The 5 Richest J-Pop Stars

J-Pop is a Japanese music genre that became popular in the 1990s and has now spread around the world. Traditional Japanese music, as well as 1960s pop and rock, have influenced modern J-pop.

 

J-Pop is a Japanese music genre that became popular in the 1990s and has now spread around the world. Traditional Japanese music, as well as 1960s pop and rock, have influenced modern J-pop. In the 1970s, an electronic synthpop style reinvented the pop music in Japan, and while it has some of that influence today, J-pop has merged older elements to become the hybrid it is today.

 

 

 

1. Masahiro Nakai

 

SMAP is a Japanese idol group led by Masahiro Nakai. From 1996 through 2010, he hosted Utaban, the longest-running variety show in the world. At the age o of 14, Nakai joined the Johnny & Associates talent agency, and he is one of only two people who has gone straight into the firm as a trainee without going through auditions.

 

Nakai hosted a total of ten programmes in 2003, earning between 3 and 4 million yen ($24,000 to $33,000) per episode. Because of his participation in various variety shows, the Japanese National Tax Bureau named Nakai the biggest taxpayer of any entertainer in Japan in 2003.

 

SMAP has gone on to become one of the most popular J-pop bands in the world, with total single and album sales of 33.73 million units, making them the 10th best-selling Japanese band of all time.

 

2. Momoiro Clover

 

Clover Momoiro Z is a relatively new idol group from Japan. Momoclo is the band’s frequent abbreviation. In surveys conducted in 2013 and 2014, the group was voted the most popular female idol group, and they are noted for their explosive performances that incorporate aspects of ballet, gymnastics, and action flicks.

 

 

 

The band achieved the fourth highest total sales revenue in Japan in 2013, with 5.2 billion yen ($43.4 million) in revenue. They began as a six-member group in 2008, without the “Z” in their name, and their tagline was “Idols you can meet right now.” According to their 2-year anniversary video, the group was made up of “innocent females who want to provide happiness to everybody.”

 

3. B’z – $44.5 Million

 

Takahiro “Tak” Matsumoto (guitarist, composer, producer) and Koshi Inaba (bassist) form the Japanese rock duo B’z (pronounced Biizu) (lead singer, lyricist). With over 80 million records sold globally, B’z is one of the best-selling music artists in the world and the best-selling band in Japan of all time. In Japan, they had 46 straight #1 singles.

 

B’z was the first Asian band to have their handprints and signatures inscribed on the Hollywood RockWalk. In a vote of Japanese citizens in 2011, guitarist Tak Matsumoto came out on top as the best guitarist to represent their country.

 

4. Ikimono-Gakari

 

Ikimono-gakari is a Kanagawa Prefecture-based pop rock band with three members. Hotaka Yamashita, a harmonicist and guitarist, and Yoshiki Mizuno, a bandleader and guitarist, formed the group in 1999 as a pair. Later that year, they were joined by vocalist Kiyoe Yoshioka. The name of the group is a reference to a group of youngsters in Japanese elementary schools who are in charge of caring for plants and animals.

 

 

 

They released their first song in 2006 under Sony’s Epic Records Japan brand. Several of their albums have charted at the top of the Oricon weekly rankings, and their songs have appeared in advertisements, anime series, TV dramas, and the NHK 2012 Olympic broadcast theme song.

 

 

 

5. Ikimono-gakari

 

Ikimono-gakari is a Kanagawa Prefecture-based pop rock band with three members. Hotaka Yamashita, a harmonicist and guitarist, and Yoshiki Mizuno, a bandleader and guitarist, formed the group in 1999 as a pair. Later that year, they were joined by vocalist Kiyoe Yoshioka. The name of the group is a reference to a group of youngsters in Japanese elementary schools who are in charge of caring for plants and animals.

 

They released their first song in 2006 under Sony’s Epic Records Japan brand. Several of their albums have charted at the top of the Oricon weekly rankings, and their songs have appeared in advertisements, anime series, TV dramas, and the NHK 2012 Olympic broadcast theme song.