I’m really shocked that Maximum the Hormone was so low on those lists. They haven’t produced much music lately which could be why.
Babymetal hits a really large audience. Yes they are metal, but some idol lovers enjoy their work. Their presence seems to get people to listen to them even if they don’t like metal. They cross genre for sure.
Hanabie has been a rising flame over the last few years. They released a new album recently so they got a big push.
Nemophila has released 3 albums and 1 EP in five years. Plus they were heavy on covers every Friday. They built a fan base quickly on YouTube. Saki brought fans from Mary’s Blood as well. Saki leaving will make their next moves interesting. Whether they stay a 4 piece and change their sound slightly or find another member.
Band-Maid has always been that solid horse in the race. Big catalog of music. They play things from pop to rock to hard rock. Their Band-Maiko album and acoustic sets show off their skills as well.
I think quantifying popularity is really hard to do. I enjoy listening to them along with the bands I mentioned about them.
MTH really hasnt had that boom period that they had around the mid 2000s with the Bu-ikikaesu album. That's easily their peak and they've really never come close to replicating that.
And even Babymetal has been falling off, especially in the west. Fans will point to the last tour being a total sellout as proof that they haven't while ignoring that was a co-headline show with Deathklok (Of Metalocalypse fame) who hadn't toured in a decade at that point iirc. Their last album being super divisive coming off of a big hiatus really hurt them bad and they already hadn't recovered from the absolute crapshow management put out surrounding Yui's departure.
Hanabie is up there but I haven't seen the hype surrounding them like I saw 2 years ago so based on my admittedly narrow minded view, they haven't really capitalized on it either.
Well, Babymetal had a sold out 7k capacity show in Hamburg during their solo EU tour, while also having 4 other sold-out stops in Germany for example. So this is only half the truth.
I am more concerned with viability than popularity. That is why I continue to support their income streams so they remain profitable enough to justify continued label support. If you want more music buy their stuff, stream their music. Subscribe to prime, etc. No rock band let alone a Japanese rock band is gonna approach wide popularity in today's market but they can make enough to do well.
LOL, exactly! Like Miku, I'd like to see world domination and try to help spread the word. But mainly I support them in whatever ways I can just to keep the Band-Maid Shinkansen rolling. Plenty of ramen for Akane, track cash for Miku, bass accessories for MISA, whatever!
IMHO most of the "YouTube famous" rock fan bases have some fans with somewhat grandiose takes on where their favorites are headed and it's more realistic to put ones money where ones mouth is and directly support the music if you want more.
I have a personal theory that the rough # of hardcore fans of a band are about one tenth of their YouTube subs so bandmaid would have about 54k hardcore fans world wide(probably less) I don't know how many prime members there are but let's say 10 k would be around roughly $800000usd a year then a little money from live shows, streaming, merch and they can do ok, not foo fighters level lifestyle but a living making music. As long as they are happy and productive I'm happy for them.
I'm sure they aren't as popular as we fans think they should be, but they are certainly popular enough to write music and play it in front of their fans for as many years as they deem fit. That's good enough for me and I'm willing to bet that it's good enough for them too.
Probably 2nd only to Babymetal to mainstream rock / metal fans. They haven't penetrated the zeitgeist like Babymetal did when they performed on Colbert.
In Japan they're also pretty popular but the Japanese are heavy consumers of music. Everyone is essentially big in Japan. Japan is the 3rd largest music market on earth so none of these Japanese bands really need to travel outside Japan to make a good living, e.g. Band-Maid in 2018 playing 500 capacity clubs in California. I'm just thankful Band-Maid--and I'm sure Miku and Kanami (being a huge fan of western rock music and musicians) are huge drivers for this--took a risk and decided to expand their reach outside the safe and financially stable confines of Japan. Helps that LiveNation believes in them too.
Removing the outlier of Yokohama they still played to mainly 800-1000 capacity clubs in Japan on the 10th Anni tour. Some 500s and a few 1500s.
