Top 40 Best Selling Japanese Acts
 

These are the Top 40 Japanese Artists according to MUSIC STATION. The rankings are based on sales. The previous ranking refers to the last ranking they did back in 2005.

CD総売上【2010/09/10 Mステスペシャル】

今回（前回）　売上（単位：万枚）
*1位（*1位）　7938　B'z
*2位（*2位）　5420　Mr.Children
*3位（*4位）　4901　浜崎あゆみ (Ayumi Hamasaki)　　　　
*4位（*3位）　4783　サザンオールスターズ (Southern All Stars)
*5位（*5位）　4301　DREAMS COME TRUE
*6位（*6位）　3830　松任谷由実 (Yumi Matsutoya)
*7位（*7位）　3749　GLAY
*8位（*8位）　3745　ZARD
*9位（*9位）　3572　宇多田ヒカル (Utada Hikaru)
10位（11位） 3178　SMAP
11位（10位） 3140　CHAGE&ASKA
12位（14位） 2974　安室奈美恵 (Namie Amuro)
13位（12位） 2951　松田聖子 (Matsuda Seiko)
14位（13位） 2870　globe
15位（15位） 2849　L'Arc～en～Ciel
16位（16位） 2534　中森明菜 (Nakamori Akina)
17位（18位） 2467　KinKi Kids
18位（17位） 2441　TUBE
19位（19位） 2259　大黒摩季 (Ohguro Maki)
20位（20位） 2258　Every Little Thing
21位（22位） 2178　中島みゆき (Nakajima Miyuki)
22位（21位） 2169　TRF
23位（23位） 2112　長渕剛 (Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi)
24位（24位） 2070　槙原敬之 (Noriyuki Makihara)
25位（25位） 2038　スピッツ (Spitz)
26位（27位） 2018　福山雅治 (Fukuyama Masaharu)
27位（26位） 1950　SPEED
28位（29位） 1865　米米CLUB (Koma Kome Club)
29位（--位）　1786　EXILE
30位（30位）　1777　Misia
31位（32位）　1664　モーニング娘。 (Morning Musume)
32位（31位）　1621　山口百恵 (Yamaguchi Momoe)
33位（--位）　1619　嵐 (Arashi)
34位（33位）　1611　氷室京介 (Himuro Kyosuke)
35位（34位）　1579　井上陽水 (Yosui Inoue)
36位（36位）　1576　郷ひろみ (Go Hiromi)
37位（35位）　1570　沢田研二 (Sawada Kenji)
38位（42位）　1553　倉木麻衣 (Mai Kuraki)
39位（38位）　1538　チェッカーズ (CHECKERS)
40位（39位）　1527　今井美樹 (Imai Miki)

http://community.livejournal.com/ara...t/1183452.html

YAAAY!!! Congrats to B'z and Ayu! <33

so is that only 49,010,00?

If that's the case, less than 1,000,000 away from the big 50,000,000 ~

next Mr. children, Ayu.
Ganbatte

what a great ranking! ^_^

thanks for sharing..
proud of AyuuU!!
that makes her the top selling female artist :)

I had thought she'd already passed 59mil. But good job Ayu! Now beat em all!! Haha:P

^Uh uh... :no As much as I love ayu, I love B'z more! :P

its really great

Wow. She is third! OMYGODGODGOD. Well done, Ayu!

That's awesome!!!
I'm so proud of ayu =D

I wonder if she felt bad to see that she sold more oveall than her liked band lol.

OMG SHE'S THIRD

:banana1 yaaaay congratz Ayu!!

Oh, is Hikki just ranked #9? I thought she was more higher o__o

Kumi is somewhere hovering positions 41 - 50

^ Ah thanks.

Million selling albums are now officially a thing of the past so Ayu will always have her mark as the top selling Japanese female artist of all time. :heart

If you consider that she doesn't release so much, only 21 singles and 5 albums, it's pretty great.

Yay for Ayu! Her peak may be over, but she has got history that no one can deny.
B'z still reigns, and rightfully so xD
GLAY and KinKi surprised me pleasantly :3

most of these artists may not be popular as the newer acts nowadays, but they've definitely made their mark with good music. Banzai~

Congrats Ayu ! hope that the next update she'll pass 5o mil mark ^^!

how long will it take ayu to take the 2nd spot, hope not to long.

ARASHI at #33 O_o

omg congrats to Ayu!!

ARASHI & EXILE are the only 2 new entries on the list

the last time MUSIC STATION compiled this list was 5 years back so yeah

First thought: Arashi is #33? She beat all those boybands?
Second thought: Where in the hell is Kuu???

With those two thoughts in mind, Ayu dominates!

I don't know why people think Koda Kumi would be there; she hasn't actually sold that much.

wongrat to amuro, larc en ciel bz and glay. not bad at all . for some reason i though glay would be higher since their tour is always almost sold out

ilove_ryo on aramatheydidnt said


:innocent

Anyway, congratulations! Ayu!

