[Andrenekoi]

^Well, I don't really think that she was universally loved any day... Even if her peak was at the peak of japanese music sales, she couldn't affort to have the sales of... Mai Kuraki (that has almost totally faded out by now) for example... Hikki who people over here tends to overlook has 3 albums among the 10 best selling ever in Japan, the best selling american album and one of the best selling digital singles... What she always had and still has is a cultural huge impact that doesn't really has anything to do with her music... if you take a look at japanese 20 best selling albums ever, she appears at the top 10 once, and after that, only below top20 and she has like... 4 or 5 million seller singles...

So... yeah... Japan in general don't really care about her, but is not like she was the most loved jpop idol ever anyday. What makes Ayu so strong is not being the best of Japan, but being one of the best (her fanbase still is big enough to keep her like that) for a long time, longer than most of jpop divas that sold better than her over the years (like... she was outsold by Mika Nakashima, Ayaka, Koda Kumi over these years since her debut but her career is A LOT more stable)