JPop 歌姫 Idol Crown

I have been called many names (sometimes behind my back), but one that I am most "proud" of, is a "walking encyclopaedia" for Japanese Pop History. There is a part of me that likes to frighten my Japanese friends with my knowledge of JPop "has-beens", and it is so fun just to watch their expressive mix of dismay and nostalgia when they hear that long forgotten name.

I have an immense interest (and memory) in sales figures and discography information of Japanese pop singers (in chronological order as well for some singers), and remembered that I liked to compare the sales of the single to the song, wondering why an audience would buy this and not another. It's no wonder that I eventually found my niche in marketing because it's all about consumer behaviour.

I was more ignorant then and I isolated all other factors such as marketing and the exposure that it would gain from being a commercial or theme song for a movie/drama, which usually increases the sales for the single. My friends, perhaps not jokingly, would say that if I had a similar interest in my studies, I would do much better.

For me, I guess it all boils down to interest, and we all have an area of "specialty" that we have more knowledge and would seek out information to fulfill our further desire. Therefore, I read with much interest on a subject that Tien posted "ランキングと売上数". She said "To be crowned 歌姫/トップアイドル, what is the deciding factor? Sales? Or chart ranking? (sic)" Which is the most important. She went on to describe how her favourite idols (and mine too) did not sell very much, and came to the conclusion "Looking at the single sales of my favourite artistes, I think it's both and yet neither.... You must first hit it BIG and subsequently maintain a decent sale record.(sic)"

I started replying on her blog but then I got more excited as I started writing and it became too long, so I decided to shed a little "light on the mystery" as to why 山口百恵 (Momoe Yamaguchi), 松田聖子 (Seiko Matsuda) & 中森明菜 (Akina Nakamori) were the Queen of Jpop during their era of dominance,.

A singer's popularity is usually primarily about sales figures but there are also other factors like the likeability of the singer and the songs they cover and their newsworthiness. It is not so much about their ability to sing as we can, because there are many amateur singers who can hardly sing live, not only in the Japanese pop industry but also everywhere around the world. Momoe and Akina are much better singers than Seiko will ever be, but Seiko started a trend and even had the term "burriko" specially formulated for her because of her image (which means girls who like to act cute and younger than her age). She also has dodged many critics and have came back every single time which translates into longevity.

If we are solely looking at sales figures, which is what Tien's article was primarily about, I had the same thoughts when I first noticed the sales figures of Momoe, Seiko and Akina. Compared with the million sellers of Hikaru Utada (宇多田ヒカル) and Ayu Hamasaki (浜崎あゆみ) today, it seemed like peanuts ... but then, we have to adjust for inflation.

I don't know how you do that, but it is most important to look at the sales for that year or how long the artiste managed to stay on top. Amongst the three, Momoe's sales were the most dismal. As Tien pointed out, her best selling single was 「横須賀ストーリー」, which sold 66.1万枚 (661,000 copies). She also said that it was nothing compared to the million sellers for ピンク・レディー (Pink Lady), which had 5 million sellers. What Tien didn't notice was that, they were all in 1977 and 1978. So, we can liken ピンク・レディー to a fashion or a fad, because the Japanese are notoriously fickle with their tastes. It is true that they were the top sellers for the 70s, but if they only managed to dominate for 2 years out of a decade, and then retire in 1980, I don't think we can call them true blue idols.

Momoe on the other hand, was not only selling consistently but she was also big in movies and TV drama as well. She was definitely the top idol for the 2nd half of the 70s. Yes, there are many other people who outsell her - only two of her singles managed to hit the Year End Top 10 Sales Chart:

山口百恵 (Momoe Yamaguchi)

(a) 冬の色 - No. 10 in 1975
(b) 横須賀ストーリー - No. 8 in 1976



What Momoe didn't have in significant sales figures, she made up for it in consistency. All of her singles after her 5th single and first big hit (ひと夏の経験) hit Top 5, except しなやかに歌って (#8) & 愛染橋 (#10) and all sold more than 22.0万枚 (220,000 copies). If you look at her "fellow singers" during that era, none of them achieved this consistent result. While Pink Lady's golden era lasted for 2-3 years, Momoe had 6 years, which was why she was the Top Idol for the 70s. Moreover, she retired at the right time, and people miss her more than they think they would, so she is a legend now.

As for Seiko and Akina, they did not sell as well as the singers of today, but they were "unlucky" because the 80s were probably the lowest selling singles of all time. One has to view the economic history of Japan to be able to decipher why this trend occurred.

松田聖子 (Seiko Matsuda)

Seiko's singles constantly hit the No. 1 spot (24 consistent No. 1s - a record until B'z broke it), but like Momoe, only a handful hit the Year End Top 10:

(1) チェリーブラッサム - No.9 in 1981
(2) ガラスの林檎／SWEET MEMORIES - No.7 in 1983
(3) Rock'n Rouge - No.3 in 1984
(4) 天使のウィンク - No.10 in 1985

Most of her singles were in the 11th to 20th position.



She had better luck with her albums. On total sales for artistes for the year, she managed to top all year for 1984 (could be the only year). She dominated during the early 80s and then moved on to have a healthy career and is still going relatively well now.

中森明菜 (Akina Nakamori)

In contrast, Akina achieved much more. Firstly, she is still the only singer to top the total sales of the year for 4 years - 1983, 85-87 (I think Ayu holds the 2nd position for 3 years together with 松任谷由実 Yuming). Secondly, her singles constantly feature in the Year End Top 10.

1983

セカンド・ラブ (No. 8)



Although only セカンド・ラブ (Second Love) was in the Top 10, her other 3 singles 1/2の神話, トワイライト～夕暮れ便り～ & 禁区 all landed in the Year End Top 20. Akina was the best selling artiste for 1983, accounting for 4% of all music sold in that year.

1984

十戒（1984）(No.6)
北ウイング (No.9)
サザン・ウインド (No.10)



She followed this incredible feat with another 3 singles in 1985 in the Top 10

1985

ミ・アモーレ (No.2)
飾りじゃないのよ涙は (No.6)
SAND BEIGE -砂漠へ- (No.7)



1986

DESIRE -情熱- (No. 2)
ジプシー・クイーン (No 7)



NB: "Fin" was No. 17 that year but it had only sold about 80% of its eventual sale at the cut off date for this calculation.



1987

TANGO NOIR (No 2)
難破船 (No. 6)
Blonde (No. 7)


She didn't do so well in 1988, but "Tattoo" and "Al Mauj" were 11th and 12th for the year.



1990

Dear Friend (No 6 in 1990).



No other artiste has been able to emulate the success that Akina has and that is why she was the Top Pop Idol for the mid-late 80s while Seiko dominated the First Half the 80s till Akina came along. If you look at Ayu’s sales, they might be high, but she did not dominate and captivate like the other 3 did. She had 1 single each hit the Year End Top 10 in 1999-2000, 2 singles in 2001-2 and 1 single for 2003. Utada Hikaru has 2 Top 10 in 1999, 1 in 2000, 3 singles in 2001 and 1 each in 2002-3. I'm not so interested in these 2 singers, so I will not bother to list the names but you can look at this website.

So, if we look at the impact the singer has on the audience for the year, we can see that Akina was immensely popular during her heydays. She also strived for individuality and difference from the other singers, which was why she was able to stand out from the rest and dominate the sales like that. So, I hope this helps to answer some of your questions and to anyone who wonder why we are who we are now ... crazy over Akina ...

Most of the statistics can be viewed on this website. The rest are from memory.