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The story
Ayumi Hamasaki, born October 2, 1978, is now 48 years old. Her 2026 tour, “ayumi hamasaki JAPAN TOUR 2026 A -Scapegoat-,” runs from April 8 to November 27 across 30 shows, drawing an estimated 110,000 fans. Add roughly 26,000 more from her year-end countdown shows on December 30-31 at the National Yoyogi Stadium First Gymnasium, and her total attendance for the year comes to around 130,000. The thread was kicked off by placing that number alongside 2026 attendance figures for Nogizaka46 (500,000), NiziU (240,000), and Equal Love (220,000), asking whether it’s a lot or a little — and opinion split over how to judge that scale of attendance for a 48-year-old solo artist.
What people said
NiziU 2026 attendance → 240,000
Equal Love 2026 attendance → 220,000
Born October 2, 1978 — she's 48
ayumi hamasaki JAPAN TOUR 2026 A -Scapegoat- (April 8 – November 27, 2026): 30 shows, 110,000 total
• Year-end countdown live (Dec 30-31, National Yoyogi Stadium First Gymnasium): approx. 26,000 over 2 days
A regular 50-year-old is already falling apart head to toe by now
At that age most artists would've switched from ticket volume to dinner shows charging ¥100,000 a head
That's on par with idol groups considered 'successful' these days
Welcome to the Morning Musume tier, Hamasaki
She's still gorgeous now too 🩷
Apparently it 'hit hard' for a first-timer, lol
Good for them
How many venues is that even
Hello! Project acts play halls, so the average per-show attendance works out to around 3,000
Re: #1
ayumi hamasaki JAPAN TOUR 2026 A -Scapegoat- (April 8 – November 27, 2026): 30 shows, 110,000 total
• Year-end countdown live (Dec 30-31, National Yoyogi Stadium First Gymnasium): approx. 26,000 over 2 days
Checked Pia (the ticket site) and only the most expensive seats are left
Isn't it usually the opposite?
Her popularity's clearly slipping
Well, obviously
Probably just Yumi Matsutoya (Yuming)?
Among female idol singers, before or since, pretty much only Seiko Matsuda comes close
do they think being in a group is some kind of disadvantage?
No solo spinoff has ever actually beaten the group's numbers anyway
Kanna Hashimoto could sell out a one-day Budokan show with a bottle of sake in hand
She'd beat Rev. from DVL's entire year of attendance in a single night
Account ver. | Cannon
2026/10/11 (Sun) 12:23:04.130
She was seriously incredible back in her younger days
Of course she was
At her peak she single-handedly outdid Morning Musume as a social phenomenon
Just look at how many seats the old Morning Musume members could fill now
Namie Amuro could probably pull off an arena tour anytime she wanted too
No she couldn't
Even popular TV comedians can't do it without riding a hit show's popularity
Singing alone won't fill the Budokan
But if Kanna Hashimoto performed dead drunk, that would do it
Obviously she'd call up friends like Minami Hamabe too and throw in a mahjong tournament
Aya Matsuura's popularity has really tanked
A Kanto-area live house is probably her ceiling now
That's not true, I'd totally go
The setlist would be packed with hit singles so it'd be a blast for sure, and all the old-school Ayaya otaku would turn out in force
No doubt there'd be nostalgic tears
Her CD sales topped out at 200,000 copies and she never hit #1 on the Oricon chart
Ayaya topped the 2004 commercial-likability rankings
That's kind of like Kazuhiro Kiyohara — never won a title on the field, but still topped the salary rankings; impressive in its own way
Even Oasis, while still active in 2006, could only fill the Yoyogi First Gymnasium on their Japan visit
Then the 'first time in 16 years' buff kicked in and they sold out two nights at Tokyo Dome instantly
If Ayaya tours again after 13 years away, she could land her first-ever solo Budokan show for the finale
Background and Key Points of the Debate
Ayumi Hamasaki’s 2026 tour “Scapegoat” runs from April 8 to November 27 across 30 shows, drawing a total of roughly 110,000 attendees. Add her December 30-31 countdown shows at the National Yoyogi Stadium First Gymnasium (about 26,000 over two days), and the combined total comes to 130,000 — the number the thread opened by simply placing alongside 2026 figures for Nogizaka46 (500,000), NiziU (240,000), and Equal Love (220,000), asking whether it counts as a lot or a little. However, these are “total attendance” figures spanning very different numbers of shows and venue sizes; as some commenters pointed out, a hall-centered tour like this one averages only around 3,000 attendees per show. That’s what makes it hard to compare a group’s combined attendance against a solo artist’s nationwide tour on the same scale. Opinion in the thread split between two readings of the number: that it’s “unprecedented for a 48-year-old solo artist to sustain this scale nationwide,” versus “compared to her peak, being limited to halls shows a decline in popularity.” Commenters brought up long-running female solo singers like Seiko Matsuda, Namie Amuro, and MISIA as points of comparison.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Ayumi Hamasaki, 48, Drew 130,000 for Her 2026 Live Attendance — Is That a Lot or a Little?“.
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