulda dropped THAT much that she would not be in a top 20 poll, same goes with Ayu. Namie should also be in top 5 with the recent popularity boom too.

It is because I find the polls biased, I really don't care so much if Ayu is or isn't on the list. Pretty sure if the survey was over 20,000 random people off the streets, the answers would be different.

I wouldn't be worried 20,000 out of the whole population of Japan isnt a lot at all!!

Still, I gotta admit, I'm pretty shocked she's not there. I mean, out of TWENTY people, she's not there at all? :/

BTW, are there ANY avex artists on that list??

Namie Amuro and EXILE

:laugh

Ayu has been losing popularity for a long time.

I mean honestly, you could probably go sample all of Japan, and she would maybe MAYBE be in the top ten.

Some people need to come back to reality.

Ayu is just not as popular as she once was. Besides, there are other artists that deserve attention too, it's not all about her.

Maybe is 'cause she don't give the public new music in this year O.O
don't you?

i hate utada

Well, you see, I didn't know this. I figured she wouldn't be called the Empress of JPop if she wasn't the Queen anymore. You know, that the title would be passed to one of the new hot-shots in the same way that it was passed from Amuro to Ayu.

A lot of the people commenting here have gotten a little hostile, c'mon please,,

That's true of pretty much any major pop artist when they release a new single in Japan. :)

It's still enough to get a general sense. I mean people here follow the Ninki polls, and that is only 400 people.

Seiko Matsuda and Akina Nakamori are still called the Queen's or Empresses of J-Pop, yet obviously they aren't popular anymore.

Feel sorry for Ayu but the way u post make me think that u dont even ever listen or know about Namie!Especially her work this year!

Do you think there is anyone else seriously worthy of the title? lol

Ayu is called a lot of things. Remember that Avex does pay for her marketing. They'd call her the Queen forever if it would help their sales and if they didn't decide it was another artist.

I personally don't see anyone worthy of the title atm, not even Koda Kumi. Her lasting power gosh...nose dove at a rate three times that of Ayu :laugh Ai Otsuka...psh, she doesn't have anything. There really isn't another REALLY great person yet. Maybe if Alan has as much support in Japan as she does at AHS, but it's really too early to tell lol.

and uh...honestly, rockyraven...he doesn't have to know about namie. God, I've listened to a few of her albums, and my opinions of her havent changed drastically at all since before when I hadn't listened to any of her music. I think she's respected of course, much in the same way ayu will be too, forever, and I think he recognizes that at least.

If you look at the previous years, Ayu hasn't even broken the top 10..it's basically the same 10 artists in the top 10 with some fluctuation due to different interests each year.

2005's top 10 vs. 2008's top 10
1. aiko / Utada Hikaru
2. Utada Hikaru / Kobukuro
3. Mr. Children / aiko
4. Porno Graffiti / Mr. Children
5. B'z / Dreams Come True
6. BoA / Southern All-Stars
7. Southern All-Stars / Namie Amuro
8. SPITZ / B'z
9. Ai Otsuka / SPITZ
10. Mika Nakashima / ARASHI

Seriously, this poll-thing really isn't that reliable. LOL. It barely changes each year other than like 4~5 artists.. lame. I mean how would BoA get #5 in 2005? BEST OF SOUL?

why is aiko soo popular in those polls?? xDD

her voice is not that good, and she looks a bit weird to me...


she still cute

but not enough xDD

To be honest, Namie just got lucky with BEST FICTION. Hasn't she been struggling for a while? Not saying that she doesn't have talent or anything... I love "NEW LOOK"!

BTW, Seiko Matsuda is also called "The Empress of JPop"?! She's like 1,000 years old and she releases still single after single, every year a couple... she doesn't stop even though she only sells 10,000 copies per single; THIS is what I don't want to happen to Ayu!!!!

Why u say she just "lucky"? I'm sure that 1,4 million ppl who have already bought BF didnt buy that album just for fun/
@___@ U also love my most hated song for Namie. I skip that song everytime i play BF
New Look doesnt show the world that NAMIE AMURO's style! that song is...not her =__= Terrible simple pop song i have to be honest about that.
anyway nevermind, u have different taste ^____^

Yes but what I meant was that her sales have dropped more dramatically than Ayu's; face it, she's lost a whole lot of popularity, even more than Ayumi.

PLAY and QUEEN OF HIP HOP only sold half a million! STYLE sold even less! Like 250,000.

