i agree, i was surprised at how well namie could belt it!

and yeah, utada has gotten rly bad imo. have you seen the lives she did for cbs? :irked what a big fat disappointment

koda kumi

Utada. No competition at all...

Well...they're all very good in their own way...I think Koda Kumi particularly shines in her ballads....a powerful voice...Ayu has a likeable voice...MIKA NAKASHIMA! <3 Uniquely beautiful...namie amuro.....well I really dont have anything to say about her :(....she's a good dancer(???) If I had to put them in order...

1.Utada
2.Koda Kumi (reversible with Ayu depending on song)
3.Ayumi Hamasaki (reversible with Koda depending on song)
4.Mika Nakashima
5.Namie Amuro

No offense but I really dont see how it sounds a mess =/ I mean...I might not like Namie...as a singer (never got into her, still cant) but I dont think it was DOWNRIGHT HORRIBLE! I think you exaggerate a bit when you say its a mess. =/ And she CAN sing. Rather nicely...

emi hinouchi honestly for me has the best voice in Japan. I've not come across another japanese singer that can sing with the same softness and power she has. She must be the number one most underrated artist.

On that list I'd probably say hikki though, even though for some reason her voice is not that great lately.

Ayu's is not so good. Namie's is nothing special...it's just pleasant. She...doesn't really do anything spectacular...not only that, her upper register is just wtf...like a wailing sort of thing...not only that...I don't like how in a lot of her lives her vocals don't match her backing track...its annoying...but I think her voice is the most pleasant, like i've said.

Mika's is nice, but she doesn't really...i dont know i cant explain.

Kuu, kuu actually has wonderful vocals. Too bad they are reserved for ballads when she's standing still. Her voice is also unique in a way, where people don't like it. Just like Ayu's. But people really need to get over their stigma with kuu, because as much as her voice seriously sucks with fast songs, her vocals are near perfect everytime she does ballads. And I'm not saying that because I love her.

I will give anyone credit, where credit is needed.

Some of you guys are so annoyingly rude btw.

So anyway, I say emi hinouchi...and maybe alan...although emi's is more pleasant for me. Alan's voice is like...reserved for that one style of music.

:yes totally agree

omg i love that performance :heart
oh well, that live is better than a lot of lives i've seen of Utada. but of course you have your opinion :P actually with a sing-off i'm sure Koda Kumi would beat Namie or Utada, her voice is a lot stronger than both of theirs.

hmm i say ayaka and alan

i loved ayaka's voice live, it's just that smooth deep kind of voice
alan can just reach those high notes beautifully without hurting your ear

though i love the other people in that list, but i don't think they're really all that good live

^The poll is not "Who Sings the Best Live" its "Whos the Best Vocalist" :P Though I agree with you that Ayaka is amazing live compared to most....even Utada at times.

Sometimes I wish the artists would just put out like...one good song that really shows off their vocals...

I don't really think we have a lot of those with ayu, namie, and hikki...I think kuu's are shown off in her ballads...I don't think her voice is going to get much better than in those. But with the others, I wish they'd put something out where they could just stand in front of a microphone and belt it out lol

Part of the reason why I said emi was because she has a song called "grow" that is just...damn.

Like Xin Zhan for alan...which is also just woah.

ohh emiko i forgot about emi hino.. such a beautiful versatile voice!

i agree :yes her voice is beautiful and she always sounds great live.

:yes her lives always sound exactly like the studio recording. she actually beats everyone on the list for me.. lol

1 Ayu
2 Namie, Koda
3 Utada
4 Mika

LOL....Moon Crying live @ Kingdom Tour on the MOON DVD....at first...I was like pshhh...lipsyncing....cause it sounded EXACTLY like the recording....and then it varied a LITTLE bit an I'm like WHOA! Koda Kumi is amazing! And thats basically how I fell in love with her....

EDIT: Didnt know you were talking about emi hinouchi...but Koda Kumi is still amazing! LAWL! my bad x_x

Yeah. that's another reason.

She's been in the business for a while, and there's still no vocal deterioration in her voice at all.

Her lives are always perfect as well.

I don't get how she does it...but she owns.

oh i was just saying that i didn't like most of them live, i know what the poll was asking~

ayaka and alan sound amazing both live and in their records~ just mostly you can tell who is a rather great vocalist when they sing live, so that's why i only mentioned live performances

^Oh sorry if I was being rude...yeah I agree that theyre both good....I hate polls like these where you cant pick more than one!....alan is so amazing...live, recorded...w/e....UGHHH! I wish I never heard of her! Now I'm hopelessly addicted

^ oh no you weren't :D it's my fault for not being more descriptive with my post ;)
XD lol at least you discovered alan sooner than later :P

alan, alan, alan, alan, alan, no competition at all

namie :) errheeemmm she HAS vocal talent!!! she actually has the voice to sing ballads over and over again, but she adds her dancing talent to her music..
i think mika and hikki are really good too

edit:
OH HECK YES ALAN!!!!! :love

Shimatani Hitomi pwns all those in that poll.