Ayu or Hikki, I think.

I think hikki and ayu, but Orange Range are getting pretty popular now so they could be the highest earning band/group or whatever

I was going to vote for Madonna before entering to the topic... :mini:

I think Hikki is the richest singer... she always earns tons of money after she releases a new album/single in japan... :rolleyes

Has to be Hikki.

kinki kids- they r from JE. the agency takes most of the $.
MM- same as kinki kids
mika, namie- they dont sell much
BoA- altho she has 3 markets, she doesnt sell much in korea, n plus SM (her agency) also takes most of the $.
ken hirai- he could b 1 of the higher paid 1s, since he composes etc. but i dont think hes the richest.
OR- they r really big, but they have to split it w/5 ppl; so each person doesnt get that much

btwn ayu n hikki, its got to b hikki. y? the difference is that hikki gets $ from copyright fees n ayu doesnt. whenever a hikki song is being played on radio or w/e, $ flows into hikki's pocket. whereas for ayu, that $ goes to avex. also, hikki produces her music. which would give her sum of the profits. last yr, it was hikki too.

so the order would probably b sumthing like this:
1. hikki
2. ayu
3. hirai ken
4. BoA
5. OR

Where's SMAP? I bet my house they're the richest.

I think Hikki and Ayu have the same amount of money.

Ayu release LOTS of singles (most of them sell strongly) and LOTS of albums (sell strongly too), do arena tours every year and do some CMs.

But Hikki sold HUGE quantities of all of her albums, but she don't release much. But only with her few albums and singles she does as much as Ayu. She don't tour often, but she was the third most-expensive person in Japan to do commercials, so lots of $$ from that.

Ken Hirai must be pretty rich too, he's been selling strongly years before Ayu or Hikki. And by the way, he's known as the KING OF JPOP.

KinKi Kids also get LOTS of money for doing commercial and they do LOTS of them, they're Johnny's [they pay VERY well for their idols, esp. the VERY popular ones like Kinki Kids], are always in doramas, do big dome tours every year and their albums and singles sell OK, so they must be pretty rich, too.

BoA probably has lots of money, but most of her money come from Japan, without a doubt. But her albums sold well and she does lots of CMs not just in Japan, but also in Korea and China, plus, she does big tours.

Morning Musume, as a group, are VERY VERY rich. In 2001 and 2002, Ayu paid over 1 billion in taxes and she was in 39th in the Top 50 tax-payers. Morning Musume were at 14th at the Top 50, so they were one of the richest persons in Japan (as a group).

So any one of them can be the most riches.

Namie Amuro does a good amount of money every year, but she's not one of the richest. The same for Mika (but she probably did lots of money this year with her BEST, her tour, Glamurous Sky and NANA). And Orange Range must be poor by know...

Morning Musume made more than her in 2002.

kuu? no kuu?
i voted for ayu thou

i think ayu..

ayumi!!!!!!! but b'z total record sales is more than hers..........

Wasen't there a list out at the end of 2004 listing ayumi hamasaki as the highest female earner in the japanese entertainment industry for that year?

:headache Can't find the source though... >_<

No, Utada Hikara was the highest female earner in 2004.

But anyway, being #1 on the list for some years doesn't mean she's the richest. Seiko Matsuda is never on the list (she don't sell since the 80s) but she's very rich and has one of the most glamourous houses in Japan.

I agree. :yes

Do you have the list? I can't find it anywhere >_<

heres the link:
http://www.sanspo.com/geino/top/gt20...005051704.html

i think usually its btwn B'z/hikki/ayu each yr. but for 2005, i doubt hikki will even make it onto the list.

as for SMAP/kinki kids, JE pays them very little, w/a fixed salary. but i think they get bonuses from like CM's, dramas n for SMAP X SMAP etc. tho. so that probably even sum things out

AYU!!
SHE cds and CONCERTS and material girl and Ayupan!!and commercial

I think Kuu still needs a looonnnnng way to go before being half as rich as Ayu.

JE DON'T pay Kinki Kids or SMAP very little AT ALL. And they don't get bonuses from CMs and dramas, this things are inclueded in their fixed salary. Obviously, more CM, bigger the salary. And SMAP have the most-watched variety show on TV and the three biggest tours (in attendency and how much money was made) in Japan history (their biggest one was last year), so I'm sure they get a good money.

But they're not talented, that's a fact.

k, searched around in the forum, n found the top 10 for males:
Masahiro Nakai (SMAP) - 513,350,000 ($4,842,925)
Koshi Inaba (B'z) - 481,780,000 ($4,545,094)
Eikichi Yazawa - 467,320,000 ($4,408,679)
Tak Matsumoto (B'z) - 355,720,000 ($3,355,849)
Keisuke Kuwata (Southern All Stars) - 328,510,000 ($3,099,151)
Kazutoshi Sakurai (Mr Children) - 315,290,000 ($2,974,434)
Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi - 292,780,000 ($2,762,075)
Fumiya Fujii - 282,210,000 ($2,662,358)
Takuya Kimura (SMAP) - 271,670,000 ($2,562,925)
Saburo Kitajima - 262,000,000 ($2,471,698)
edit: heres the link: http://www.ahsforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30019

SMAP does get a lot of $. but i think the fundamental difference bwtn SMAP n Kinki Kids is that Kinki hasnt "graduated" from JE. ie: on the CDs etc. SMAP cds r produced/manufactured (w/e) by victor, T&T is avex. Kinki is still part of JE directly (their site is next to NEWS') as their cds r produced/manufactured by JE. so probably, once the group has "graduated", the less control over the group JE has- the more $ u will get. when u r part of JE directly (ie: the the younger bunch), the less money u will get. n SMAP does distance themselves from JE a lot as they dont even appear in the annual tokyo dome countdowns

There was an article in the ORICON Mag 2 years ago. Hikki has earned more than 1oo Million $ from 98 - 2003. Biggist selling Album, biggist Tour in Japan ever and so on.

Hikki is one of the 1oo richest Persons in Japan.