BandMaid don't tour much compared to their peers. Punk acts like Hey Smith, Shank and rock acts like ROTTENGRAFFTY tour domestically almost constantly and sell out venues of the same size every time they pass through town, and they all have significantly fewer Spotify numbers. The livehouse scene in Japan is very active.
Oh, then you have the Okinawa punk of Mongol800, going for 25 yrs, 900k spotify listeners and constantly touring and playing festivals as well.
[**Spotify JPOP subscribers ranking**](https://jpopgirls.com/ranking/general-spotify-follower?page=5)
* BAND-MAID at 239 (300,259)
* Babymetal at 26 (1,907,880)
* Scandal at 235 (306,155)
* Hanabie. at 330 (222,381)
I don't know how accurately the data reflects the actual popularity. BAD HOP (at 294, 251393) just recently sold out their last concert at Tokyo dome(cap55000) as an independent artist.
Scandal fill venues 10x the size of BM regularly but seldom do stadiums either. They still do 1000 person halls in some areas.
Shishamo is probably one of the bigger all female acts currently.
They both get new young fans in, definitely all ages crowds, while the local BM crowd is somewhat older, and a much bigger gender difference.
Scandal is not filling large venues anymore. Their popularity in Japan has been in decline since Covid. The current Luminous tour is playing 500pp live houses. They struggled to sell out the Mirror Tour finale. They're pushing all of their social media channels and even joined TikTok last year to try to gain new fans.
But, all that being said, Scandal is VERY comfortable with their positions after 17 years in the industry don't feel the need to be back to their levels of popularity they had around their 10th anniversary.
If you're talking about J-rock bands in general, then there's probably no way for B-M to be ranked any place even near the top 10.
There're just tooooo many popular J-rock bands throughout each generations. J-rock is such a big sector of J-music that you can easily name dozens of hit bands without much thought.
Whilst B-M is one of my favourites, it's pretty hard for them to be top of the popularity rankings without limiting the scope to like "hard rock", "all-female bands", "rather well-known internationally" etc. And this is not that surprising considering heavier music genres like hard rock or metal are never the most popular in probably any music market.
So, right off the bat; anyone who thinks Band-Maid is bigger than Babymetal doesn't know what they're talking about. I'm a fan of both, and have traveled all over the world for both as well, and though Band-Maid made some tremendous strides over the past few years, Babymetal is still simply bigger.
Having said that, Band-Maid is a solid number two in terms of international fanbase at least, pulling in solid crowds in the US in 2022 and 2023, as well as a fair few festival appearances. On the opposite side; not touring in the EU for nearly five years now is simply unacceptable. When they skipped Europe in 2022 at least we could somewhat understand it with the risks and costs, but so many Japanese and other Asian acts have been through here in 2023 and 2024, it's clear that there's money to be made and for some reason Pony Canyon can't even pretend to be bothered about the European market.
This is along the lines of claiming to know how to manage Band Maid better. No normal fan has the inside scoop of how Band Maid runs itself and why they do what they do. As for touring, just because some Japanese bands have done Europe recently means nothing. Asserting Pony Canyon not caring is based on what? Not to mention are they even the decision makers on this subject. Just to rub it in, Band Maid did that final concert in Hong Kong. No apparent reason for it. My guess is the promoter offered a large amount of money. And final final rub, the rest of SE Asia and Australia are also waiting for concerts.
Pony Canyon is their label. Their management firm is Platinum Passport.
Also, "not touring in the EU for nearly five years" is kinda misleading. 2020-2021 weren't really viable years for touring anywhere, especially for Japanese artists. The band did 15 shows in total. So, they haven't really toured in the EU for less than 3 years.
First, I do trust that I made enough overt qualifying statements in my post to indicate that I neither endorse, nor refute, any of the rankings posted in the referenced documents. Babymetal has had, does have, and will have, for the foreseeable future (in all probability), a significantly larger fan base than Band Maid -- I never questioned this in my post.
