Voice Actress Popularity Ranking [Updated]

May 9, 2009 4:20 AM

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A Negima fan blogger surveyed the popularity of Japanese voice actresses by Google Trends. The popularities were quantified according to how frequently a given actress was searched on Google from January till May 2009. The scores are standardized assuming the popularity of Tomatsu Haruka as 1.0.

*1, 6.20 Hirano Aya
*2, 5.70 Mizuki Nana
*3, 2.32 Tamura Yukari
*4, 2.24 Chihara Minori
*5, 2.12 Sakamoto Maaya
*6, 1.94 Nakajima Megumi
*7, 1.60 Ikezawa Haruna
*7, 1.60 Kugimiya Rie
*9, 1.49 Horie Yui
10, 1.48 Inoue Marina

11, 1.44 Kobayashi Yuu
11, 1.44 Tanaka Rie
13, 1.12 Noto Mamiko
14, 1.11 Koshimizu Ami
14, 1.11 Shintani Ryoko
16. 1.07 Itou Shizuka
17, 1.04 Kitamura Eri
17, 1.04 Goto Yuko
17, 1.04 Sato Rina
20, 1.00 Asumi Kana
20, 1.00 Tomatsu Haruka

Below 1.0

Source: Catmania blog

Update
Voice Newtype magazine carried out a regular vote on the most popular voice actor/actress. The ranking and the numbers of votes are as follows:

Voice Actress
*1, 541 Hirano Aya
*2, 451 Mizuki Nana
*3, 313 Kugimiya Rie
*4, 270 Tamura Yukari
*5, 257 Tomatsu Haruka
*6, 227 Chihara Minori
*7, 223 Horie Yui
*8, 211 Paku Romi
*9, 186 Inoue Marina
10, 173 Saiga Mitsuki

Voice Actor
*1, 728 Kamiya Hiroshi
*2, 483 Ono Daisuke
*3, 476 Sugita Tomokazu
*4, 262 Nakamura Yuichi
*5, 259 Suzumura Kenichi
*6, 241 Fukuyama Jun
*7, 230 Yoshino Hiroyuki
*8, 228 Sakurai Takahiro
*9, 221 Miyano Mamoru
10, 216 Suzuki Tatsuhisa

Source: Scan of Voice Newtype

myanimelistllcAug 12, 2016 9:55 AM

May 9, 2009 4:29 AM

zzzfdfdsfsdfafs

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Nov 2007

2010

Aya Hirano? *facepalm*
It isn't just MAL, I see.

Anyway, this is just females. I'm sure someone like Fukuyama Jun might have beat her.

May 9, 2009 4:35 AM

Yata-sama

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Dec 2008

160

Nana on 2, Yukarin on 3, Minorin on 4, Hochan on 9, yay.
Rie has same popularity as unknown for me (and probably for majority people) Haruna? ROTFL

May 9, 2009 4:37 AM

Sonja

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Jul 2008

1068

... Aya Hirano ._____. Why she is so popular ?

dtshyk said:

*2, 5.70 Mizuki Nana
10, 1.48 Inoue Marina
11, 1.44 Kobayashi Yuu
13, 1.12 Noto Mamiko

Nice ! ~~

May 9, 2009 4:37 AM

Carp

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dtshyk said:
*1, 6.20 Hirano Aya

Of course...

May 9, 2009 4:44 AM

kuroshiroi

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dtshyk said:
The scores are standardized assuming the popularity of Tomatsu Haruka as 1.0.

That's an awesome standard!

May 9, 2009 4:45 AM

yunadestined

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Sep 2008

654

Eh? I'm rather baffled as to Hirano Aya topping that. Would've expected Kugimiya Rie to be ranked higher too and Tanaka Rie at 11?! What?!

"It's because you exist.. That I'm here right now.."

May 9, 2009 4:46 AM

tehnominator

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Jun 2008

2785

Oh, it's quite easy to see why Hirano is number one. Or why any one of those are in the top. It's the characters she plays, not her voice acting talent.

