What if... Ayu didn't exsist?

[JinHamasaki]

I would have never gotten into J-pop as much.

Although Namie Amuro was the first J-pop artist I listened to, no artist has stuck on like ayumi hamasaki.

The Japanese music industry would probably be in shambles. Hikaru Utada would probably be the biggest artist but her presence in Japan isn't very strong. You don't see artists dressing like Hikki. On the other hand, HALNA and a few others (even the Taiwanese Jolin Tsai :S) follow Ayu's image.

-KOSE would never become as big of a makeup company without a spokeswoman like Ayu (KOSE went from 4th to 2nd in their first cm with Ayu, and sold 500,000 units in two days with their second cm).
-Tu-Ka would never be able to catch up to NTT DoCoMo (Ayu ringtones have really helped Tu-Ka)

Hmm I wonder what kinda music I would listen to, if I didn't listen to J-pop O.o.