More popular internationally: Namie or Kuu?

[TeamAyu2004]

I would say Ayu is more well known throughout the world just because of everything that she has done.
Next of course would be Utada... but come on people... when you say you know her its completely different then: "I know that girl who did the song for kingdom hearts"
I think the SONG is more popular then Utada is in the world.
3rd I would have to say Kumi because of the FF connection.
Last would be Namie, but a close last... I only say this from personal experience but Ive listened to jpop since 2002 and I didnt really pay any attention to her till 2008/9... and I introduced her to most of my friends.

[kumis]

@Chibi-Chan the question is asking who's more popular among the international J-pop fandom but there's plenty of "normal" people who might know about Kuu or Ayu or Utada somehow so take into account those people as well. I knew songs from Kuu and Ayu up until 2011 when I properly got into J-pop

Anyway I really don't think Namie is more popular just because her song was used in Inuyasha. I don't think many people who watched that anime cared to find the name of the woman who sang that song

[Lady~Deviance]

You can't measure international recognition by the amount of work someone has released, in fact it is irrelevant. Let's be real. Whether it be a song or two or a multitude of works, at the end of the day how far someone's works has reached is the golden factor. PSY is a prime example. Just because an individual does not know an artist by name but can "identify" them by song is enough for me. It left an impression.

This thread is starting to seem pointless now.

[Pieces_of_SEVEN]

The Koda but only because of her tie ins.

[Andrenekoi]

Utada > Ayumi > Namie > Koda


Utada had a good exposure with KH, she algo got minnor hits on the clubs with the remixes of her english music and a minnor movie tie-in (Rush Hour 2). The EVA movies theme also work on her favour. She also has the most western-friendly music among the 4.

People keep bringing Inuyasha to justify Namie and forget Ayumi also had her music on the series. She had it 3 times, actually. When jpop had it's international peak, Ayumi was at the top of the game (together with Utada), so, it wouldn't matter who were you a fan of, you would know about Ayumi, as she (and Utada) were (are) pretty much compared with everyone.

Namie had the same points as Ayu on her favours during the 90's and a Inuyasha tie-in, if you were insterested in Japanese pop music, you would know about her, her advantage works shorter than Ayu's cuz Internet wasn't as common back at her first peak. With her new peak, she gained a lot of fans among jpop listeners that do a fair work keeping her well-kown. I wouldn't be surprised if she took Ayu (and even Utada) spot if jpop wasn't totally eclipsed by kpop nowadays. Fun fact: During the celebration of the 100 years japanese immigrated to Brazil, there was a rumour (that actually reached news papers) that Namie would perform over here.

Most of the time I met people that were aware of Koda's existance without being a Jpop fan, those people liked her videos because she was so sexual it became rxotic on some way. She never had a tie-in with an anime that became big on the USA and videogame fans were pretty confortable with Jade's version. She has that rideous Fergie duet on her favour, but I never saw people (being her fans or not) really being into it.

So, considering what maters to the poll: Namie. Her longer career giver her advantage on places with a lot of people of japanese heritage and she was the face of jpop during the 90s.

[Minttulatte]

I personally think it's Kuu, because judging by the last.fm worldwide plays, Kuu gains plays and listeners a lot faster than Namie. And Utada Hikaru is the best known worldwide imo. Anyone who has laid their hands on Kingdom Hearts knows her and those series are popular as hell everywhere so yeah. :3

Tbh, I didn't even know who Ayu or Namie was before I went to check wikipedia for some random reason. I knew Kuu and Hikki first because of their connection to Square Enix's games.

[~.:*:.YaSuMi.:*:.~]

Namie. It seems that Koda is popular among otakus, but Namie is known by some people who are not into anime.

[susiowong]

I like Namie more.

[chikocchi]

I would say Namie because of her Inuyasha tie-ins

[TITANIC]

I'd say Namie for her 2nd time peak has helped a lot

[Kanzaki]

Kuu, without doubt. I heard a song by her before I was even that into J-pop, by playing FF X-2 Think that was her breakthrough as well.

[happiholic★]

After TMZ reported on the whole issue with Namie being in TLC's Waterfalls I wonder if that will help her international fame?