I don't see why everyone's so surprised about Ootsuka Ai not being on the list. Her past three singles have bombed, she's lost her signature style, and no one's going to buy LOVE LETTER. I was talking to another Ai fan that didn't even know/heard of Rocket Sneaker and Kurage, Nagareboshi. She used to be really popular...

Nevertheless, I love Ai chin AND I love the past three singles and I'm so going to buy LOVE LETTER, but what I mean is that she's really lost popularity. She doesn't want to be "cute" anymore...

The thing about this list is that it's chosen by Oricon Style subscribers, who all are very much Mr. Children / aiko / Hikki fans. This is a very biased list, as it only samples like 20,000 people who all generally have the same music interests.

^ Yeah I too thought the list was biased or inaccurate. I mean even after the scandal, I doubt Kuu's popularity woulda dropped THAT much that she would not be in a top 20 poll, same goes with Ayu. Namie should also be in top 5 with the recent popularity boom too.

It is because I find the polls biased, I really don't care so much if Ayu is or isn't on the list. Pretty sure if the survey was over 20,000 random people off the streets, the answers would be different.

I wouldn't be worried 20,000 out of the whole population of Japan isnt a lot at all!!

Still, I gotta admit, I'm pretty shocked she's not there. I mean, out of TWENTY people, she's not there at all? :/

BTW, are there ANY avex artists on that list??

Namie Amuro and EXILE

:laugh

Ayu has been losing popularity for a long time.

I mean honestly, you could probably go sample all of Japan, and she would maybe MAYBE be in the top ten.

Some people need to come back to reality.

Ayu is just not as popular as she once was. Besides, there are other artists that deserve attention too, it's not all about her.

Maybe is 'cause she don't give the public new music in this year O.O
don't you?

i hate utada

Well, you see, I didn't know this. I figured she wouldn't be called the Empress of JPop if she wasn't the Queen anymore. You know, that the title would be passed to one of the new hot-shots in the same way that it was passed from Amuro to Ayu.

A lot of the people commenting here have gotten a little hostile, c'mon please,,

That's true of pretty much any major pop artist when they release a new single in Japan. :)

It's still enough to get a general sense. I mean people here follow the Ninki polls, and that is only 400 people.

Seiko Matsuda and Akina Nakamori are still called the Queen's or Empresses of J-Pop, yet obviously they aren't popular anymore.

Feel sorry for Ayu but the way u post make me think that u dont even ever listen or know about Namie!Especially her work this year!

Do you think there is anyone else seriously worthy of the title? lol

Ayu is called a lot of things. Remember that Avex does pay for her marketing. They'd call her the Queen forever if it would help their sales and if they didn't decide it was another artist.

I personally don't see anyone worthy of the title atm, not even Koda Kumi. Her lasting power gosh...nose dove at a rate three times that of Ayu :laugh Ai Otsuka...psh, she doesn't have anything. There really isn't another REALLY great person yet. Maybe if Alan has as much support in Japan as she does at AHS, but it's really too early to tell lol.

and uh...honestly, rockyraven...he doesn't have to know about namie. God, I've listened to a few of her albums, and my opinions of her havent changed drastically at all since before when I hadn't listened to any of her music. I think she's respected of course, much in the same way ayu will be too, forever, and I think he recognizes that at least.

If you look at the previous years, Ayu hasn't even broken the top 10..it's basically the same 10 artists in the top 10 with some fluctuation due to different interests each year.

2005's top 10 vs. 2008's top 10
1. aiko / Utada Hikaru
2. Utada Hikaru / Kobukuro
3. Mr. Children / aiko
4. Porno Graffiti / Mr. Children
5. B'z / Dreams Come True
6. BoA / Southern All-Stars
7. Southern All-Stars / Namie Amuro
8. SPITZ / B'z
9. Ai Otsuka / SPITZ
10. Mika Nakashima / ARASHI

Seriously, this poll-thing really isn't that reliable. LOL. It barely changes each year other than like 4~5 artists.. lame. I mean how would BoA get #5 in 2005? BEST OF SOUL?

why is aiko soo popular in those polls?? xDD

her voice is not that good, and she looks a bit weird to me...


she still cute

but not enough xDD

To be honest, Namie just got lucky with BEST FICTION. Hasn't she been struggling for a while? Not saying that she doesn't have talent or anything... I love "NEW LOOK"!

BTW, Seiko Matsuda is also called "The Empress of JPop"?! She's like 1,000 years old and she releases still single after single, every year a couple... she doesn't stop even though she only sells 10,000 copies per single; THIS is what I don't want to happen to Ayu!!!!

Why u say she just "lucky"? I'm sure that 1,4 million ppl who have already bought BF didnt buy that album just for fun/
@___@ U also love my most hated song for Namie. I skip that song everytime i play BF
New Look doesnt show the world that NAMIE AMURO's style! that song is...not her =__= Terrible simple pop song i have to be honest about that.
anyway nevermind, u have different taste ^____^

Yes but what I meant was that her sales have dropped more dramatically than Ayu's; face it, she's lost a whole lot of popularity, even more than Ayumi.

PLAY and QUEEN OF HIP HOP only sold half a million! STYLE sold even less! Like 250,000.

Until I started this thread (to my dismay), I still thought Ayu was on top of the world (I'm a fairly new Ayu fan). And the truth is that the title WAS taken away from Ms. Amuro and given to Ayumi.