[Raleigh]

I don't get it why some think she should retire simply because she's not the most popular artist in Japan. Personally I'd be pretty disappointed because it'd show that all those songs she sang about hope, being strong and not giving up were pretty much fake. An artist can always release singles and albums still after declining in popularity.

If not where would be Ami Suzuki now? She was almost as popular as Ayu before being blacklisted and now we know she is not so popular but instead of giving up she still sings and releases because it's her passion to sing. And same goes with Ayu. She has struggled so much to stay in the music industry and has gone through so much that I don't think she will just give up.

And after all if she isn't popular, who cares? As long as she releases awesome music as the album (miss) understood I'm more than happy even if it just sells so low because I enjoy and love her music and personally if Ayu left the J-Pop scene I'd lose most of my interest in it.

Anyhow going back to the point. Koda Kumi has indeed surprised many and is producing an impressive amount of releases. Some are pretty impressive but I must say that others are rather mediocre but she's certainly improving and getting a lot of exposure. Nonetheless I must say that only recently she has managed to get a #1 in weeklies and it sold roughly about 150,000 copies (correct me if I'm wrong) so yeah compare it to Ayu's singles sales...

However I think it's kinda too early to judge. I remember when ORANGE RANGE was huge last year and now they're just not so huge. So maybe we should wait to see how this will turn out. Plus Ayu is still huge nonetheless and there's no denying it so yeah I think it's just a matter of time to see if Koda will just be a great artist or a replacement of Ayu.