The Japan Times has recently began publishing its year end pieces on the current Japanese music industry. The first of these pieces comes from Patrick St. Michel. His pick for success of the year is Namie Amuro. Back in June, he reviewed her new album, “_genic”, for esteemed American music blog Pitchfork.

In his piece for the Japanese newspaper, Patrick starts by reliving the period a decade ago when Namie was a flop. Her sales were a fraction of what they were previously and she was being overshadowed by newer female soloists on the scene, such as Ayumi Hamasaki and Koda Kumi. Namie was regarded as a leftover relic from the 1990s.

In recent years, she was reclaimed the spotlight. Patrick views 2015 as the year where Namie solidified her position as the Queen of JPop. Her rivals of a decade ago are now experiencing the failure Namie did back then, making things all the more sweet for Namie.

See what else Patrick thought of Namie’s successful year and the downfall of her rivals here.

I recently finished my corresponding piece for The Japan Times. It will be published soon and I will bring it to the readers here as soon as it is available. Also, we here at Arama! Japan are currently planning our own year end wrap up. We will bring you more details on those plans soon!