People get swept away by her Haruhi, her Konata, and her Misa.

Think about it. Those three characters have been like... dominating anime. At least Misa was important and got exposure what with her being an important character in Death Note even if she isn't the most liked character in the anime. Anyway.

Right, so fans cling to the voices of their most beloved characters. Doesn't matter whether the seiyuu in question has range or talent. Not saying Hirano doesn't, her voice suits some of the things she does. I've said it before, when she's good, she's good. It's too bad she's almost nearly always bad with her other roles. She did manage to surprise me with one emotionally ranging performance in White Album.

So back to that list, all the seiyuu listed there have played some important mega-character before or are known for their quirks or cuteness. Notice how the seiyuu who play older characters are like, practically not listed?

And Hirano is, I suppose, cute. So she's an attractive woman. Look at all those women in the top lists. Are any of them unappealing to look at? How many of them are trying to look cute/are cute? It's sort of sad now that these people are working in an industry where your voice should take priority, but their looks and public persona has more of an impact. Have you seen English voice actors? Most look like they crawled out of their parents' basements.

May 9, 2009 5:01 AM

yunadestined

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Sep 2008

654

Good point, personally though I only really liked her voice acting in Zettai Karen Children and not too many people even know about the series. Misa.. meh.. Konata.. meh.. Haruhi.. meh.

"It's because you exist.. That I'm here right now.."

May 9, 2009 5:07 AM

#10

Somnia

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Oct 2008

470

Yukari!!

Nice to see Maaya getting some major recognition, even though she's been relatively quiet these days than how big she used to be. Must be because she's Shiki.

May 9, 2009 5:09 AM

#11

Scud

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Jul 2007

5259

Ohashi Ayuru should be top.

May 9, 2009 5:15 AM

#12

kuroshiroi

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Scud said:
Ohashi Ayuru should be top.

Your mom should be on top, of me!

May 9, 2009 5:16 AM

#13

Scud

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5259

kuroshiroi said:

Scud said:
Ohashi Ayuru should be top.

Your mom should be on top, of me!

You can have her after I'm done with her.

May 9, 2009 5:17 AM

#14

minimiau

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Aug 2007

3760

Hirano Aya is o popular...

May 9, 2009 5:19 AM

#15

kuroshiroi

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Scud said:

kuroshiroi said:

Scud said:
Ohashi Ayuru should be top.

Your mom should be on top, of me!

You can have her after I'm done with her.

Well played sir.

May 9, 2009 5:20 AM

#16

tehnominator

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Jun 2008

2785

yunadestined said:
Misa.. meh.. Konata.. meh.. Haruhi.. meh.

You "meh"-ed Haruhi and Konata *hands you helmet* Just in case... attack may be imminent *salutes*

But you gotta admit--those voices were pretty all right. It's been about, what, three years or so since I last heard a word out of Haruhi's mouth and yet I still remember her voice clearly in my head. And I am not a Haruhiist or anything. And it's pretty tough digging out Konata's voice from your head. So I would say well done to Hirano for that much.

May 9, 2009 5:32 AM

#17

Zeinzu-sama

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Jun 2008

201

its Hirano's other roles that fail deliver...

May 9, 2009 5:35 AM

#18

rlxme

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Sep 2008

412

No surprise at seeing Hirano at the top.

I still don't like her though.

Chicken + Dictionary + Dictionary = CMC. Eeyup.

May 9, 2009 5:37 AM

#19

Edgey

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Jun 2008

121

Oh look, Hirano Aya is at the top, what a surprise >_>

Awesome Rie and Yui are in the top 10.

May 9, 2009 5:41 AM

#20

Yuuh

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Sep 2008

155

Why the hell is someone who did only three characters [one of them known for having an annoying voice] 6th place while Hayashibara Megumi is 24th AND NAKAHARA MAI IS 37TH? She has also passed Kugimiya Rie, Horie Yui and Inoue Marina!

I haven't heard her voice, though. But, really, sometimes japaneses scary me.

