Ayumi Hamasaki is a Japanese singer-songwriter and former actress. Also called Ayu by her fans, Hamasaki has been dubbed the "Empress of Pop" due to her popularity and widespread influence in Japan. Born and raised in Fukuoka, she moved to Tokyo at fourteen to pursue a career in entertainment. In 1998, under the tutelage of Avex CEO Max Matsuura, she released a string of modestly selling singles that concluded with her 1999 debut album A Song for XX, which debuted atop the Oricon charts and stayed there for four weeks in a row, establishing her popularity in Japan. Because of her constantly changing image and tight control over her artistry, Hamasaki has become a "trendsetter" and an "icon of fashion" in Asia; her popularity and influence in music and fashion extend to China, Singapore and Taiwan. She has appeared in or lent her songs to many advertisements and television commercials. Though she originally supported this, a 2001 event in which Avex forced her to put her greatest hits album in direct competition with Hikaru Utada's Distance made Hamasaki reconsider and eventually oppose her status as an Avex "product". Since her 1998 debut with the single "Poker Face", Hamasaki has sold around 50 million records in Japan, making her one of Japan's best-selling singers. Her singles have set records: she is the Japanese female artist with the highest singles sales, most number-one singles, and most million-seller singles. She is also the only Japanese artist to have a number-one single every year for ten years straight and the first to have her first eight studio albums top the Oricon. (via Wikipedia)