hmm....
if looking at number of releases and number of sales, I say Ayu is doing quite well XD
as for people taking over, all artists have a peak time and all have rises and falls ;? doesn't bother that much XD

Congratulations to Ayu, and Koda had a very good year... We'll love you forever Ayu!

Ayu's sales this year:

SINGLES -586,630
ALBUMS - 1,371,832
OVERALL - 1,958,462

Awesome, Koda is taking over, I like koda, her overly sexual videos make it a great influence on today's youth. Her music is good, just not as good as Ayumi's...

Anyway, the next year holds a lot, hopefully she releases a single before her Asia Tour starts in March (march right?)

Here we go again. For the last time, Kuu's released like 1 sexual video this year... big deal.

:irked

I was actually being serious, I like her videos and songs, lol.

I was saying it as a joke, chillax. :)

Nah, two :p

Both involving bottles like, with her. In her pants or around her tongue..

Wow, Koda is selling like crazy!! I am not too familiar with her stuff, but if it is as good as "Black Cherry", then this are amazing news!

Ayu also had a good year.

Woah, Kuu had a fantastic year. Little dissapointed about Ayu, but I think sales don't really affect her anymore.. she has already proven herself to Japan as a legend. :P

Looks like avex now has 3 jpop queens - Namie, Ayu, and Kumi~

I wouldn't discount Ayumi just because her sales aren't "great" anymore. She's been consistently a top seller for like 8 freaking years lol She can't last forever. (Namie didn't last forever and Kumi won't either).

Well technically 2 (or 2.5). Namie isn't really part of avex. avex just releases Namie CDs for Vision Factory (the company that actually manages her). BoA could/couldn't be added in there as well.

Yeah she didn't do too bad. =p OOo and Secret has nearly broken 500K. ;3

I hope 2007 will be a better year for Ayu.

It already broke the 500k mark this week. For Oricon, 2006 ended 2 weeks after Secret was released.

Kuu is not as well as Ayu.
Kick her down my Ayuuuu(blah, actually I dun care about sales)

Ayumi is still very successful, there's no denying that.

wow at Koda
and happy for Ayu is still one of the five top sellers

Top Sellers of the year (Monetary Value)
2000: Hamasaki Ayumi - 21.76 billion yen
2001: Hamasaki Ayumi - 24.38 billion yen
2002: Utada Hikaru - 13.35 billion yen
2003: Hamasaki Ayumi - 11.8 billion yen
2004: Utada Hikaru - 8.66 billion yen
2005: ORANGE RANGE - 14.35 billion yen
2006: Koda Kumi - 12.7 billion yen
~~~~
Koda Kumi was the #1 female in 2005 with 7.63 billion yen (3rd overall)

I'm guessing 98 and 99 are B'z and Hikki respectively.

http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/rankmusic/40468/