I just realized my memory is quite hazy when it comes to thinking about this but I can say that it was somewhere between (miss)understood and Secret in 2006. I remember listening Ayu nonstop that summer because she was so awesome. I was also very obsessed with Hikki at the time.
Hmm... Damn, I can't remember it well. I only remember it got something to do with wikipedia. I was surfing there and ran across Ayu's page and I just ended up reading it. Then I thought she must be awesome if she has this many hits and decided to download first three albums. LOVEppears and Duty completely blew me away, A Song for xx... not so much. I also downloaded few remix albums which were awesome too. I even heard remix versions for evolution, UNITE!, Endless sorrow and NEVER EVER before I even found the originals. It also took me a while to find those because I wasn't aware of AHS. I wish I had been tho. x3
//I feel old when I read how some people got into her in 2010 or so. For me this is my 8th year with Ayu.