Hey, if Ayu follows Seiko's path, we'll at least get some American albums! ;) :D

haha, that's true. It also means that Ayu has to duet with someone from New Kids on the Block. :)

What it shows is who is more generally popular and not who has the largest core fan bases that will always vote for them. Honestly all of the times that I've been to Japan, any time I get into a conversation about music outside of with people at Ayu's concerts, I haven't heard a single good thing about Ayu from anyone - they either think she is "fake" and not necessarily her looks, but they think her personality is fake, they are indifferent, or they say things like they thought she was good in the past but not anymore. Now, obviously this isn't a huge number of people that I've talked to - more like 10-15 I'd say, but when that many random people have a negative view of her (or at least her newer works) that doesn't bode well.

It's really totally like Deli said, she is surviving mostly on her core base now and she is lucky to have a fairly large one. The general public seems to have left a while ago and only comes back for nostalgia releases like A-Complete.

Ayu in collaborations
 

[QUOTE=SunshineSlayer;1724651]haha, that's true. It also means that Ayu has to duet with someone from New Kids on the Block. :)

This brings an interesting thought to mind, if Ayu had a chance to sing with another artiste/group to introduce her to the American market, who could they be ?

I've not really paid attention to such duets/crossovers before, but Ayu does present potential and difficulties no ?

The really big acts in States would be Rolling Stones, U2, Eagles and Springsteen but I can't see Ayu singing or even opening for them. Strangely enough, these groups would have no problems holding a concert in Japan and filling every seat.

Softer options would be diva acts like Diana Krall, Leona Lewis, Beyonce, Celine Dion and Mariah Carey ?

Can you imagine Madonna, Aguilera, Spears, Stefani and Ayu, on stage? a la MTV ?

Ayu with Depeche Mode, New Order and Prodigy ?

Ayu with Linkin Park, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Guns and Roses ?

Ayu with Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill and Shania Twain ? Hmmm Faith's too tall...

Lastly a team up of all girl lead singers Joan Jett, Debbie Harry, Wilson sisters, Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar.

How versatile and top 20 is that, Oricon ?

It's sad, but Ayu reached her peak in popularity in Japan from LOVEppears to RAINBOW.

Ever since Memorial address her sales have been dwindling. But, that's bound to happen to anyone in the music industry as long as her. It might also be because she releases things so often, which isn't neccessarily her fault. Japan might just be tired of her right now. I bet if she took a ten year hiatus and released something, it would sell well. But, that's just my opinion.

Ayu has NEVER and never will be as popular as any of the people that you listed. Those people are known throughout the world, and are popular throughout the world.

Ayu has never experienced that kind of popularity, and she never will, so your post kind of confuses me.

I think the most she could hope for would be Bjork or something.

Mostly because her style of singing is quite different from American styles.

I mean really, Ayu and Madonna? What on EARTH would they sing together? Same with Carrie Underwood, Beyonce, Pat Benatar...omg...sounds like a bunch of disaster performances to me. :laugh so I guess you're right.

Yes you're right. Looks like I got carried away, probably too much coffee and brain not engaged while typing. Call it wishful thinking on my part then, some of the ladies do front bands like Ayu but then again some pairings do look like train accidents waiting to happen...

It's not likely, but I wouldn't say NEVER. Probably never a tour or anything like that, but a duet is possible. Using a Seiko example once again - in 1990 she did a duet with Donnie Wahlburg. That seems kind of laughable now, but at the time you have to keep in mind that New Kids on the Block were basically the biggest thing on the planet. It was the equivalent of doing a duet w/ Justin Timberlake. Now the song is even featured on NKOTBs greatest hits album.

Ayu + Madonna would be awesome. Or since Britney is making a comeback, Ayu + Britney would be pretty cool also. I'm surprised Ayu hasn't run into Madonna yet, considering she was one of Ayus musical inspirations

Actually its possible her popularity can make another boom this upcoming year. First signs come from A COMPLETE which sold better than Secret, GUILTY, and A BEST II. Shes a workaholic and you're right, Japan sees her in something new practically every day. GREEN/Days will be her first new release since Mirrorcle World. Between those two releases has just been touring, touring, and more touring. Barely any TV appearances or mag shots. So technically you can say she took a 8 month break, and just going MIA one month would make people say "Hey, where did Ayu go?" I have a feeling Japan is refreshed and wants more Ayu now, or atleast I think so.

ayu still win #1 or high places though in silly oricon polls like Who's the Fashion leader, Who would you like to be your girlfriend, who's pretty, who wears sunglasses the best and such (polls that even hikki never enter to).
I don't think that the general public despise her that much.

This year Ayu's been really busy with her Asian Tour so she's pretty much been away from the public spotlight for a good while. She cut back on live performances on television and magazine promotion this year by a lot...and she's also slowed down as far as single releases are concerned. Normally by now, we're on our third and possibly even fourth Ayu single for the year, but this time round we're just getting to our second.

