Japanese Pop Music

An umbrella term for certain music in Japan, with the genres it covers largely analogous to pop music in the US. Nicknamed "J Pop", it is most known to fans outside Japan for Idol Singers and that many such songs are often featured in Anime openings and endings due to alliances between certain animation studios and record companies (i.e. lots of Sony artists have tie-ins with shounen anime produced by Sony). That is to say nothing of the copious amounts of Gratuitous English that are a hallmark of the genre. Also note that many voice actors have singing careers too but most focus on the niche anison market and a rare few actually attempt to break into the mainstream market.

Your Mileage May Vary on the usage of the term J-pop as it technically isn't a genre and only tells one where the artist is from. Some music fans get irritated by its treatment as a defined genre as it is really just regular pop, but happens to be Japanese. Same goes for J-rock, J-urban, J-metal and any other genre that has the letter j thrown in front of it to describe Japanese artists. Of course, the same can technically also be said of anime or "anison".

Notable J Pop artists:


 * Abingdon Boys School
 * aiko
 * Jin Akanishi
 * AKB48
 * Akeboshi
 * Namie Amuro
 * Anna Tsuchiya
 * Angela
 * Aqua Timez
 * Arashi
 * Asian Kung-Fu Generation
 * ayaka
 * AZU
 * Be For U
 * BENI
 * Boa (It should be noted that she is ethnically Korean.)
 * B'z
 * Crystal Kay
 * DREAMS COME TRUE
 * EXILE
 * Faylan
 * FLOW
 * Gackt
 * GLAY
 * GReeeeN
 * Ayumi Hamasaki
 * Megumi Hayashibara
 * Hello! Project
 * Laura Vanamo's single "Se tunne", is outright made in the style of Hello! Project member Kusumi Koharu's song "Koi kana". Down to pronouncing her Finnish in a way that sounds like Japanese.
 * High And Mighty Color
 * Ken Hirai
 * hitomi
 * I've Sound
 * Johnny's Jimusho has many popular groups featuring artists such as Yamapi (of NEWS), Kamenashi Kazuya (of KAT-TUN), Matsumoto Jun Arashi, Ikuta Toma and Japan's Most Beloved Boyband, SMAP, among many many others.
 * They also branch out into acting and talk shows - being, in many cases, better at acting than at singing.
 * Kanjani 8
 * Tomoko Kawase, front woman of The Brilliant Green. She's also known as Tommy february6 and later Tommy heavenly6.
 * Crystal Kay
 * Kobukuro
 * Koda Kumi, made famous from Final Fantasy X-2. Regarded as the Japanese Britney Spears due to the fact that she usually wears almost nothing but a smile on stage.
 * Actually it was the Cutey Honey that brought her up from one hit-wonder status and "Butterfly" that sealed it.
 * L'Arc~en~Ciel
 * m-flo
 * M.O.V.E.
 * May'n
 * Melocure
 * Mi Chi
 * Miliyah Kato
 * Nana Mizuki is literally the ONLY seiyuu that is actually on a household name basis for her singing career, sad to say. Sales figures and being invited to perform in the Kouhaku Uta Gassen back it up.
 * Mika Nakashima
 * miwa
 * NEWS
 * nobodyknows+
 * Perfume
 * OLIVIA, real name: Olivia Lufkin
 * Orange Range
 * Porno Graffitti
 * Puffy AmiYumi
 * Rie Fu
 * Sambomaster
 * Scandal
 * See-Saw
 * Chiaki Ishikawa
 * Seiko Matsuda (in the '80s)
 * Shota Shimizu
 * SPEED
 * Spontania
 * Sugawara Sayuri
 * Tohoshinki / Dong Bang Shin Ki A Boy Band which originated in Korea before gaining popularity in Japan.
 * T.M.Revolution, though his focus switched to his rock project abingdon boys school for a while, it's shifted back to TMR now.
 * Nami Tamaki
 * Utada Hikaru, made famous in America from the Kingdom Hearts series.
 * UVER World
 * V 6
 * YUI
 * Yuna Ito