Japan's favorite stars
 

NHK conducted a national poll in September to determine the most popular entertainers in Japan. The result: Ayumi Hamasaki is the 4th most popular female talent in Japan.

Female talent
1. 久本雅美 (Masami Hisamoto) (1)
2. 松嶋菜々子 (Nanako Matsushima) (2)
3. 上沼恵美子 (Emiko Kaminuma) (11)
4. 浜崎あゆみ (Ayumi Hamasaki) (4)
5. 吉永小百合 (Sayuri Yoshinaga) (15)
6. 藤原紀香 (Norika Fujiwara) (10)
6. 優香 (Yuuka) (11)
8. モーニング娘。 (Morning Musume.) (5)
8. 和田アキ子 (Akiko Wada) (3)
10. 中村玉緒 (Tamao Nakamura) (29)

Male talent
1. 明石家さんま (Sanma Akashiya) (1)
2. ビートたけし (Beat Takeshi) (2)
3. 高橋英樹 (Hideki Takahashi) (9)
3. 所ジョージ (George Tokoro) (3)
5. タモリ (Tamori) (6)
6. 氷川きよし(Hikawa Kiyoshi) (11)
7. 福山雅治 (Masaharu Fukuyama) (13)
8. 北島三郎 (Saburo Kitajima) (5)
9. SMAP (4)
10. 木村拓哉 (Takuya Kimura) (10)

(number in parenthesis is the place in last years poll)

http://www.mainichi.co.jp/entertainm...301/15-01.html

i think i've heard of this Ayumi Hamasaki...

hehe N8 Dawg u mean this is another Ayumi Hamasaki it meant? :P XD~~?

wow~~~~ i wonder who is the first 3???

Most of these ppl I never heard of b4 but it's good to see Ayu close to the top of the female list. :)

hehe me too~ the only one i have heard of is
2. ????? (Nanako Matsushima)
6. ???? (Norika Fujiwara)
7. ?? (Yuuka)
8. ??????? (Morning Musume.)

:P

ayu maintained....

yeah, I'm thinking this was a poll for every age category. I can see why Ayu would be number 4 if they surveyed a lot of middle-aged people. But if it were just young people, I'm sure Hikki would be up at the top with Ayu.

I haven't ever heard of the male entertainers either.

Congrats to Ayu. I find it strange too that Hikki's not on there. Oh well.

I have never heard of any in those lists only Ayu....Yeah how come Hikki is not in the list.

The list may weigh more than just singing. (Just a guess.) Ayu's also done acting and show hosting and modeling, so.... I don't know.

If i'm correct about the person, Emiko Kaminuma may be a voice actress. She also sings aswell but I might have the wrong person.

Apart from that, Congrats to Ayumi on not falling in popularity. Also congrats to Beat Takeshi, that man is so cool :D

Is his name really Beat? What a funky name! Or is it just a stage name?

That list is a little crazy, lol. I've only heard of 1 or 2 of those people, and I'm extremely surprised that Hikaru Utada isn't on the list. How can the singer who sold the most copies of an album this year not be in the list? lol That's crazy! But it's very nice to see Ayu up there at #4! That's great! :)

OMG!!!!! i don even noe half of the list...
the only people that i noe ... other than ayumi is norika fujiwara n morning musume (ONLY THE FEMALE section)

aniway Congrats ayu!!!!!!!!:wave :thumbsup keep up the gd work

who's that at the top?!?
haven't heard b4...
it's good that Ayu maintained instead of dropping...

are all of them singer???
cos it say most popular entertainer~~~
so it might be actors or sort right???

Morning Musume is so annoying. LOL Too many girls that get replaced like flies.

I was suprised Camui Gackt wasn't on the list, or Mana.

CONGRATS TO AYU!!!

It isn't crazy Grantith. People of all ages and backgrounds were surveyed in the poll, not just the ones who listen to pop music.

Most of those people are actors and actresses. Masami Hisamoto is an actress. Nanako Matsushima is also an actress, I think she was in "The Ring". Emiko Kaminuma has a cooking show, I believe. Sanma Akashiya is a comedian. Hikawa Kiyoshi is an enka singer.

Ayu ranked 4th in NHK ranking
 

Ayu was ranked 4th in NHK's "My favorite celebrity 2002".

Morning Musume was 8th
Utada Hikaru was 11th
Takashi Kaneshiro was 16th
*Matsushima Nanako was in the top 10*

(Sorry I couldn't scan the article up; it's from mingpao)

There were more information on the article, but none of it related to Ayu... it just mentions Ayu once.

I hope we'll have the rest of the article up soon!

Yay! Ayu beat Hikki!

Thanks for the info miruku. The Japanese papers only listed the top 10.

it is gd that ayu maintained in the 4th place....

yeah!!
Ayu beat Hikki!

His real name isn't "Beat Takeshi" it's "Takeshi Kitano" .. "Beat" is his stage name. He's really funny, good actor.

That's pretty cool that Ayu's right up there ^_^..

She's 1st in my books though, of course ..

Ashley

How in the world did Sayuri Yoshinaga and Tamao Nakamura jump so far up??? Sayuri jumped like 10 spots and Tamao jumped 19!!! What the heck. I guess they like did somethin super special. Neway Ayu should be first, and Hikki should be second. Also, how come Mika Nakashima's not up there??? She created a huge fan base since her first album.