Current trends: Decline of the solo artist?

[Ranma Matsuri]

... yeah but isn't this how Japan's music industry has always been? When you're at the top, you sell a ton compared to everyone else.

We had a period here in the US like 10 years ago when the music scene was dominated by teeny boopers, boy bands, and girl bands most specifically, the Max Martin set and now they're like an endangered species. It's just one of those things. In probably 3-5 years time (probably even less than that), there'll be solo acts topping the yearly sales charts again while fans of groups will be mourning over the decline. That's how trends work, it's no big deal really.