Nikkei TOP 100 entertainers 2009

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by Andrenekoi

Sorry about "Kakamori", typing error Really like Desire *----*
And yeah, I forgot Yamaguchi Momoe >< This is one of those I remember that were influential

The singers that got famous in the 00s... We have Ayaka, Koda, Ai Otsuka and Mika Nakashima... I don't really feel that they made it to the top (I mean, that they will turn into very influential pop icons), maybe Koda...

Yeah, I agree. I'm not saying someone needs to come along and surpass Ayumi, but it would be nice to have a larger amount of successful female singers. For example, surprisingly Yamaguchi Momoe never had a number one album and only had a few number one singles. However, no one could argue her popularity or influence - it just went to show that there was really a lot of competition back then between the many top female artists.

It seems like since there has been a lack of new female artists that are great that the Japanese public can latch onto, they instead went back to Namie, at least temporarily. Also, I don't know if I'd say that Ayu "eclipsed her totally" when she took over the "crown." In terms of record sales yes (though to be fair, Ayumi released a lot more). But I remember how insanely huge Amuro was in the mid 90s - that's actually the time that I was living in Japan and even though I was a child at the time that really didn't know J-pop much at all, even I felt the influence that Namie had over the population then, especially on girls. I think it could be argued, though not scientifically proven, that Namie at her height of popularity was probably more popular than any other j-pop female at the height of theirs.

As for Utada, even though she has a lack of releases and tours and what not, she has a strange hold over Japan. Many people would actually place her in a higher status than Ayumi, though I don't agree with that.

Originally Posted by KarenPang

I think their popularity & sales will be higher should they have 1 & ehhh you don't count Ryusei no Kizuna in the mix ?

Ryo was in the show so

That totally slipped my mind even though I watched the show! Probably because it jumps out at me as being an Arashi vehicle starring Ninomiya and they had the theme song.