Go ayu. Its nice to know that. Number 3 now. :) she's precious

I'm sure in several years artists like Kana Nishino will replace Mai Kuraki or something and Arashi will be higher and AKB48 may make it
I'm not really big fans of the three but for now. Theyre quite well in sales.

I wanted to say that, but I thought it would be rude since many kumi fans are here. :innocent

I hope there's no any female group will replace SPEED's position as the best selling female group

Ayu the QUEEN <3
wow i thought arashi would be high high up...
Kuu sold more than ayu in recent years but not alot like in millions where ayu did...

congrats to ayu! #3 is a great position!

yeah, she only really had high sales for a few years.

if we add overseas sales, i believe it can bring a total of 60mil...
but like i said on other thread about this...no one really knows the exact number of her overseas sales

So high!!!

Ayu is the Queen, always and forever.

Mr Children and B'z both debuted in 1988, a decade before Ayu. Ayu, starting in 1998 made it to #3? Amazing.. Next up, beating Mr Children ;)!!

1. B'z - 1988
2. Mr Children - 1988
3. Ayu - 1998
4 Southern al stars - 1978
5. DCT - 1988

amazing ;)

Gogo Ayu! I believe eventually she will surpass Mr. Children but I don't think anyone can beat B'z.

Still, I think Ayu will forever be the best selling female artist in Japan/Asia.

Nooooo... Not as long as Koshi's writing kick-ass lyrics while Tak composes some kick-ass music! :D

I'm so proud of Ayu! You go girl~ :D

oh.... I'm so proud of AYU...
You are the Queen ^__^

Great, Ayu!
#3 overall is awesome :heart

OMG Thanks.
It's what I wanted. *.*

oh I disturbed Zemus for nothing. Sorry.

Wow this is just awesome! Go Ayu go! :D

i think it's amazing how well she's done :D

congrats!

wow!
#3 on best selling artists in Japan, what a feat for a solo artist!
Thanks for sharing.

I think it would need to be another 4 years until she could take no 2 spot, possibly 7-8 if she was ever no 1 in this list....B'z and Mr Children are HUGE lol, Ayu's done very well to get to no 3....her and Hikki at no 9 are the only two solo acts in the top 10, right?

^And Matsutoya Yumi.

Exactly! That just shows her amazing power!

#3! And the #1 female and solo act! That's our girl!

Congratulations Ayu, I'm so happy for her! I hope soon she'll take the 2nd spot *O*

Congrats Ayu! Jpop Empress and living legend. http://www.gifsoup.com/view1/1098309/ayucm-o.gif

Hikki at 9??
Lower than I thought.

Wow, I didn't know the gap between her and Mr. Children was that small if she keeps going at the rate she's releasing, she could probably shrink the gap between them within the next few years to the 1-2 millions. Ganbatte Ayu and congrats! Best selling soloist in your country? A magnificent feat and you deserve it. ^_^

right-click save. :D

^ No problem!

whoaa! that's awesome!
She's become the 1'st female artist with the best selling this year! last year she's in 4'th right? cool.

Morning Musume is on that list! im so proud of them! woohoo!

first: congrats Ayu first woman as usual..!!

second: Did really Utada sold more than Namie????????!! Can't believe

Remember, Utada has the number one, four AND eight best selling albums ever in Japan, which really adds up, and Namie had a period were she didn't sell all that much (2000-2003~4).

Why not? Namie has never had studio albums sell as much as Hikki's first 3 studio album and those alone are more or less enough for her to be where she is :innocent

Namie has been around longer but she takes her time with her releases. Somewhere in between the pace of Ayu and Utada. But to my knowledge she never achieved their kind of multi-million seller status, ne? The only million commercial success I can think of is BEST FICTION. I think everyone was (pleasantly) surprised by that one.

Yay for Momosu! :D I didn't know L`arc~en~ciel were such big sellers, they're pretty high wow.

Her debut album Sweet 19 Blues sold 3.650.000 copies and was, albeit for a very brief time, the best selling album ever. Her single Can you Celebrate also sold over 2.300.000 copies. She's definitely had some huge hits in the beginning and then again recently ... there's just this period in between where she kinda slumped.

Her album Break the Rules failed to sell more than 400k (and we're talking 2000 here, so that wasn't as huge as it'd be now) and her 2003 Style "only" sold 220k. ("only" because it's still a good amount, just not when you consider what she used to sell.)

^ Thanks for the info! I honestly didn't know most of that. I just knew Can you Celebrate was her biggest hit hahaha. I actually became a Namie fan around the time Style came out. I contributed to that 220k ;D

But regardless... Ayu prevails, remains sexy while doing so.