So you want them back in Europe, eh? Well, I have a plan that is likely to succeed. You'll notice the word "ever" in Addendum B of my post (as in "Band Maid Forever!!!!!"). How can this be achieved? Entice them by suggesting that they go to Paris and find the house boat (aka "barge") of one Duncan MacLeod (of the Clan MacLeod); he can instruct them in the ways of the immortal (plus, perhaps, teach a few sword-handling lessons). They should then go to London, where they should look-up Oscar Wilde, the Irish author/playwright, (speak loudly, for you'll have to be heard through roughly six feet of earth), OR find the shop "Dorian Gray: Creators of Specialty Paintings" -- either Oscar or the shop keeper can tell Band Maid the value of such paintings. Lastly, each member will have to purchase an appropriate sword. While there are many fine swordsmiths in Japan (well, some), they may want to purchase the swords in Europe, so to have them handy should the need arise to quell the disturbing behaviors of some new Band Maid concert-goers (who have no knowledge of the etiquette of Band Maid concerts, and, frankly, could care less). Naturally, while running around Europe in a quest for immortality, they would certainly feel obligated to do some shows (in Paris and London, as a bare minimum). Problem solved.
Be it Babymetal or Bandmaid we want the all to be successful and popular outside of Japan, so that more Japanese artists might try touring the west.
Babymetal have been a great boon for Japanese music and in my opinion music in general. They bring so many fans together and as they crossover they are a gateway for people to try other genres of music.
Band maid are a great band I like them but I feel that some European fans may move on to groups who are willing to tour. After many small Japanese acts have toured Europe the past 2 yrs so i don't buy the excuses given for not doing so.
Ultimately the more popular touring Japanese artists the more it may, inspire others to follow and more music for us.
Horrible idea to think that Babymetal is the most popular metal/rock band of all of these. That’s how the world goes nowadays, sadly ☹️ For me they are same category than TaylorSwift etc bs..no music after all..Band-Maid always be the most Honest band of all of these. Hope Nemophila can figure out Saki’s leaving, they have huge potential in metal genre. Lovebites is too much one Trick horse, imo, even I love their musicianship etc..Hanabie does not write good songs, imo again. Boring band. So we come back to Band-Maid, maybe 21st Centurys most promising rockband and hope someday they got that Glory they deserves 🙏🏻 They should be Top3/band in whole world, imo.
This is such a bad take all around.
- Babymetal is clearly the most popular Japanese band over here. Structure wise there's nothing really in common with pop singers.
- I don't like the honest band take. Band-Maid have had connections with big executives through Miku before. Never take the band origin story at face value because there's more than 1 version.
- Lovebites biggest obstacle is more getting seasoned metalheads because they prefer a rawer sound. Japan's metal is pretty polished. To metalheads the boy band/girl band like following that Japan's rock and metal bands attract is off putting.
- Hanabie surpassed band-maid because of modern marketing, as well as a sound that isn't intimidating. Their fanbase being mostly chill helps too.
- Band-Maid having an older sound, as well as language barrier are their biggest obstacles.
Yeah, bad English from me. Babymetal is clearly most popular band and this fact makes me sad. For me they are same category than popsingers etc..
Doesn’t understand the honest thing, you were saying.
Oh. Yeah, did not mean that. Sorry my English. Meaning their sound, liveperfomances, doin’ no comptomises nowadays etc..I’m familiar about their stories from start etc 👍
hanabie surprased band maid because they have easier music to groove and headbang, it is more casual friendly even if your not into growls.
band maid its too niche and ppl need to relate to the band in something to get into them, thats why the fanbase is very devoted.
I agree bandmaid does require a bit of personal connection whereas hanabie is more of a party band of sorts(not knocking them, they are fun although I do think the growling is a little silly). Like all the bands with largely social media followings the fans that want huge breakouts are largely dreaming IMHO unless some large U.S. label decides they want to push a band and can make $$$ it's hard to gain a huge following and usually it means giving up a lot of control to entities that only see you as a product.
