I'm kind of worried for ayu, as some people I know say that no japanese person they have met have liked ayu.. :\ [this person is japanese] And she says that Ayu sounds like a 3 y/o and can be compared to the likes of Hilary and Britney...

x.x
Zeo

Not everyone in Japan is 15-20 years old. Do you think all the people who listened to Yumi Arai in the 1970's and 1980's and 1990's and 2000's just forgot she ever existed?

I'm just picking out this comment to restate what I've posted before. Ayu is not the all-important person that some people seem to think she is. She isn't the center of the Japanese cultural universe. I'm only hoping to add some perspective to this topic.

Actually, Surreal meant the same audience on the same day.

I don't know if any of you guys have been in a studio audience before, but from my experiences they generally don't want any any overly-spontaneous, or should I say, random, reactions. I went to the Tonight Show and they had applause signs and the like. That there happen to be shots where there is no reaction from the audience doesn't mean that they all hate her. In fact, it'd probably be more disrespectful to be disruptive in that situation. Since Surreal has caps of them clapping at her entrance, I don't see how they were being rude or snubbing her, and if they were, so what? No one can be liked by everyone.

don't worry~!

my friend had an exchange student and when she asked her who she liked she said she liked Ayu alot :yes and i met her and i told her i liked Ayu and she did the peace sign and said "MEE TOO!" :love

Best selling Japanese artists -

01. B'z; 71,878,000
02. Mr. Children; 46,207,000
03. SOUTHERN ALL STARS; 43,937,000
04. Ayumi Hamasaki; 41,074,000
05. DREAMS COME TRUE; 40,065,000
06. Yumi Matsutoya; 37,594,000
07. GLAY; 35,798,000
08. ZARD; 35,451,000
09. Hikaru Utada; 32,158,000
10. CHAGE & ASKA; 31,192,000

Most of those artists in the top 10 still sell great today. And Ayu is almost ahead of SAS, whom have been out 25+ years.. I think Ayu has a strong (and dedicated) enough fanbase to help her for another 10 years.

Although a lot of people may hate her for whatever reasons, SHE STILL IS A DOMINATING ARTIST. I'm sick of these declining popularity threads..

is she "Yumming"??

Yep.

you didn't read my post ><

Huh? I was talking just randomly about someone who said it recently.. x.x xD

Anyways, this wasn't meant to be a declining popularity thing, but more of a reaction to some public ayu hate xD I think she's still marvelous and <3

Zeo

I didn't like Ayu at first. I think it's normal though for someone as popular as her to have people hate her because she's everywhere. Some famous stars I can't stand because there EVERYWHERE. So thats probably why some people don't like her.

Namie : Yes they did clap and cheer when the host introduced Ayu :D. But went quiet once the talk began. (this is the case for every celebrity. the audiences are usually very respectful in japan)

WOW!! 3 MILLION MORE AND SHE'S TOP 3!!! I cant wait for my copy of HEAVEN! Saturday Saturday Saturday!!! :luv2

WAITWAIT

i think u shouldnt compare it like this... u have to see who are the other guests on that show... and in the 10th Sept music station, Kanjani 8 and Exile is there.. so perhaps.. the girls whom we saw are their fans... and another thing mayb i wanna point out ... this maynot be true but this is what i get from most of my fellow web friends... many johnny fans hate ayu.. =\ bcoz of sales...yeah.. no offence to johnny fans.. but this is what i got feedback from... :)
so perhaps see this in a positive way.. perhaps they are not ayu fans thats why... so what if u are the most popular artiste? there will still be people who are not your fan, right? :) so cool down people =)

1) actually, hikki's previous single sold 400K, overselling all of ayu's '04 singles.
2) yes, hikki was '04's best seller by far. hikki beat 2nd place mr. children by ~800K
3) musiQ will b included in the 2005 top 100 even tho it was released in dec '04. the reason? ORICON ends their sales year on the last wednesday of november.

actually i think if namie amuro didn't get married n have a child, sadly to say, i would think she would be more popular than ayu, at least at the turn of 2000. even tho namie was only jpop queen for 2yrs, her influence during the 2 yrs were huge. in '96 she was the youngest artist to sell over 10 million copies in 1 yr, which ayu has never done b4. namie is also credited w/many trends (mayb even more than ayu), the most famous is the dying of the hair (forgot wuts it called in japanese), this trend is still popular today.
as for hikki, i agree shes a musician, but i would still consider to b a queen, the queen of jmusic.
ayu's decline? japanese ppl r just tired n want sumthing new? age could play an important factor, sum ppl mite think ayu's getting too old to be in the idol industry nemore n would rather move on to sumthing new like BoA or otsuka ai or koda kumi or mika.

neways: jmusic queens= namie amuro (96-97), hikki (98-01, ayu (99-01)

namie amuro=short skirts and tall boots :yes i love it

i think that Ayu will only ever (if ever) decline in Japan, although i dont think she will. She will always have her fans overseas because for the reasons the japanese "hate" her, we don't have those reasons, like seeing her on TV in magazines, on billboards, etc. I think i would go crazt if i was in Japan and saw Ayu on TV...

we are not overexposed to Ayu, its quite the opposite we want more... and i think Ayu will continue to make music for as long as she wants to, even if she has to do it without Avex.

why would Johnny's fans hate Ayu??

^well i guess miyuchan specifically meant TOKIO fans (but TOKIO is part of Johnny's, n also mayb cos of the HEAVEN vs. K8 battle?) but yea TOKIO fans hate ayu cos shes going out w/nagase (i think hes like the kimutaku of TOKIO ie: the most well-liked out of the group [i think, im not sure])

^hehe icic so some Tomoya Nagase fan girls are jealous of Ayu hehe

anyone here who is jealous of Tomoya because he's going out with Ayumi ? :P

...i am...!!!

not only that actually... i say earlier it is becoz of sales and ranking.. many of them say ayu has always been on the top of the chart and some of their fav johnny group didnt manage to get the top spot is becoz of her...
about TOKIO stuff.. from what i know, they dont take it seriously to make them feel angry... it mostly have to do with the cd ranking and stuff....

oh that's why, i would be mad if an artist is always above Ayu~ :irked

SPEED disbanded, so, of course they're not really popular and Namie is still popular, not as popular as in her IDOL days (96-97) and she didn't got a number one since her comeback single in 98 (i think), but she's one of the most important female artists in Japan now.

But yes, people in Japan get tired of things easily. Ayu is not at her peak anymore, but everyones sales are declining in the whole world. Ayu sales are declining, Hikki sales are declining, SMAP sales are declining... they're still popular but the fonografic industry is not the same anymore.

But, yeah.. I don't think Ayu should be compared with Yumi. I mean, maybe she'll stay at spotlights for years to come, but you can't compare her with Yuming because Yuming is around for a LONG time and Ayu and Hikki from 7 years or so... Plus, Yuming is not THAT big. I don't know muh about her, but I know her sales do OK, but she's SO popular because her concerts are amazings, because she's a very respect songwrite and Japanese people don't get tired of her because she's not overexposed, she don't do commercials or appears on TV.