3 of Utada's albums are among the 10 best selling albums in Japan history... only those albums gave her +-15,5 million albums sold... Good enough to put her on the bottom of the list... She had 6 album crossing the million mark (7, if I count Exodus) and 4 of her singles are million sellers (5 counting Movin' on Without You 2 formats). Some people around here seen to have no clue about how big the girl is on Japan...

Namie has 5 albums and 4 singles crossing the million mark, being one of them the best selling single released by a female solo singer, so, her position is also understandable...

So... the top10 solo female singers of Japan are:
1. Ayumi Hamasaki - 12 years, 49million, 9 "million" selling albums, 16 albums
2. Matsutoiya Yumi - 32 years, 38 million, 10 "million" selling albums, 37 albums
3. Hikaru Utada - 12 years, 35 million, 6 "million" selling albums, 8 albums
4. Namie Amuro - 15 years, 29 million, 5 "million" selling albums, 13 albums
5. Seiko Matsuda - 30 years, 29 million, don't know if she has any million seller, 80 albums
6. Akina Nakamori - 28 years, 25 million, don't know if she has any million seller, 58 albums
7. Maki Ohguro - 21 years, 22 million, 5 "million" sellers, 15 albums
8. Miyuki Nakajima - 35 years, 21 million, don't know if she has any million seller, 45 albums
9. Misia - 12 years, 17 million, 5 "million" sellers, 13 albums
10. Momoe Yamaguchi - 7 years (retired), 16 million, don't know if she has any million seller, 22 albums

I only counted studio albums, extended plays and compilations... As you can see, those girls are monstruous sellers, and some of them (mainly Ayumi, Yumi, Hikaru, Namie, Seiko and Momoe) are living legends on Japan... Koda Kumi (at least right now) has no chance of beating them.... Maybe in 5 years....

That's quite enough on Hikki. Her feats are great but she aint the Empress. She's not Japan's top female act.

Yumi has a 32 year career and has released 37 gosh darn albums and Ayu has 11 million more sales than her with 21 less albums and 20 less years in the music business.

Empress http://www.gifsoup.com/view2/1093803/ayuperform-o.gif

^Ayumi had her peak at the peak of japanese music marketing... Everyone who peaked during 1998~2001 had huge sales...

YAY! The Best selling female artist!!!

This is so great! This proves that Ayu is still the Jpop queen!

Music sales peaked between 1990-2000, or something like that. Take Inou Yosui. His 1976 album was the first million seller album ever in Japan.

The real huge multi-millions were practically all racked in during the 90s. The "best-selling album ever" also jumped around REALLY quickly during that period. First Namie Amuro's Sweet 19 Blues, then globe's self-titled album, then Glay's Review, then B'z' The Best Pleasure, then First Love. It really was the best period to be a succesful artist XD

Yeah but it still takes a lot to maintain that success and that's why Ayu (and others) is where she is today.

Dreamin Startin~! Yet another HOT gif. :luv2

The fact that Ayu is still a relevant figure is quite surprising really. I mean, she has been one of the most relavant female artists for over 10 years, while continuously releasing music. Can't really say that about most people.
All the women on this list should be proud of themselves ^_^

congrats to ayu , while she may release often, it take something to be able to sell that well even after releasing so much each year since her debut.

I was thinkig the same about her releases. I feel like if she took more time with her releases like for her albums for example they would sell a lot more per album
But I guess would put her in more of a hikki situation.
Like...I'm proud of ayu for continuing to do well. It always amazes me how much she can still sell even with so many releases and not huge promotions like major dramas and animes and etc.
She's just there. Getting along. And she seems so content nowadays. I ike ayus career like this :D

high sales do not equal pop royalty. Have you forgotten that some of the most untalented people in the world have achieved great sales thanks to marketing and rabid fans?

Not saying Ayu isn't pop royalty, because she is undeniably, but it isn't because of her oricon record or sales history. She should be better known for her influence on music rather than how many records she sold IMO.

Well... this is a dangerous comment... everyone has their own notion of "talent" and own list of who is and isn't talented... in the end of the day, every artist is amazingly talented or a piece of dog crap depending on who are u asking to...

I completely agree. I've really even never been that big of a "sales" person. I really could care a lot less. But here I just think that when you look at her numbers, her sales are an amazing accomplishment as well.

Yes, it is quite amazing that she still does well considering how fast and consistently she releases, she doesn't really give people time enough to miss her but they seem to anyway lol (or at least, we do XD ). Like Strawbari said, I think if she actually took a couple of years between releases (not necessarily the Hikki route or we'd all go bonkers), her sales could be a lot higher but Ayu is Ayu and she does seem ok with this pace so she'll do what she do.

Lord have mercy... *fans self*

Agreed. Also, (and this is not directed at you ero) I really don't think it's anyone's place to question how a person is very successful or why their fans support them. There's always a good reason and people have their own different reasons for supporting an artist.