May 9, 2009 5:45 AM

#21

Takuya-kun

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Oct 2008

258

Amaya-no-Hime said:
Aya Hirano? *facepalm*
It isn't just MAL, I see.

Anyway, this is just females. I'm sure someone like Fukuyama Jun might have beat her.

as the title says, this is a popularity contest

May 9, 2009 5:54 AM

#22

qmeister

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Apr 2009

*sigh* Miyuki Sawashiro is so far down.

May 9, 2009 6:02 AM

#23

makio-kun

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Mar 2009

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dtshyk said:

*1, 6.20 Hirano Aya

why she's in 1st rank ? i think sakamoto maaya or mizuki nana are better than her XP

dtshyk said:

*2, 5.70 Mizuki Nana

like this and

dthsyk said:

*5, 2.12 Sakamoto Maaya
*6, 1.94 Nakajima Megumi

this

are better than Hirano Aya XP
why she's always popular?? i hate her

May 9, 2009 6:13 AM

#24

Zeinzu-sama

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Jun 2008

201

Dear MALians,

BAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

love,
Aya =)

May 9, 2009 6:14 AM

#25

tehnominator

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Yuuh said:
Why the hell is someone who did only three characters [one of them known for having an annoying voice] 6th place while Hayashibara Megumi is 24th AND NAKAHARA MAI IS 37TH? She has also passed Kugimiya Rie, Horie Yui and Inoue Marina!

I haven't heard her voice, though. But, really, sometimes japaneses scary me.

Nakahara Mai is seriously like a vet at this point, but again, it's her roles. She's in so many anime that don't have the popularity that the other anime have. The more popular the anime, the more exposure the seiyuu have. Even if they only ever had like three roles in their entire career, they garner a gigantic fanbase as opposed to the seiyuu who has been in hundreds of roles but those have been hundreds of moderately to totally unknown roles.

May 9, 2009 6:15 AM

#26

Cookie-chan-

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May 2008

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Ueda-chan is in the Below 1.0 rating
;____;

Music is from the soul~ ♥

May 9, 2009 6:17 AM

#27

tehnominator

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Cookie-chan said:
Ueda-chan is in the Below 1.0 rating
;____;

:( Yeah, that one hurt.

May 9, 2009 6:17 AM

#28

Krayt

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Sep 2007

411

/fanboy mode
Yay, Aya-chama, go, go, go!
/fanboy mode off.

Good to see Nana, Minorin, Yukarin, Nakajima Megumi and Sakamoto Maaya in the top 10.

And why so much hate for Aya? There are other Seiyuu who 'dominated' the last few years. Like Kugimiya Rie. *looks at almost every Anime with a Tsundere as lead*

May 9, 2009 6:18 AM

#29

Nayah

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Feb 2008

3962

This goes to show that Aya Hirano and popularity goes hand in hand.

May 9, 2009 6:18 AM

#30

Iriya

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Sep 2007

2876

Guys, careful, if you hurt Aya-chan's feelings, she might go buy up more stores.

May 9, 2009 6:21 AM

#31

tehnominator

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Krayt said:
And why so much hate for Aya? There are other Seiyuu who 'dominated' the last few years. Like Kugimiya Rie. *looks at almost every Anime with a Tsundere as lead*

Oh yeah, Kugimiya is "getting old" now though, so fresh blood! If anything, people just don't like Hirano because they think she's capitalising on her moe appeal to fanboys. Like I said, she's a good-looking woman, she's young, and she's voiced two female characters who nearly all otaku want to get married to: Haruhi and Konata. So in a way, she's a goddess of voice acting. For now.

She has to start getting some range, because when someone younger and cuter or more popular comes out, she'll just be there getting typecasted for the rest of her career. If she even gets hired at all in the future.

I see good things happening, for example, for the seiyuu of the characters of K-ON! They'll shoot up in popularity soon enough, especially Mio's seiyuu who is already garnering legions for her tsundere characterisation of Mio and her singing voice.

