Iconic Female J-Pop Albums

[ayumisrael]

Btw I always wondered how come seiko matsuda only release to sell over 1 million was the single あなたに逢いたくて～Missing You～.
She doesn't even has a 1 million selling album.

Btw kuu's biggest hits in Japan should be cutie honey and Butterfly along with koi no tsubomi.
I'm not sure that the general public remembers her for yume no uta or With your smile but most would remember the 3 I mentioned.

[Kacku]

Originally Posted by Mirrorcle Monster

I think YUI and recently Kana Nishino have also achieved that impact. How many pop/rock girls with guitars and a less "artificial" image have we seen ever since YUI became popular? And how many R&B ballads have we heard ever since Kana became popular? Not only that, Kana also ruled the fashion world during her peak

I agree about YUI. Just off the top of my head: miwa, Rihwa, and Leo Ieiri all definitely fit the "pop/rock guitar girl" image, and I believe YUI's popularity helped them get signed and informed their public image early on in their careers (miwa and Leo Ieiri seem to have branched out some since then though).

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

Btw I always wondered how come seiko matsuda only release to sell over 1 million was the single あなたに逢いたくて～Missing You～.
She doesn't even has a 1 million selling album.

Btw kuu's biggest hits in Japan should be cutie honey and Butterfly along with koi no tsubomi.
I'm not sure that the general public remembers her for yume no uta or With your smile but most would remember the 3 I mentioned.

The japanese music market peaked between the mid 90's to the early 00's... It doesn't have much to do with popularity as it has to do with overall sales moments... Had Ayu or Hikki peaked during the 80's or nowadays for example, her sales would be far more modest. Not a coincidence Seiko's only million seller single was released in 95...

[ayumisrael]

It depends though since there are way older releases than the 80s that sold millions, like the best selling single in Japan was released on 1975 and it sold around 4,536,000 copies.
I know that popularity doesn't always are equal to sales but you would think that the popular most iconic ones would have at least some impressive numbers for certain releases. I mean even kuu had three million selling albums but from what I gathered seiko's impact was more powerful, like seiko is the uta hime of the showa era (while ayu is the heisei one like it was on Music Station last week).

And also, I wonder what status hikki's mom reached fuji keiko/utada junko if she is important to mention. I didn't see she had a million selling release anyway but I remember she had releases that charted many weeks or that were #1 for many weeks and such and I also wonder how many other solo females (or bands with female soloists) that were really popular that we don't know of, if there were any more. Sometimes I wish we had some sort of official list of most popular japanese female soloists of all times, like general list, not necessarily with positions. Of course it should include all the female soloists that were ever popular in Japan, all of them. Doesn't matter if it's pop or enka (sales wise oricon treats both as one).

[Corvina]

If we're speaking about JPop icons, one of the biggest female, maybe even the biggest, is Hibari Misora. She made Enka music, but later also Kayokyoku, which is another older term for JPop. Hibari Misora wasn't just a singer, she is considered a cultural icon in Japan and even got the Medal of Honor.
She sold 68 million while living and up to the 21st century she apparently sold about 80 million records.
Her last song "Kawa no Nagare no Yo ni" is probably one of the most known songs ever. There are tributes to her every year, she has her own museum, and I bet pretty much everbody in Japan (still) knows her.

@ ayumisreal:
There was a Top 20 female soloist list done by a japanese TV channel some years ago and we also got the video here.
I still remember Kuu was at #18 and Hikki was pretty high, but that's all. Sadly I don't find it right now, but I can't even remember which show it was...
This list would be great for this thread. If somebody remembers or finds it, please post it.

[Delicious n Bold]

Well we found the true icon. Utada who.
/thread

[ayumisrael]

Originally Posted by Corvina

If we're speaking about JPop icons, one of the biggest female, maybe even the biggest, is Hibari Misora. She made Enka music, but later also Kayokyoku, which is another older term for JPop. Hibari Misora wasn't just a singer, she is considered a cultural icon in Japan and even got the Medal of Honor.
She sold 68 million while living and up to the 21st century she apparently sold about 80 million records.
Her last song "Kawa no Nagare no Yo ni" is probably one of the most known songs ever. There are tributes to her every year, she has her own museum, and I bet pretty much everbody in Japan (still) knows her.