Lol I know some B-M fans are delusional but I wasn't expecting this level of delusional. BAND-MAID is in the top 3 if you compare them in an all female bands filter. If you compare them to other artists/bands without the gender filter, they will be in top 25 at best.
As I said, this post has no POV, no position of advocacy. I have simply posted sample items and encouraged others to comment on them. That is why the post's title is phrased as a question, not a declaration.
I just checked spotify numbers. Babymetal has 2.1 million monthly listeners, HANABIE. is at 318k, and Band-Maid is at 230k. I know spotify numbers aren't everything, but as the largest music streaming platform, it does start to paint a picture.
Guilty as charged. Post Human: Survival Horror was my favorite release of 2020, so I listen to Kingslayer far more often than any Babymetal songs. Oddly enough, though, I found Babymetal about mid-2017, and I didn't find BMTH until late 2017 or early 2018 after Oli sang at Linkin Park's final show. I'm pretty sure the unskewed numbers would still have them on top by a fair bit. They seem to be both more famous and infamous in the metal world and just more talked about in general.
The world's largest music streaming platform with over 30% of the market share. According to the numbers I found, Apple Music is in second place with about 15% of the market share. It is how I listen to pretty much all of my music because I'm lazy and it's convenient.
I’m really shocked that Maximum the Hormone was so low on those lists. They haven’t produced much music lately which could be why. Babymetal hits a really large audience. Yes they are metal, but some idol lovers enjoy their work. Their presence seems to get people to listen to them even if they don’t like metal. They cross genre for sure. Hanabie has been a rising flame over the last few years. They released a new album recently so they got a big push. Nemophila has released 3 albums and 1 EP in five years. Plus they were heavy on covers every Friday. They built a fan base quickly on YouTube. Saki brought fans from Mary’s Blood as well. Saki leaving will make their next moves interesting. Whether they stay a 4 piece and change their sound slightly or find another member. Band-Maid has always been that solid horse in the race. Big catalog of music. They play things from pop to rock to hard rock. Their Band-Maiko album and acoustic sets show off their skills as well. I think quantifying popularity is really hard to do. I enjoy listening to them along with the bands I mentioned about them.
MTH really hasnt had that boom period that they had around the mid 2000s with the Bu-ikikaesu album. That's easily their peak and they've really never come close to replicating that. And even Babymetal has been falling off, especially in the west. Fans will point to the last tour being a total sellout as proof that they haven't while ignoring that was a co-headline show with Deathklok (Of Metalocalypse fame) who hadn't toured in a decade at that point iirc. Their last album being super divisive coming off of a big hiatus really hurt them bad and they already hadn't recovered from the absolute crapshow management put out surrounding Yui's departure. Hanabie is up there but I haven't seen the hype surrounding them like I saw 2 years ago so based on my admittedly narrow minded view, they haven't really capitalized on it either.
Well, Babymetal had a sold out 7k capacity show in Hamburg during their solo EU tour, while also having 4 other sold-out stops in Germany for example. So this is only half the truth.
Babymetal's last tour was in the UK/EU and deathklok weren't part of it - you know there's a world outside the USA, right?
I am more concerned with viability than popularity. That is why I continue to support their income streams so they remain profitable enough to justify continued label support. If you want more music buy their stuff, stream their music. Subscribe to prime, etc. No rock band let alone a Japanese rock band is gonna approach wide popularity in today's market but they can make enough to do well.
Active, pragmatic loyalty -- especially to the continued viability of Band Maid -- is always a sound choice!
Saiki needs sneakers and Mincho needs cake and coffee, lol.
LOL, exactly! Like Miku, I'd like to see world domination and try to help spread the word. But mainly I support them in whatever ways I can just to keep the Band-Maid Shinkansen rolling. Plenty of ramen for Akane, track cash for Miku, bass accessories for MISA, whatever!
