I've been a fan of CPop and KPop for as long as I can remember. A lot of people have been encouraging me to listen to JPop. I've always thought that the majority of JPop were rock groups and/or Anime OST singers. I've a big fan of anime and I do know some singers through their music. But I don't know if they are considered the epitome of JPop. I guess I'm looking for the Jay Chou or FIR of JPop. Or any other artists that are actually artists and are popular. Any suggestions?

imo you are really missing out for not listening to Jpop
For Anime singers i guess you know Utada Hikaru, Ayumi Hamasaki. Quite honest, they're not my fav though.
i'd suggest Hirai Ken for male jpop
other popular female singers: Koda Kumi(you should really try her),Namie Amuro(RnB),ayaka(powerful voice),Mika Nakashima(jazz), Ai Otsuka, MISIA
just take your time, i'm sure you'll find some interesting singers

^I beg to differ

J-pop has alot to offer
most people find Johnny's artists not talented...but there are definetly exceptions


I think you should give Kinki Kids a try
and if I had an album to recommend...it's definetly there album "iD"
I swear they are definetly worth a listen along with Arashi and V6.


Other artists

Yuna Ito
Anna Tsuychia
Olivia Lufkin
Namie Amuro
Crystal Kay

I will post more
but definetly give Kinki Kids a listen
they are so awesome

hhaaha~ im so into kpop las time (tho now oso~)

when i started learning japanese i started to hear more japanese songs cos it's gd for my vocab~~

i rmbed when i was like huh and o.0? wad were they saying?

nowi understand quite alot ~

^ ahh i should hear KinKi Kids~

nowadays i hear KAT-TUN's keep the faith and Yorobi no Uta(? not sure if it's correct?)

Real face is nice too~

I like Arashi's Love so Sweet, Wish and their A.ra.shi~ ARASHI ARASHI for dreammm~

^ basically Hana Yori Dango (LOL u should watch! i liked it more than Meteor Gardern ><)

and too News~ if been hearing their weeek single and Pain

Utada Hikari's real gd( to me~ her first love, flavour of life and can you keep a secret are my faves~~)

and Morning Musume too~~ of cos dun 4get Koda Kumi, Ayumi, and Namie Amuro~~~

Koda Kumi
Ai Otsuka
tomboy
Tenjochiki
Polysics
Perfume
MEG
Morning Musume
H!P (general)
May J.
M-flo
BoA
Halcali
Soulhead
Heartsdales
Double
Misono
Yuna Ito
Asian Kung Fu Generation
Puffy
AAA

Just some good groups off the top of my head.

oh, you are missing out so much for not listenning to jpop xDD

here are my top favs..

Mr. Children
GReeeeN
Hamasaki Ayumi
ORANGE RANGE
Every Little Things
Kobukuro
Ayaka
YUI

and if you like Johnnys, you should give kanjani 8, Kinki Kids and NEWS a try =DDD

I don't know many solo singers in J-Pop
but I recommend
AAA =D
to anyone.
They have a variety of music to choose from.

Namie Amuro
Mika Nakashima
Utada Hikaru
Olivia Lufkin
YUI


I don't listen to much Jpop, but I like a few artists.

...sorry, J-Rock fan...

But I do listen to...a lot of anime songs..LOL.

AAA
w-inds
Mostly J.E's
Koda Kumi
GreeeeeN
YUI
Utada Hikaru

AAA
w-inds.
NewS
KAT-TUN
m-flo

Pop
w-inds.
AAA
BoA
Tohoshinki

Pop/R&B

Koda Kumi
Kyohei Kaneko <--- Click to listen to some of his songs since they're hard to find.

I'm only listing the people who are active. I think they make pretty good music in my opinion.

m-flo!
Do As Infinity was a fave, but they disbanded in 05
Orange Range,
BoA!

oh man... i love Jmusic!

here are some of what i listen to...

UVERworld <----------Love This Band!
Asian Kung-fu Generation
Abingdon Boys School
M-Flo
Orange Range
Ai Otsuka
Yui
Utada Hikaru
Namie Amuro

there are more... i just don't remember their names at the moment...

Thanks for the suggestions! I've actually heard of a lot of the bands and singers mentioned here though I've never really given them a listen. Will do now! And to the above poster, I love UVERworld as well because of the work they did for Bleach.

spitz
mr.children

that's about as pop as I can get. still, try it out.

try listen to all YUI music.
they are awsome!!

Sorry, I really didn't mean to write this much. I can go on and on about the subject though. I italiced the artists names the first time I mentioned them, so it's easier to skim.

I've been a Jpop fan since late 2001. (it's from there that I got into Kpop and various other countries' music.
Actually the Japanese music industry is (from what I've heard from various sources) the 2nd biggest one in the world. It has a really awesome and long history of artists who have influenced the young culture of the time.