Until I started this thread (to my dismay), I still thought Ayu was on top of the world (I'm a fairly new Ayu fan). And the truth is that the title WAS taken away from Ms. Amuro and given to Ayumi.

lolz keep your mind cause the truth is true, my aunt lives in Japan and she know that Both AYUMI n NAMIE r called legend there even their sale seem not quite good as the new commer or some boybands! Girls n women in Japan still come to Shibuya 109 to buy Namie's looalike fashion n the kids still sing old song in karaoke room! Face it dear ^___^
If u see an ARTIST all through by their sale, u'r totally wrong.

You don't get it; I'm not denying her popularity, I'm just saying she's lost some of it. It's obvious when an album can only sell .25 million. She's still a great singer, a great woman. All I said was that the title was passed to Ayu, which is a well-known fact.

On top of that, I'm not judging ANYONE or TALENT based on sales; I'm judging POPULARITY based on sales.

uhmm...

from start, do you even like namie?
xDD

bcose I always say stuff like that when personally I don't like some singer etc

^^

I'm not a fan but I don't dislike her. I've always thought of her as a pioneer of Jpop; it's just that this dude really got hyped up when I mentioned that her title was taken. :shrug:shrug

lol

this "dude" is my friend
and I understand him very well

because he likes namie as much as we all like ayu

so obviously we want the best for our favourites! ^^


at the end makes me happy how we all defend them xDD and its funny sometimes too



but please guys

keep it clean :D:D:D

She may not be the TOP artiste but they are STILL people who see her as their favourite. This poll speaks in general...and only 20k isnt really...showing much since they most prob just ask the TOP fav..

and also, she has done well in asia...very well in fact...now her fanbase outside japan is growing..

I'm not being sarcastic, but are you offended by the word "dude"? You do have to admit that he was getting a little too uncomfortable just by me starting out by saying that her title was passed over... I mean, with this thread I found out, to my horror, that Ayu's not as popular as before and I didn't combust. Especially when people told me so explicitly: "Ayumi's sales have been dropping for a long time", "just get over it, it doesn't matter", "she's just lost popularity", etc. You know?

LOL
not dude! not at all
xD

yeah me too, I was upset that shes not in the list, but we all knew that she isn't as popular as before, plus she has changed soo much...

but anyway, namie is not in the first place, so yeah we can't really blame her xD




utada is first xDD

!!!!

*turns a big big fire on to burn her :gnash*

LOL jks

I'm very glad that she has a lot of other fans in other parts of Asia though! I wonder what area is she most popular in besides Japan...

Hong Kong?

cmon... ayu didn't get in last year and 2006 either.

http://contents.oricon.co.jp/music/s...070720_01.html
http://contents.oricon.co.jp/music/s...060726_01.html

even in 2005, she was at position 18.
http://contents.oricon.co.jp/music/s...050727_01.html

But does that mean she is not good? NO.

This is not new, and Namie didn't get in last year too. This kind of poll, either ayu is in top 10 or not, is just BS.

Yeah, last year Namie was at #21..

seriously, I boycott this kind of BS poll. Who wants to join?

Hmmm I see! Okay yeah this "poll" is seriously flawed and fixed. :yes

So what if she is 1,000 years old? lol.I hope you didn't mean for you post to come off as so insulting. All being called Empress or Queen of J-Pop means is that they are artists who have reached legendary status - it doesn't mean that no one else can ever have the title or that the title needs to be "passed" to someone else. Honestly there are many JPop or Idol "Queens" and they are still referred to as such. There is no single "one."

But it is a mistake to judge popularity based on sales in Japan. There are so many artists that are completely ubiquitous in Japan, so famous, always on tv, in magazines etc, yet there CD sales may look low by comparison. Take Johnny's for example, it is infamous that their albums sell like crap yet no one could claim that they are unpopular they are absolutely everywhere that you turn in Japan. Aiko - bad sales but extremely popular. Fukuyama Masuharu - the guy is a legend still but when is the last time he had an out of the park hit? Seiko Matsuda - sells like crap now, yet fills arena tours ever year despite her age. (It would be awesome if Ayu in her 40s could have the same type of everlasting popularity that Seiko does, so don't be so quick to insult.) In short, Japan is an odd place. :) Good cd sales are not the only consideration for popularity in Japan.

Amuro's drop in popularity though was due mostly to controversy and a self imposed break, not necessarily because people were tired of her or didn't like her anymore. She then drastically changed her style and built her popularity up again from the bottom up.

I don't like the Namie versus Ayu argument because I love them both. But since this is an Ayumi board, usually people are biased against Namie when really, the truth is that Namie at her height of popularity I would be willing to say was actually more famous and influential than Ayumi at the height of hers. (And Ayumi was HUGE, but Namie just slightly more I would say. Both were way up there though.)

