I don't think she'll ever end up like Seiko no matter how supposedly popular or unpopular she is. And like most people said there are alot of big artists not on this list.

The only two somewhat surprising omissions I would say are SMAP and Kattun, but at the same time I can understand why they may not be included this year.

Kattun has had an insane number of scandals, even though we don't always hear about them here, they often become common knowledge in Japan. (checkout: http://uwasako.livejournal.com/37344.html) Just like I don't think a lot of overseas fans truly comprehended what a big deal Koda's scandal was earlier this year in Japan. The publics perception of KATTUN has gone down a lot in a very quick amount of time I think. They still have a core fan base, but I don't think the general public is very interested in them at all. It'll be interesting to see how White XMas fares compared to their other singles. In that sense it is like Ayu, she still has a large core fan base, but the general public I don't feel has been enamored with her in a few years now.

One of Arashi's members also had a big scandal this year with somewhat damaging photo evidence. But it seems the general public loves Arashi a lot now and they truly believe that all the members are good guys and one of them just made a mistake and will make up for it. Whereas Kat-tun by comparison is basically viewed as a group made up of #*&holes by most of the general public I think. :) Thus they aren't included in the list.

SMAP is still well loved in Japan, but it does seem that for the first time in forever, their popularity has taken a downturn this year. Neither of their singles, despite being pretty good songs, did much on the charts (by SMAP standards). Their album didn't sell that great either and SMAPxSMAP I feel has been kind of dull this year.

Okay... how is Ayu NOT in the top 20??? That' not possible.... even if she is losing popularity and she's got more competition..... I mean, everytime this woman releases something she gets a No.1!! Isn't that proof enough???

Well, this is a poll result for 2008. This year ayu didn't really release anything that really hyped the japanese audience.

About the number 1's she gets, SunshineSlayer gave the reason for that a few posts ago. avex always chose her releases when there's little to no competition, so ayu easily nails those #1. ayu would have lost her number 1 streaks several years ago if she had released anything at the same day as EXILE, CHEMISTRY (back in 2002 I think), Southern All Stars, Dreams Come True, Utada Hikaru, ORANGE RANGE (back in 2004?) and Koda Kumi (2 years ago, I think) and a couple other artists.


Anyway, I really wonder...are Southern All Stars and Dreams Come True really famous outside japn for those who are into japanese music? I'm afraid I don't know one song from them, and I never see people around commenting about them, but I reckon they're pretty huge in Japan. :shrug

Also just about any JE artist could've broken Ayu's #1s. And yes, Southern and Dreams Come True are absolutely huge in Japan. Southern is even one of Ayumi's favorites. It's always so interesting for me to go to J-Rock concerts in the US actually. People there always go around talking about Gazette or Miyavi or something like that, but if you bring up B'z, Mr. Children, Southern etc, all you will get is blank stares when in reality everyone in Japan knows those groups and the average person in Japan wouldn't know a thing about Miyavi and what not. Kinda funny. :)

That's so true, I'm one of those people really... I heard about Southern, but never gave their music a try...

I think that part of the reason that those groups don't get as much discussion on foreign boards is that the music isn't quite so easy to get into from a westerners perspective. It took me practically years to appreciate Mr. Children. I remember I would always see clips of their songs on countdowns and what not and would think they all sounded the same. It wasn't till I finally took the time to sit down and watch some of their live performances of big hits like Innocent World, Shirushi, Namonaki no Uta etc, that I finally "got it." B'z I've always liked, but Southern took some getting used to. The only reason I started listening to them really was because Utada covered one of their early hits "Itooshi no Ellie" live. And then I saw some of Kuwata Keisuke's solo performances (lead singer) and thought, "this guys is kinda crazy; I like him" haha. So those types of groups seem to require more patience from westerners to appreciate them, but then once you do you realize how great they are and then wonder why you didn't get it before. :yes

Southern All Stars
 

Yes, strangely enough, Ayu's performance of SAS's Chako no kaigan monogatari - 00-08-26 - on Love Love Ashiteru, led me to the group. Its sad they are on hiatus but there are always videos on Utube, like Tsunami and DOM.

She didnt have many new releases this year...so i guess thats quite an impt factor...
and Ayu's releases have slowed down...so yea...

but i still believe she is very much respected

LOL! Funny comment, really

Anyway, we shouldn't pay attenting to whether Ayu is or isn't on that list, and care more about how good her music/tours/products are instead

need to mention no Kumi here as well :P

All of you do have really good points but knowing a lot of Japanese people, I'll say this...most Japanese people don't buy EVERY single and EVERY album. Almost everyone I know bought A COMPLETE...from what I've gathered, living there and knowing people and such, the Japanese people live for the BEST OF kinda ish.

Um what is wrong with Seiko releasing singles that sell only 10k?

1) 10k is not "only" 10k
2) Would you rather have her retire?
3) Be happy she's still releasing material and enjoying her singing carreer

Sorry if any of you guys don't like stats, but this poll seems very biased and I do not think that they sampled enough of the population. Also, you want to be careful about polls because questions can be worded a certain way, so people will pick a certain answer, also polls that are used were people get to choose whether or not they will answer the poll are also biased.

Seiko is a legend, all her concerts are always sold out, but 10,000 is very, very little;a lot of people have responded to me on this thread, "sales don't matter/determine the popularity" but I think they do. I was putting a comparison because I don't want the same thing to happen to Ayu; I don't want people to stop buying her stuff/supporting her.

Also, Ayu's popularity is growing increasingly outside of Japan, specifically in Asia, especially because she is doing Asia tours.

And Seiko still sells out her shows, though i don't know how many people attend.

I suppose you're right... usually with me, I either love something right off the bat, or I dislike something but it grows on me.... if I'm indifferent, there's a chance I will never listen to it xD; But if a song jumps out and grabs me, I may change my mind and give the group a try.

At any rate some people may just be indifferent to Ayu now. Not for or against... just, "Oh... she's there... cool..." xD;

Although ayu didn't do much this year she gained pretty good stats this year which means her popularity is still pretty up (not as it used to be as it has to be mentioned) but still popular.
Another #1 album, another #1 single for the streak, an album on the top 10 of 2008 yearly charts, another album on the top 20 oricon yearly charts, 3rd best selling female single of 2008, highest first week single sales for female singer in 2008 (2nd in first week of album sales) both albums sold over half a million.
Sold out tour with 30 dates in big arenas added extra shows (and even 2 added outside of japan though we talk about popularity in japan).
You can't say she isn't popular.
This poll shows nothing about real popularity. It shows who's fans voted in the poll from the oricon subscribers.

This poll just shows she didn't make it into the top 20. What it doesn't show is the people who DID pick her as their favorite. Also, just because she's not someone's favorite does not mean she's not liked at all. Ayu could be #2 or #3 to them... She might not be on people's minds a lot either; this was a pretty slow year for her as far as new releases go.

Exactly. For a woman that is a 46 year old pop singer, its not bad at all especially considering she still does sold out concerts every year.

Sales are a part of what makes up popularity, but certainly not the only thing or even necessarily the primary thing.

She plays many of the same venues that Ayu does.