[Beffi]

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There is no Asian star more ubiquitous this millennium than Ayumi Hamasaki, the "Empress of Pop." Japan's highest selling musician of all time - with more than fifty singles released and over 50 million records sold - Hamasaki (known as "Ayu" to her fans) has inspired enough trends, musical styles, and merchandise to give Madonna a run for her money. Since the release of her 1998 debut single, "Poker Face" (precisely ten years before Lady Gaga's hit of the same name), Hamasaki has charted a number one hit every year on the Oricon charts, Japan's equivalent of the Billboard 100. Experimenting with pop, rock, trance, reggae, house, orchestra, R&B, and every other style imaginable, Hamasaki has inspired just as many fashion movements, which have taken root everywhere from Taiwan to Singapore.
She's even created her own Sanrio collaboration with Hello Kitty, designed a clothing line called MTRLG ("Material Girl") and from 2002-2004, had her own TV show, brilliantly titled Ayuready? Her endless parade of hits and transformations has made Hamasaki an indelible J-pop icon, not to mention the poster girl for powerhouse label AVEX Records, the genre's contemporary answer to Motown. With the release of her album Love Songs in 2010, Ayu's influence - as incalculable as her sales, but as sweet as a song - carries on.