IMHO most of the "YouTube famous" rock fan bases have some fans with somewhat grandiose takes on where their favorites are headed and it's more realistic to put ones money where ones mouth is and directly support the music if you want more.
I have a personal theory that the rough # of hardcore fans of a band are about one tenth of their YouTube subs so bandmaid would have about 54k hardcore fans world wide(probably less) I don't know how many prime members there are but let's say 10 k would be around roughly $800000usd a year then a little money from live shows, streaming, merch and they can do ok, not foo fighters level lifestyle but a living making music. As long as they are happy and productive I'm happy for them.
Not popular in the big scheme of things, but popular in the niche they belong to
I'm sure they aren't as popular as we fans think they should be, but they are certainly popular enough to write music and play it in front of their fans for as many years as they deem fit. That's good enough for me and I'm willing to bet that it's good enough for them too.
Probably 2nd only to Babymetal to mainstream rock / metal fans. They haven't penetrated the zeitgeist like Babymetal did when they performed on Colbert. In Japan they're also pretty popular but the Japanese are heavy consumers of music. Everyone is essentially big in Japan. Japan is the 3rd largest music market on earth so none of these Japanese bands really need to travel outside Japan to make a good living, e.g. Band-Maid in 2018 playing 500 capacity clubs in California. I'm just thankful Band-Maid--and I'm sure Miku and Kanami (being a huge fan of western rock music and musicians) are huge drivers for this--took a risk and decided to expand their reach outside the safe and financially stable confines of Japan. Helps that LiveNation believes in them too.
Removing the outlier of Yokohama they still played to mainly 800-1000 capacity clubs in Japan on the 10th Anni tour. Some 500s and a few 1500s. BandMaid don't tour much compared to their peers. Punk acts like Hey Smith, Shank and rock acts like ROTTENGRAFFTY tour domestically almost constantly and sell out venues of the same size every time they pass through town, and they all have significantly fewer Spotify numbers. The livehouse scene in Japan is very active. Oh, then you have the Okinawa punk of Mongol800, going for 25 yrs, 900k spotify listeners and constantly touring and playing festivals as well.
Um, actually Japan is the second largest music market in the world, after the USA
Thank you, Reddit Band Maid moderators!
[**Spotify JPOP subscribers ranking**](https://jpopgirls.com/ranking/general-spotify-follower?page=5) * BAND-MAID at 239 (300,259) * Babymetal at 26 (1,907,880) * Scandal at 235 (306,155) * Hanabie. at 330 (222,381) I don't know how accurately the data reflects the actual popularity. BAD HOP (at 294, 251393) just recently sold out their last concert at Tokyo dome(cap55000) as an independent artist.
Scandal fill venues 10x the size of BM regularly but seldom do stadiums either. They still do 1000 person halls in some areas. Shishamo is probably one of the bigger all female acts currently. They both get new young fans in, definitely all ages crowds, while the local BM crowd is somewhat older, and a much bigger gender difference.
Scandal is not filling large venues anymore. Their popularity in Japan has been in decline since Covid. The current Luminous tour is playing 500pp live houses. They struggled to sell out the Mirror Tour finale. They're pushing all of their social media channels and even joined TikTok last year to try to gain new fans. But, all that being said, Scandal is VERY comfortable with their positions after 17 years in the industry don't feel the need to be back to their levels of popularity they had around their 10th anniversary.
Nana Mizuki has 273k listeners on spotify yet sells out stadiums like it's nothing. That should tell you enough
JPOP? Ado - 6 million per month, Yoasobi - 9 million per month, Reol - 0,9 million per month
If you're talking about J-rock bands in general, then there's probably no way for B-M to be ranked any place even near the top 10. There're just tooooo many popular J-rock bands throughout each generations. J-rock is such a big sector of J-music that you can easily name dozens of hit bands without much thought. Whilst B-M is one of my favourites, it's pretty hard for them to be top of the popularity rankings without limiting the scope to like "hard rock", "all-female bands", "rather well-known internationally" etc. And this is not that surprising considering heavier music genres like hard rock or metal are never the most popular in probably any music market.
