"I heard" is exactly why you shouldn't believe it. Japanese stars make far less compared to American stars. Her estimated income for 2002 was 9 million dollars, which was close to her peak in 2001.

She still makes a lot of money with commercials, her tours and cds. But I don't think she's anywhere near being a USD billionare.

hmm.. i heard and i kinda believe or feel she's a rich girl~
hahahaa~~
well whatever.. she's super rich anyway~

i believe she can buy an island
but she wouldnt
lols
i mean like cmon mann...her hotel in hong kong whilst she was there was like...WOAHHH a huge amount
i forgot but i read somewhere
mayb it was in ahs too but ummm it was like...10,000USD or something =S
crazy mann

^ that is REALLY crazy~

and i read she bought 20 pairs of shoes in taiwan when she's doing the asia tour~

i guess that we hv to stick to the topic about ayu's house being renovated??
not about how rich she is right?
hmm~

ummm...WTF WTF WTF
and she's really rich...like...cmon if u can afford 20 pairs of shoes whilst doing an AT
or a hotel in hk for wat? A TONNE OF MONEY
how rich can she not be?
w8 w8 w8
wrong wrong
how rich can she be***
lols
w8....
ok let me rephrase...she is very rich ^^

^She's rich, but she's no where near western artists wealth.

About the suites she stays in.. I'm pretty sure Avex pays for them, since she's on tour. Not that she couldn't afford it.

Just to inform you guys, I think when Ayu buys shoes [she said this on a show] she tries to get each and every "make" of the shoe. So she gets every color and all that. D;

She got a few dozen pairs in Hawaii and L.A. the last few times she went according to locals.

That's a really good idea! Then you can wear the same shoes, without wearing the same shoes! And it matches all your outfits! :yes

^ haha yeah,
but she's also a "faithful" consumer to Christ Dior and Gucci right? ( i heard that Gucci is her favourite brand is it? )
and image a small body size girl.. while her bank account money digit is like XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX dollar lol.

Louis Vuitton is her favorite brand I believe. Her suitcases and bags are all printed with their logo. :p

As a celebrity, I'm guessing she gets freebies by being so famous and because she's such a good customer? :\

^I would think she'd get discount or even free stuff for buying things all the time from these top designers. But then again...you never know.
And how does Ayu not compare to western artists in terms of money making? I mean, she has to be up there quite a bit after 10 years in the music industry...I know Ayu loves making music, and I'm sure it's not ALL about the money, but it sure is nice and definitely comes in handy when she wants to "renovate her house" or buy 20 pairs of the same shoe in different colors. ^^;

hehe love that brand xD
but unfortunately not my favourite
coz its too expensive
i've only got an LV wallet from the city
cost me a FRICKEN FORTUNE =@
lols
$490 AUD *CRIES*
but prowd of it...like..really really really proud of it XD

her towel is LV
her bag is LV
her shoes are LV
her jacket is LV

you can even notice she took a LV umbrella in "fated" PV!!

i read from stupid tabloid.
i dun believe it

we read the same tabloid..
that's why i asked the international fans whether they knew or not :)
guess that nobody knew instead of talking about ayu's wealth..

ayu can be compared with western artists of course~
how she can not be?

maybe because she is an asian artist and not an international artist.:o
everybody in the world knows who madonna is, and almost everybody
should understand what she is singing, because she sings english, which is
the world language. more people know you -> more money

radios play songs of artists who sing in english in every country.
compared to that, asian artists are only, well played on asian radio stations.
makes sense.

it's hard to estimate ayu's income, but i'm pretty sure what she gets from her music sales is not that important compared to what I'd image she makes off her merchandise & tours.

I'd estimate that one commercial endorsement from Ayu is worth at least 1 million US$. the pay for doing commercials in Japan is so good that plenty of western artists/celebs do them too. for many j-celebs doing commercials is their main source of income.
There's an article about Yu Yamada on Japan Times that estimates she makes 300k-500k US$ per campaign, and while she is very popular (not her music tho lol) I think Ayu would still be in a completely different league than Yu.

Also I'd imagine that Ayu's been given shares to avex at some point when she was making 40% of Avex's income. it's all just speculation, but it's very common in the business world to award the key people in your business some shares to make them stay & commit to your company.

Nah, she is one of the top artists in Asia, yet she can't compare to the wealth of Western top artists. For one thing, they have a bigger market, since they're popular all over the world, not just Asia.

If you compare, ayu made roughly 9 million dollars in one of her top years, 2002, while Madonna made 50 million in 2004. And ayu does a lot more commercial endorsement stuff.

HOLY SHIZZLES!!!
AS IF =\
thats like...love at first site <3

ok now 50 million is just...*VOMITS*
lols