Well I don't wanna bring the oricon pain, but I kinda thought that the top selling artists in Japanese history (where B'z are #1 and Mr.Children are #2 etc.) is a list of all times, like, if hibari misora really sold 80 million copies overall, at least in Japan, then she should be on top of that list, unless if I got everything wrong and oricon never counted vinyls or releases in general that were released before a certain time period.
I thought that they covered at least the whole century, or everything at all.
I personally know that oricon covers at least everything since the 60s included (and if she had any hit releases they didn't sell over a million post 1960).

I would never question her popularity though since it is enormous she became like a constant of Japanese culture even after her death.

Also kawa no nagare no youni was chosen as the most popular japanese song of all times in a poll of over 10 million people.

[Andrenekoi]

Originally Posted by ayumisrael

It depends though since there are way older releases than the 80s that sold millions, like the best selling single in Japan was released on 1975 and it sold around 4,536,000 copies.
I know that popularity doesn't always are equal to sales but you would think that the popular most iconic ones would have at least some impressive numbers for certain releases. I mean even kuu had three million selling albums but from what I gathered seiko's impact was more powerful, like seiko is the uta hime of the showa era (while ayu is the heisei one like it was on Music Station last week).

And also, I wonder what status hikki's mom reached fuji keiko/utada junko if she is important to mention. I didn't see she had a million selling release anyway but I remember she had releases that charted many weeks or that were #1 for many weeks and such and I also wonder how many other solo females (or bands with female soloists) that were really popular that we don't know of, if there were any more. Sometimes I wish we had some sort of official list of most popular japanese female soloists of all times, like general list, not necessarily with positions. Of course it should include all the female soloists that were ever popular in Japan, all of them. Doesn't matter if it's pop or enka (sales wise oricon treats both as one).

They would have big sales compared to other people from the same era, but Ayu most likely wouldn't have an album among the top10, for example. It isn't (and wasn't) impossible for someone to sell over a millions copies, but on that time spam I said you would get 10, 15, 20 million selling albums every year, it was the norm for a popular act, and it wasn't during Seiko's peak.

And Oricon counts sales since Oricon's creation, they don't count the sales from people who had a whole successful career before the chart existed. And every other chart works the same way.

[ayumisrael]

So the question is what was there before Oricon?.
I mean what tracked misora hibari's 80 million copies?

Oh and I also wonder why she wasn't even on the music station episode.
She should be the Showa era queen then, not seiko.

[Andrenekoi]

^Misora was releasing music since the late 40's, and Oricon only got fully estabished during the 70's... It didn't track the most of her career. Her sales number comes from her labels and the record producer association, most likely.

She most likely isn't considered the queen of the showa era either because she was around before the concept of being a popstar was created, or because the charts focused on newer acts to validate their own existance.

[Corvina]

Here's the list of the latest Music Station Special for songs to be proud of showing to the world:
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20...3641-lisn-musi

And what song is at #3?
Kawa no Nagare no you ni by Hibari Misora, haha.

[denadel]

It depends though since there are way older releases than the 80s that sold millions, like the best selling single in Japan was released on 1975 and it sold around 4,536,000 copies.

Which single was that?

[Uemarasan]

This is a good although old list conducted among Japanese music critics. Some of the newer artists should move ahead in the list:

http://www.hmv.co.jp/news/article/311040091/

This sounds about right. The most iconic female artists are: Yumi Matsutoya, Hibari Misora, Momoe Yamaguchi, and Miyuki Nakajima. Right now, I would put Dreams Come True above Utada, and Namie much closer.

Let's be honest. Artists such as Nana Kishino have strong fan bases, but to be iconic you have to appeal beyond a fan base. Be part of the overall musical conversation across generations and genres and not be limited to foreign fans, otaku fans, young fans, etc. Some people are too young to have historical perspective, or too ingrained in otaku subculture to be objective. That Music Station list is skewed toward recent releases, so I doubt it's reliable.

Another list: Rolling Stone Japan's Greatest Rock Albums:

http://exclaim.ca/music/article/fina...ms_of_all_time

Some pop albums in there. Very good list, although it might appeal more to rock fans than pop fans. Many iconic albums, but the list includes brilliant albums that didn't achieve iconic status (Supercar, for instance).