That's fine. But if you really mean it, then you have to boycott every other Oricon poll, including the ones that have Ayu at #1. :)

I don't think it's anything to worry about, Ayu's sales in Japan and all over Asia speak for themselves. Not to mention her sold-out arena tours... Yeah Ayu's doing pretty well, if not better than most of the people on that list so :P

bravo!

I agree lol

As dubbed from her album, Namie is the queen of Hip pop because her music can't really be considered pop, its more like japanese r&b or hip-hop. Ayu won't lose the title Empress of Jpop for a long time until someone creates a stir in the music industry like she did. Even though her popularity is going down and she hasn't a million seller since MY STORY, her previous accomplishments allow her to keep the title.

i think the battle between ayu, namie and hikki will never end..can't we just love them and get over it? all the endless of "she's better, no she's not", etc is really getting annoying~

ayu can't sell like her earlier days, but so what? at least she haven't gone crazy from a few loss and roam the streets of whatever she live naked *yes, very dramatic point*

these polls are very biased as they chose certain people to survey, as long as we love ayu, know she's awesome in our hearts, does it really take one poll to waver our love for ayu?

and as many people have said, don't trust this poll, so can we please not let it turn into yet another "queen,empress of jpop" arguement?

Well, I don't think 20,000 people is little. That's quite a lot of opinions. Most interviews/surveys/polls are taken with a smaller population, there's no way they can do it with the entire nation.
About only the top 20 fans being subscribers for oricon, do we have any proof of that?

However, this poll can be severely biased in one situation: If the question was only "What is your main favorite artist" with just one to chose, then results could become biased, since someone who likes both namie and ayumi, but is currently more into namie, will put namie as their favorite artist, and ayu will be left out of the poll. If they interviewed me this year and asked who were my favoprite artists this year I'd mention hikki and ayu, but if they asked me to choose only one for this year, I'd personally have to choose hikki only, because personally, I enjoyed Hikki's releases this year much more. If a list of "favorite artists" were made instead, then maybe ayu would stand more of a chance of being among the top 20. I don't know how this survey was made though.

As R&B or hip hop influenced her songs these days are, Namie is still a pop artist, most definitely. And from the early 90s-early 00s she was the poppiest of pop and was definitely the Queen or Empress or whatever - but really, like I said, there is no such thing as a single JPop Queen anyways so there really is no point in arguing about who is the 'Queen.'

Yes, I think that's true... to an extent. She is still a huge force in Japan, even with her declining sales. I was in Japan when Blue Bird came out (the first time I listened to Ayu or had even heard of Ayu!!!) and I was shocked how I heard it being played everywhere I went!!! Stores/restaurants/radio... I even heard it being played at a store in a temple I visited!!!

Anyways, I am also hopeful that she continues doing well in China and Taiwan!

^you have a good idea...
Your's is the best post to quote Lauren.

You said everything that needed to be said saying the least crap and stating it like it is.

My post should have been like this, I should have just agreed with you to begin with :laugh

Well, if that's the case then Ayu maybe don't really have to have those winning positions in polls...I mean look she is a very clear picture of Japan's Pop as people always listening to her in public places, she became a 'Common Artist' like when you ask someone "Do you know Celine Dion or Madonna?" and then everyone would say "Yes". Everybody enjoys her as a part of a public culture IMO

Yes, that's true, the same happens for every other major artist though. If Southern All Stars has a new single out, you hear that everywhere you go, Arashi you hear that, Ayumi you hear that, etc etc.

that's true, that's true.

I think you didn't read my related posts and JUST read part of it.

I don't agree ALL this kind of poll, even Ayu is at #1.

Yes, that kind of poll seems disgrace some artists and unfair....
They kinda making a rivalry between fans (In the reality many artists don't want this kind of thing to happen)...media these days

Haha... The 20 000 people they chose weren't Ayu fans.

well.. i admit that ayu's popularity is going downhill.. but then for ayu to not appear in top 20.. that's shocking.

(TT-TT still sad to hear that she`s not up there, since she`s normally pretty popular. i remember the first time i said to myself "this looks like the decline of her popularity" was around the time of rainbow.. hEH. sanks for the info~~.

I think this poll just works as pick 1 artist that would be your favourite so artists' with consistent fanbases do well. Like Honestly Hikki, aiko and mr children have like the most consistent fanbase so it would make sense for them to hit the top 3 often. I Think people are just overreacting like always and critisizing other artists for no reason =/ what surprises me most is that people think these polls are bias just because the same people win over and over x_x ~!

LOL! And here I was worried it came across too...terse, I guess? :P I just wanted to sum it up without going into the whole explanation of why ayu fans who are really worried need to not be so spoiled.