I think Ayu's been doing a lot this year as far as the Asian Tour is concerned, the traveling, the performing, getting rest, and then heading back out for the next stop is a LOT more work than we acknowledge.

The other reason why Ayu didn't crack in the top 20---because 2008 was the quietest tenth anniversary we've ever seen. I think all the promotion for A BEST II pretty much covered all the tenth year promotion that should've happened this year. This year should've been the year that Ayu went all promo-crazy with A BEST II hitting shelves, and not A COMPLETE...But things happen for a reason so maybe someday I'll understand the logic of why things happened the way they did.

Either way, I really don't care what Japanese kids listen to these days...Most of the artists they chose IMO suck, and only a few actually deserved to be on the list in the first place. The bottom line is...Ayu is still my number one!

Also reminding everyone that few months ago ayu won in the oricon poll that asked
"Who do you think is the best artist from the heisei era?" (I think in the last 20 years).
ayu won #1 both from the males and the females who voted.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...7367448sn3.jpg

#2 hikki
#3 ayaka
#4 namie amuro
#5 YUI
#6 koda kumi etc.

Ayumi is still #1 no matter what *****es :D

A better translation of the question would be, "Who do you think most defined the Heisei era" - not necassarily who is your favorite from that era. In that case, the answer if obviously Ayu. Even people who don't like her would have to admit that. :) Funny that Superfly is on the list - I love them, but they've only been around for about 2 minutes. :)

wow...thats really surprising!! >_<

*oh and whats the deal with aiko? WHY is she so popular? o_o

I agree with you. she is over exposed. That thing for sure has affected her career. here we don't mind because we are fans, but in japan, if you are not a fan, that may be is waaay too much. Anyway, regardless of what some people say, Ayumi is still popular. she is still able to have lots of sold out concerts in japan and asia, and even if her career is downhill, she is one of the best sellers in japan.

that she is not what she used to be? well, that's kind of predictable, she has changed, we have changed, and japanese people have changed as well. things cannot remain the same way forever :). how many artists have achieved what she has done? sure you won't find more than a dozen. she is usually compared with Seiko Matsuda and Akina Nakamori, and none of her fellow female singers have sold as much as her. though she has lost popularity, she is an important voice in the japanese business music.

ps.- sunshine slayer, what you say it's not exactly true. Takin' 2 myself competed with Koda kumi and tohoshinki the same week, and she surpassed them :yes

I don't care whether #1 or not ! she's still the best ! losing popularity ? ok , it's very logical , no one can be on top forever ! she can lost popularity , but in J- music industry , she's still so awesome ! and like someone said that " step you's her last popular song " , i disagree Blue bird 's really her last popular song !.

for me, Ayu has become a Legend in the Japan music industry even though she's not as popular as before..
but she still remains in every Japanese ppl's heart.. i mean they may not really like her as becoming a fan, but they just respect her.. that's all..
and i remember that when watching a video where Ayu performed at Disneyland or somewhere last year, where she appeared in a sudden to surprise the visitors there, i could see that most of the ppl there enjoyed her performance so much, i even saw some ppl cried to see her~ that means she's still well-known in Japan...

no matter what, Ayu is still the best for me :)

It's really hard to compare the sales of earlier artists to current ones. If you were to look at what the list is of all time best selling artists in Japan you would think that Japan must not have had any artists prior to the mid/late 80s. That's of course not the case though. It seems they didn't really have much of an accurate tracking method until maybe the mid 80s and even then I don't know if cassette and vinyl sales were counted then or if they switched over strictly to only counting cds. CDs were the first to be electronically counted, prior to that I believe they only used faxes from a small select number of record shops. So yeah, basically sales figures could and probably are much higher for older artists than what they are being reported as, but simply no one knows.

I don't think anyone can say for certain what Akina, Seiko, and others such as Yamaguchi Momoe were able to sell total. But yes, as the chart stands Ayu is listed on top.

Tohoshinki is not competition. Maybe nowadays they would be, but then absolutely not. Neither was it released on the same day as Koda Kumi (no way is Avex going to release their two top selling female artists on the same day). Koda was 9/12 - Ayu was 9/19.

I say that it is her last big hit because: Step You was her last single to stay at #1 for multiple weeks and the sales had a big upswing from her previous releases. It also had a 19 week chart run which is pretty long for Ayu. It sold over 400,000 copies compared to Blue Bird's 258,000 one year later. Ayu had not had a single that sold that highly since No Way to Say (Moments, Carols, and Inspire all sold less than Step You) and she hasn't had a single come close to its sales since then.

Im happy for Utada <3 but I do think Ayu deserves to be on the list shes super talented!