I like artists as early as 1937 (The great older stuff is mostly from the 60s-80s), but most people don't care to listen to people that early. ^^;; (Unlike Kpop because do to unfortunate historical situations, the earliest artist I've been able to find [Lee Mi Ja, who's FANTASTIC and everyone should check out.] debuted in 1959)

I think Jpop was FANTASTIC in the mid-90s, so I recommend anything produced by TK from that time. Especially: Namie Amuro (Originally Eurobeat/pop, but around 1999 she started in on R&B and that's her main thing now. She's one of the only artists I still follow now. AWESOME albums.), Ami Suzuki (her new stuff is Eurobeat. Some people like it, but I'm not into it so much.), Tomomi Kahala, globe.
Some girl groups that were popular then, like SPEED and MAX, also put out some SOLID material. I would say SPEED was like the S.E.S of Japan. (ie: HUGE)

From like, 1999-2002, Ayumi Hamasaki and Hikaru Utada were really big. Hikaru Utada stopped putting out music constantly and only in late 2005 did she start up again. She got up to kind of her former status this year, but she's not on top all the time like before. Ayumi Hamasaki, she seems to consistantly get high in the charts still, but maybe just because I fell out of interest in her mid-2005, but I think she's falling in popularity. She's not really changing her style much, just sticking to this same rock style she found around her 4th album and solidified in her 6th.

Now the 2 girls artists that are fresh and popular but haven't reached the status Hamasaki of Utada are Koda Kumi and Ai Otsuka. And there's some more girl rock like Rie Fu and YUI who are getting up there.

Right now there's a lack of a big reigning queen/king/group over the pop industry. They're leaning more towards bands and folk-y music. Kobukuro's best of album has sold 3 million copies over the past 2-some years. GReeeeN was big last year. I know Yuzu's pretty
They all sound in the vein of Mr.Children, who's one of the biggest bands ever in Japanese history. They've sold VERY well and consistantly since 1994.

Umm, EXILE is big too. I just went on iTunes and lostened to clips. People who like the main sound of Kpop might really like them actually. They're a boy vocal group that's mostly R&B from what I can hear. They've been around for a while though, I'm not sure why they're getting bigger now.

Arashi from Johnny's (a management company who has had a monopoly on the boyband market since the 70s) is pretty big now too. Arashi is the only boyband I can stand and they're doing REALLY well now. A new band also from Johnny's, KAT-TUN, is one of the biggest sellers as of late, especially in the single sales. (unlike most other markets, in Japan they make things on a single basis and when they have enough songs recorded they out on all the previous singles on their record. Namie Amuro's most recent album [released Summer 2007] encompassed songs from winter of 2005.) I haven't listened to them though. But I've heard people say that they get the worst songs out of Johnny's, so listen at your own risk.

OH OH. And my absolute favorite person ever, Shiina Ringo is fantastic. Solo she's great, but in 2004 she formed her own band called Tokyo Jihen, and they're just as good. A little more rocky than F.I.R, but still good.
But yeah, I would compare Do As Infinity to F.I.R, but like said above they've disbanded.

I wouldn't really say there's a big person like Jay Chou. The focus in Japan in the pop music market is mostly on girl singers. Boys are either in Johnny's or in a legitimate band.

Mostly the people above aren't my reccomendations per se, but you seemed to want to know more about the market, and they're the artists I find to be popular now. Personally I don't find many artists nowadays to be releasing as good material as was released 1997-2003. But now I follow Arashi, Namie Amuro, Shiina Ringo/Tokyo Jihen, and the idol/actress/singer Aya Ueto. Who's not TOO popular, but I think she always released nice solid pop with every album.

Hope that helps!

Erm..How about Tohoshinki? O.o Or Koda Kumi.

Otsuka Ai is pretty good and cute but she's a bit of a mixed bag...she has some good songs like Planaterium, Amenbo, Kingyo hanabi, Cherish, Heart...but also a lot of odd ball songs like Chu-lip and Peach (watch the PVs and you'll know what I mean). DBSK's japanese stuff are pretty good as well...not everything is a korean translation so yea..check them out...Proud was so good esp in their concert . CHEMISTRY is good don't know why no ones menthioned them yet..koda kumi is quite overated other than her Final Fantasy songs the rest is quite ordinary. DRM is quite a good girl unit from Avex..u can try them out.

I'll definitely look into Do As Infinity. I remember Real from FIR saying that they were one of his favourite bands. If they're good enough for FIR, they're good enough for me!
I've realized that there isn't a huge single male entity like Chou in JPop. It's a real shame.

I don't know a lot of JPOP artists.. but
I really like "Cherish" by NewS.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LVqQ32TfnjY

& Namie Amuro is one of my favorites

AAA is really good. they're always doing something
different, which keeps the fans interested :D
there are a lot of good ones that people are mentioning
on this thread, so try them all!

i'm not incredibly familiar with jpop, but off the top of my head, some favorites:

mika nakashima
yuna ito
namie amuro
koda kumi
kat-tun
orange range


i think these have all been listed, though. but they're awesome, definitely check them out

eh, here is what i like

BoA
Ai Otsuka
Ayumi Hamasaki
ayaka
BONNIE PINK
mihimaru GT
Erika Sawajiri
Yuna Ito

I'd definitely give Ai Otsuka a chance if I were you =]

Aqua Timez
Asian Kung Fu Generation
Start From Scratch
Uverworld
Do As Infinity
Tommy Heavenly6/Tommy February6/Brilliant Green
Ellegarden
Mihimaru GT
Foxxi MisQ
HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR
Bonnie Pink
Capsule
Perfume
Yui
Mika Nakashima

Just a few I like

ok well most people already said some but i'll say it again.

Kat-tun
News
there is this one singer called K omg he is a good singer you should listen to his song only human that song is so sad. he is the url

http://www.crunchyroll.com/media-253972/K-...-Subtitles.html

god he is a good singer and i love this song.