May 9, 2009 6:26 AM

#32

Ailisa

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Feb 2009

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it's no surprise there that Aya is first on the list...

May 9, 2009 6:30 AM

#33

Krayt

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tehnominator said:

Oh yeah, Kugimiya is "getting old" now though, so fresh blood! If anything, people just don't like Hirano because they think she's capitalising on her moe appeal to fanboys. Like I said, she's a good-looking woman, she's young, and she's voiced two female characters who nearly all otaku want to get married to: Haruhi and Konata. So in a way, she's a goddess of voice acting. For now.

She has to start getting some range, because when someone younger and cuter or more popular comes out, she'll just be there getting typecasted for the rest of her career. If she even gets hired at all in the future.

I see good things happening, for example, for the seiyuu of the characters of K-ON! They'll shoot up in popularity soon enough, especially Mio's seiyuu who is already garnering legions for her tsundere characterisation of Mio and her singing voice.

Yeah, and I think the same guys who are complaining about Aya's popularity now are part of this Hikasa Yoko Legion. For whatever reason. I do like her as Mio but I think her voice isn't outstanding. Neither is Mio as a character herself. She isn't special, she's just a combination of the most successful moe-characteristics.

Considering Aya's popularity: She has her own TV-Show. She's a pretty successful musician. Those are all factors influencing her popularity among people. She isn't only a Seiyuu, at the moment she's more like an Idol/Seiyuu combination.

May 9, 2009 6:35 AM

#34

DarkBlue

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Jan 2008

809

I don't think this is really a popularity ranking. As an example, when I google some voice actor it it often because I'm watching an anime featuring that VA but I'm not sure where I recognize the voice from. I have never google'd Ueda Kana even tough she is my favorite VA, but that is just because her voice is so easy to recognize. Same thing goes for Horie Yui and Kugimiya Rie etc.
I know that I google'd Hirano Aya just a few days ago, because I once again had forgotten where I recognized voice from. Also did it once more because of a picture of Konata wearing her bikini "Aya-style".

So in conclusion, I often google voice actors because I'm not interested in them enough to remember them. And those I really like I don't need to google. I'm sure this isn't true for a lot of people, but I still think it is a big source of misinformation.

DarkBlueMay 9, 2009 6:40 AM

May 9, 2009 6:53 AM

#35

tehnominator

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Krayt said:

Yeah, and I think the same guys who are complaining about Aya's popularity now are part of this Hikasa Yoko Legion. For whatever reason. I do like her as Mio but I think her voice isn't outstanding. Neither is Mio as a character herself. She isn't special, she's just a combination of the most successful moe-characteristics.

Considering Aya's popularity: She has her own TV-Show. She's a pretty successful musician. Those are all factors influencing her popularity among people. She isn't only a Seiyuu, at the moment she's more like an Idol/Seiyuu combination.

I completely agree. I happen though to quite like Mio. I just notice as the episodes continue, they are purposefully making her more and more moe, and I'm starting to wonder if this is a good thing or not. If she turns out to be a complete incompetent who can't walk from one side of the room to the other without spazzing out/tripping/bursting into tears, I think I'll get extremely annoyed. They are turning a smart, cute character into a moe blob if they don't watch out. I thought this anime was about Yui anyway?

That is also true about Hirano. She's a celebrity now with her idol qualities. At least one thing I'll give her is that she works hard, even if her voice isn't the best one out there and even if she isn't as talented as the others.

May 9, 2009 7:23 AM

#36

removed-user

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Megumi is more old-school for seiyuu. While her body of work speaks for itself, this is based off google trends.

But yea, not really any surprises up top... though I really did expect Kugimiya Rie to be higher.

May 9, 2009 7:25 AM

#37

Antanaru

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tehnominator said:
Have you seen English voice actors? Most look like they crawled out of their parents' basements.

And their looks are still better than voice acting ;]

Nothing much to say about this rank. It's google popularity, not how good they are. In that case Kugumiya Sux should be below bottom of the list ;]

Ii tenki desu ne...