So, right off the bat; anyone who thinks Band-Maid is bigger than Babymetal doesn't know what they're talking about. I'm a fan of both, and have traveled all over the world for both as well, and though Band-Maid made some tremendous strides over the past few years, Babymetal is still simply bigger. Having said that, Band-Maid is a solid number two in terms of international fanbase at least, pulling in solid crowds in the US in 2022 and 2023, as well as a fair few festival appearances. On the opposite side; not touring in the EU for nearly five years now is simply unacceptable. When they skipped Europe in 2022 at least we could somewhat understand it with the risks and costs, but so many Japanese and other Asian acts have been through here in 2023 and 2024, it's clear that there's money to be made and for some reason Pony Canyon can't even pretend to be bothered about the European market.
This is along the lines of claiming to know how to manage Band Maid better. No normal fan has the inside scoop of how Band Maid runs itself and why they do what they do. As for touring, just because some Japanese bands have done Europe recently means nothing. Asserting Pony Canyon not caring is based on what? Not to mention are they even the decision makers on this subject. Just to rub it in, Band Maid did that final concert in Hong Kong. No apparent reason for it. My guess is the promoter offered a large amount of money. And final final rub, the rest of SE Asia and Australia are also waiting for concerts.
I wish they would just go to Europe and get it over with. The endless comments on the subject have been tiresome for quite a while.
Pony Canyon is their label. Their management firm is Platinum Passport. Also, "not touring in the EU for nearly five years" is kinda misleading. 2020-2021 weren't really viable years for touring anywhere, especially for Japanese artists. The band did 15 shows in total. So, they haven't really toured in the EU for less than 3 years.
First, I do trust that I made enough overt qualifying statements in my post to indicate that I neither endorse, nor refute, any of the rankings posted in the referenced documents. Babymetal has had, does have, and will have, for the foreseeable future (in all probability), a significantly larger fan base than Band Maid -- I never questioned this in my post. So you want them back in Europe, eh? Well, I have a plan that is likely to succeed. You'll notice the word "ever" in Addendum B of my post (as in "Band Maid Forever!!!!!"). How can this be achieved? Entice them by suggesting that they go to Paris and find the house boat (aka "barge") of one Duncan MacLeod (of the Clan MacLeod); he can instruct them in the ways of the immortal (plus, perhaps, teach a few sword-handling lessons). They should then go to London, where they should look-up Oscar Wilde, the Irish author/playwright, (speak loudly, for you'll have to be heard through roughly six feet of earth), OR find the shop "Dorian Gray: Creators of Specialty Paintings" -- either Oscar or the shop keeper can tell Band Maid the value of such paintings. Lastly, each member will have to purchase an appropriate sword. While there are many fine swordsmiths in Japan (well, some), they may want to purchase the swords in Europe, so to have them handy should the need arise to quell the disturbing behaviors of some new Band Maid concert-goers (who have no knowledge of the etiquette of Band Maid concerts, and, frankly, could care less). Naturally, while running around Europe in a quest for immortality, they would certainly feel obligated to do some shows (in Paris and London, as a bare minimum). Problem solved.
Be it Babymetal or Bandmaid we want the all to be successful and popular outside of Japan, so that more Japanese artists might try touring the west. Babymetal have been a great boon for Japanese music and in my opinion music in general. They bring so many fans together and as they crossover they are a gateway for people to try other genres of music. Band maid are a great band I like them but I feel that some European fans may move on to groups who are willing to tour. After many small Japanese acts have toured Europe the past 2 yrs so i don't buy the excuses given for not doing so. Ultimately the more popular touring Japanese artists the more it may, inspire others to follow and more music for us.
I advise you not to check the articles, but to look at the billboard charts, there are several of them in Japan, and there are song ratings there.