Every artist has their peak and their downfall, and that's the reality of it. Ayu's downfall wasn't sudden or sharp enough for a huge backlash resulting in a premature retirement, and I'm amazed more fans aren't thankful for that. Any artist who's consistently as low as number 5 on the charts is arguably doing AMAZINGLY as far as popularity. Many artists alot of ayu fans like very rarely even break into the top 10, and they're worried about ayu's number 1 streak. She's already broken records, I don't see why she needs to continue being number 1 at absolutely everything all the time.

As for these polls, they're crap anyway. But seeing ayu fall out of people's top 5, 10, 15, or 20 lists - and then coming back occasionally, but it'll be less & less often over the next few years - should never cause anyone to get so upset over it that they feel the need to share it with other people. You don't see threads like this at alan's forum, because her fans appreciate if she so much as makes it into the top 5.

When your favorite artist is always the best all the time, it's hard to congratulate them on their successes, because those successes come to be accepted. It's easier to find occasions where she sinks in popularity, or has a sales slump, and then be upset about it.

The movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer" said it better than I'm saying it... at one point, Josh is worried about a chess tournament, and he says this to his dad.

"If I win, everybody will say, 'Well, of course he won, he's a top-ranked player.' But if I lose... Maybe it's better not to be the best. Then you can lose, and it's okay."

If ayu loses from time to time, fans need to learn to let it be okay.

Gosh, yes that's CORRECT!!!! Your post is like the most poetic post I've ever read here on AHS (with the exception of lyrics and poems thread):P

Yea, we should learn how to lose...despite of the crappiness of the polls lol

omg this like the moststupid poll ever. most of artist there are awfull sellers, most of them has no number one hits so this is just stupid.
and u r really stupid too. how can u say ayumis carreer is loosing???
which female artist can surpass her nowadays? there isnt one. she still hasnumber one singles, number one albums. utada is power seller but her singles sucks (PoL, HS/SG), kumis sales of singles are poor too. maybe ayumis carrer is supported by die-hard-fans, but they do a very good job. and we all know one day she wont be on top, and it will be soon, but what she has achieved noone ever has...

I'm sure Ayu is the last person not aware of the situation.

Still, what's important is that she's given us TEN years of her life, brings delight each time we hear her recordings, make us jump to our feet on her tours and bring tears to our eyes when she's sad.
For most of us, she will always hold a special place in our hearts and always be No.1 no matter what the charts say.

Looking at her blogs (so kindly translated) she has no intentions of quitting or slowing down, so let us enjoy our good fortune to the fullest and savour every moment. If and when she does decide to leave, let it be with our blessings, wishing her every happiness and good health.

She deserves no less.

i couldn't be bothered...As long as Ayu still sings...I will still support her!
The Asia sales beat the Japan sales and this proves that Ayu is popular throughout Asia! Who needs Japan fans? hahaha

Ummm, everyone of the people on that list are number 1 sellers. Some of which have more #1s than Ayu. And honestly, as much as I'd like Ayu to keep her #1 streak, the only reason that it hasn't been broken is because Avex makes sure to release her singles in weeks where there is next to no competition. Release her against some real competition the last couple of years and there is no way she would have so many #1s.

The fact that she has been gradually losing popularity is undeniable. One needs only to look at the year end single charts to see that she is only making the list at #31. (Great for many artists, but low for Ayu) And last year I believe she came in around #20 at the highest.

But as Delirum said, this is just the natural progression of things. I imagine the popularity will dip much lower until she maybe is able to have a resurgence of popularity like Amuro did.

Well, when you factor in that most of the top 10/20 of the yearly single charts = JE..

She actually does pretty well for herself. lol.

Whether its JE or not is irrelevant though. The top of the charts has always been JE, yet Ayu managed to hang right in there with them. Now she doesn't, thus it demonstrates her drop in popularity. Plus she used to almost always be the top female on the charts, this year and I believe the last two years, have a number of solo or group females ahead of her. The charts are still heavily male dominated though.

Boybands have been reigning over any solo artiste these years...Not many artiste would stand up against them...maybe Hikki but the rest no way...So that said, it doesnt matter if Ayu cant anyway..

Yes yes i agree too. She is more like a household name now and i think, its not really that her popularity has dropped but that people just listen to her like any other artiste...there is no longer this AYU-HYPE after her peak 7 years ago..
They probably still download her stuff...and LIKE it..maybe not so much Love it.

But those artiste on that chart probably stand out more i guess...

yea...i think she is still very big in Japan...and what she has achieved definitely can't be overlooked no matter wad...

her status now should be WIDELY KNOWN and not just POPULAR