May 9, 2009 7:40 AM

#38

Talon

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Feb 2007

1028

isn't it that less people know hirano aya and then google for her to know more? :S

Donate to my awesomeness! | "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

May 9, 2009 7:42 AM

#39

hirahira

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I'm so glad that Maaya Sakamoto is so high =)

May 9, 2009 8:00 AM

#40

Dragon_Empress

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Antanaru said:

tehnominator said:
Have you seen English voice actors? Most look like they crawled out of their parents' basements.

And their looks are still better than voice acting ;]

Haha, QFT :D

May 9, 2009 8:05 AM

#41

mitamaking

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May 2007

2130

24TH!!!

Japan fails

As for Aya, she was Haruhi, Konota, Misa, Mei, and Shizu, I like her work(and am now tempted to ask her if she wants to be a voice actress if I meet her on the street)

mitamakingMay 9, 2009 8:09 AM

My anime list

May 9, 2009 8:56 AM

#42

Westlo

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Oct 2007

971

Because people searching google for Nakajima Megumi are doing so for mainly for her music and not her voice acting which this fails to take into account. Also being attached to the biggest tv series of 2008 helps... I bet Aya Endo wouldn't have made this list if she didn't voice Sheryl in Macross Frontier for instance.. Nakajima Megumi gets a double bump from Frontier because she not only voiced a character she was singing as well and has been featured on some of the best selling anime singles and osts released.

May 9, 2009 8:56 AM

#43

StarPebblit

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May 2008

2310

Why IS Hirano Aya so popular? It doesn't make any sense at all...*sigh*

I'm surprised someone like Romi Paku isn't on that list. Well, atleast Rie Kugimiya and Maaya Sakamoto are on there..

May 9, 2009 8:59 AM

#44

Westlo

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Oct 2007

971

KayChan4U said:
Why IS Hirano Aya so popular? It doesn't make any sense at all...*sigh*

No it makes a lot of sense, she's voiced some of the most popular characters of recent years and is pushing herself in public a lot more than anyone on the list not named Mizuki Nana. She has a tv show for herself ffs.. this list is based on amount of hits not the quality of the voice actors...

And while Hirano is nowhere near the best I see she gets a lot of blind hate because she's popular and has so many fanboys. I don't give a shit about her popularity and her annoying fanbase, I thought her Haruhi was a tour de force performance before I even knew who did it.

May 9, 2009 9:16 AM

#45

tehnominator

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Jun 2008

2785

Westlo said:
I thought her Haruhi was a tour de force performance before I even knew who did it.

Exactly that.

And her Konata, well, who doesn't remember what Konata sounds like. If she left such a grand impression on people based on those roles, it qualifies her as a seiyuu. Maybe not the best, but one who can, with some experience, become better.

I don't mind if she is putting herself out there for a fanbase. Being an idol in Japan is tough and fiercely competitive. She's only got a few more years for her before she becomes obsolete to the public eye and has to settle down to working as a seiyuu. If she continues that, of course.

May 9, 2009 9:20 AM

#46

sunshinesan

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Sep 2008

427

I find Aya's voice slightly annoying, also her singing voice isn't the best. However, I can see how she is ultra popular though. Just glad Kugimiya Rie is somewhat up there.

May 9, 2009 9:37 AM

#47

tehnominator

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Jun 2008

2785

mitamaking said:

Japan fails

:P Damn right.

May 9, 2009 9:45 AM

#48

zzzfdfdsfsdfafs

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Nov 2007

2010

I love Aya as Haruhi and Konata but the rest of her roles grate on my nerves.

May 9, 2009 9:57 AM

#49

YuaLaurant

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Oct 2008

462

Although i don't like her much, but the fact that Hirano is the most popular is just nothing surprise.
Yukari tan no.3... hmm, it's ok. But Mamiko chan no.13 ?

May 9, 2009 9:58 AM

#50

kisami

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Feb 2008

5383

hahaha it is too bad i don't know any of them or this list might mean something to me.

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