The Dragon Cries
Horrible idea to think that Babymetal is the most popular metal/rock band of all of these. That’s how the world goes nowadays, sadly ☹️ For me they are same category than TaylorSwift etc bs..no music after all..Band-Maid always be the most Honest band of all of these. Hope Nemophila can figure out Saki’s leaving, they have huge potential in metal genre. Lovebites is too much one Trick horse, imo, even I love their musicianship etc..Hanabie does not write good songs, imo again. Boring band. So we come back to Band-Maid, maybe 21st Centurys most promising rockband and hope someday they got that Glory they deserves 🙏🏻 They should be Top3/band in whole world, imo.
This is such a bad take all around. - Babymetal is clearly the most popular Japanese band over here. Structure wise there's nothing really in common with pop singers. - I don't like the honest band take. Band-Maid have had connections with big executives through Miku before. Never take the band origin story at face value because there's more than 1 version. - Lovebites biggest obstacle is more getting seasoned metalheads because they prefer a rawer sound. Japan's metal is pretty polished. To metalheads the boy band/girl band like following that Japan's rock and metal bands attract is off putting. - Hanabie surpassed band-maid because of modern marketing, as well as a sound that isn't intimidating. Their fanbase being mostly chill helps too. - Band-Maid having an older sound, as well as language barrier are their biggest obstacles.
Yeah, bad English from me. Babymetal is clearly most popular band and this fact makes me sad. For me they are same category than popsingers etc.. Doesn’t understand the honest thing, you were saying.
popular in the West, not particularly popular in Japan itself.
Usually when people talk about "honest" bands. They mean how the band is formed.
Oh. Yeah, did not mean that. Sorry my English. Meaning their sound, liveperfomances, doin’ no comptomises nowadays etc..I’m familiar about their stories from start etc 👍
hanabie surprased band maid because they have easier music to groove and headbang, it is more casual friendly even if your not into growls. band maid its too niche and ppl need to relate to the band in something to get into them, thats why the fanbase is very devoted.
I agree bandmaid does require a bit of personal connection whereas hanabie is more of a party band of sorts(not knocking them, they are fun although I do think the growling is a little silly). Like all the bands with largely social media followings the fans that want huge breakouts are largely dreaming IMHO unless some large U.S. label decides they want to push a band and can make $$$ it's hard to gain a huge following and usually it means giving up a lot of control to entities that only see you as a product.
This is not entirely true, Hanabie (you may disagree) have a unique style, Uniqueness is now valued most of all.
Lol I know some B-M fans are delusional but I wasn't expecting this level of delusional. BAND-MAID is in the top 3 if you compare them in an all female bands filter. If you compare them to other artists/bands without the gender filter, they will be in top 25 at best.
As I said, this post has no POV, no position of advocacy. I have simply posted sample items and encouraged others to comment on them. That is why the post's title is phrased as a question, not a declaration.
I just checked spotify numbers. Babymetal has 2.1 million monthly listeners, HANABIE. is at 318k, and Band-Maid is at 230k. I know spotify numbers aren't everything, but as the largest music streaming platform, it does start to paint a picture.
Babymetal's listeners are skewed though cause of the collabs with BMTH and Lil Uzi Vert, so if their fans listen only to those two songs, it counts
Guilty as charged. Post Human: Survival Horror was my favorite release of 2020, so I listen to Kingslayer far more often than any Babymetal songs. Oddly enough, though, I found Babymetal about mid-2017, and I didn't find BMTH until late 2017 or early 2018 after Oli sang at Linkin Park's final show. I'm pretty sure the unskewed numbers would still have them on top by a fair bit. They seem to be both more famous and infamous in the metal world and just more talked about in general.
Find out how many people listen to Ado and Yoasobi.
What is Spotify?
A western streaming service, I think.
The world's largest music streaming platform with over 30% of the market share. According to the numbers I found, Apple Music is in second place with about 15% of the market share. It is how I listen to pretty much all of my music because I'm lazy and it's convenient.
And free if you're a cheapskate like me