I'm trying to find another list of most important Japanese vocalists.

[Uemarasan]

Sorry, I could only find my copy and not the proper link. Top 30 singers:

01. Tatsuro Yamashita
02. Momoe Yamaguchi
03. Keisuke Kuwata (from Southern All Stars)
04. Hibari Misora
05. Yumi Matsutoya
06. Kazumasa Oda (from Off Course)
07. Seiko Matsuda
08. Kazutoshi Sakurai (from Mr Children)
09. Yosui Inoue
10. Hikaru Utada
11. Eiichi Otaki
12. Kyu Sakamoto
13. Kenji Sawada
14. Akiko Yano
15. Motoharu Sano
16. Miyuki Nakajima
17. Eikichi Yazawa
18. UA
19. Kiyoshiro Imawano (from RC Succession)
20. Mariya Takeuchi
21. Shogo Hamada
22. Tamio Okuda (from Unicorn)
23. Akiko Wada
24. Masamune Kusano
25. Yutaka Ozaki
26. Keisuke Makihara
27. Miwa Yoshida (from Dreams Come True)
28. Ringo Shiina
29. Taeko Onuki
30. Ken Hirai

Good list, but less solid because it only focuses on vocals and not overall artistry.

[thinkingoutloud89]

How about BEST FICTION, A BEST & DEEP RIVER?

edit: Siina Ringo - Strip

In my opinion, iconic is definied by the niche the artist plays a role in. I would slo consider the first tommy february6 an iconic album for its sound.
So is basicly SUITE CHIC. And many other albums i probably don't even know. The upcoming AKB48 best-of could be counted or one of the older Morning musume album to represent that group of artists. But you asked for solists, so yeah.

[Uemarasan]

Those are good albums, but I wouldn't say that tommyfebruary6 or Suite Chic are iconic albums. I take the word "iconic" to mean that we need more rigorous standards: highly influential, will be remembered in the future, and had strong commercial appeal. AKB48 will be there as will Morning Musume.

Namie: Sweet 19 Blues, possibly Concentration 20, Best Fiction.
Utada: First Love, Distance, Deep River.
Ayu: LOVEppears, A Best, possibly I Am.
Ringo Shiina: possibly Muzai Moratorium, Shoso Strip.
Misia: Mother Father Brother Sister, possibly Love is the Message. (influenced: Thelma Aoyama, Yuki Koyanagi, AI, Miliyah Kato, etc)
Chitose Hajime: Hainumikaze. (crest of shima-uta wave: The Boom, Rikki, Rimi Natsukawa, Kosuke Atari,

[ayumisrael]

You forgot Duty.

[Uemarasan]

Hmm, I wonder if Duty was really as iconic? I do love that album, but it seems to be more of a transitional album, a bridge between the sound of LOVEppears and the sound of I Am... I'd actually say that the Vogue-Far Away-Seasons trilogy was far more iconic than the actual album and was the sole reason the album sold as much as it did.

Maki Ohguro: Back Beats 1
Mariya Takeuchi: Request, Quiet Life, Impressions
Nanase Aikawa: red, possibly paraDOX (influenced female J-rock, from Olivia to Anna Tsuchiya to Scandal to etc.)

[voltron]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Namie Amuro has a very iconic overall image (and she uses mostly the same fashion style for the last 20 years to reiforce that). I would say she also has iconic songs and an iconic performance and dance style, but I don't know if she has iconic indivudual performances, or at least, I can't think of Namie's performances that are often copied. I think she has more iconic songs than a whole iconic album. I guess she tried to reach that effect with some of her 2nd peak releases, but I don't know how well it went as it is all very recent.

I agree that Namie probably doesn't have a highly-replicated performance, but I do not think that that is a requirement to be iconic. Sometimes, it is just something that is such a strong moment in time, and something that is remembered for years to come. In that sense, I always think of her Kohaku performance of "Can You Celebrate?" from after her mother was killed, where she is crying on stage. It was such a powerful moment for her, and such a statement of perseverance. In my mind that was a very iconic moment for her.

[Andrenekoi]

^That very well could be it^^