JAV Sales Report - R18 - 2021 Yearly Edition

Hey everyone, welcome to the R18 yearly sales report. First off, sorry that it's coming out entirely too late. Anyway, R18 had some limited data up earlier this year, it's not quite a top 100 like I'm able to do with DMM data but it's better than nothing. If anything I can at least keep this at a manageable level for consumption. I always find that when I've got much more data to analyze I tend to write a lot more, so at least I can keep this post a bit more manageable. It's unfortunate this is coming out after R18 announced it's shuttering its doors but better late than never. With that said let's jump right into it.

Eimi Fukada in first is par for the course here. We've seen Eimi be extremely popular over the many months and it should come as no surprise to anyone. Maybe one might have guessed any of them top five could have been first but regardless, Eimi in first place makes a lot of sense. I've touted her as someone who could reasonably make a hall of fame, maybe after a bit more time in the industry, but even now it's hard to argue against her. It's not much of a secret that Eimi had significant surgery done before she broke out as one of the top actresses and it's interesting to see just how effective that was for her. I'm very curious to see if others start going the same way given that there are major success cases like her. Eimi also releases a ton of content every year and I think it's also interesting to see how she wins by quantity over quality. You can compare her to the second place actress in the top videos below and see for yourself. That's kind of the difference with a freelance and an exclusive: the exclusive will be a lot more consistent but the freelancer has a lot better opportunities to really shine, and more than that I think the freelancer can just put out so much more content that it's very easy to watch more of them. I would say Eimi's probably at her peak but considering she's remaining in the top spot it's a pretty lengthy peak, and I don't really see her going anywhere anytime soon.

Yua Mikami in second place is also not much of a surprise to us; if it wasn't going to be Eimi I would have guessed Yua. There's some data below that definitely would have made you think Yua was first place, and Yua has really been one of the top actresses for several years now. It amazes me how Yua can continue to be an exclusive actress for S1 and still top the charts like she does. S1 has always been known for having a huge roster and you tend to see actresses come and go, whether that's them dropping down the list or them leaving the studio or even retiring. Certainly there are others that have been there longer than Yua (even Tsukasa Aoi in 8th has been there about a year and a half longer) but Yua has consistently been their best actress. I'm very curious to see just how long Yua can maintain this on so many levels. She's 29 now and maybe 30 is a good age to retire. If not there's always her 10 year anniversary which is in about two and a half years. At the same time Yua is probably able to negotiate for a high salary and there's a good chance she should keep going until she's no longer their top actress (which at this rate might just be after she retires).

Hitomi dropping down to 10th place is not unexpected after how her last year went. In fact, I'm actually somewhat surprised she's as high as 10th place. Based on the data I have I would have expected her to place 12th, but R18's data is obviously more reliable than mine is. She's actually been steadily dropping down the ranks for a while now, from 2nd in 2019 to 6th last year to 10th this year. I've said it plenty of times but Oppai was really selling her short. They got away with super fans buying her videos because of how much they liked her physically rather than the merits of the videos themselves. So many of her videos are so bland and even though I'm one of those super fans I can accept how she had been declining since her peak all the way back in 2015. With her retired now I expect her to keep dropping until she's more of a fond memory than anything, though I think she's also so unique that a video or two popping up on top lists wouldn't surprise me, especially if Oppai starts releasing tons of compilations with her.

Ichika Matsumoto is someone I think people recognize now, especially if you read my sales reports. She's been around since late 2019 but she's become one of the absolute top tier actresses in the industry. If you want numbers she's been at the top of the lists basically every month, it's not even worth counting to be sure because it's that obvious. If you want anecdotal, even I've seen her more than once and she's as flat as a pancake. Her only being 7th I think is more the result of her taking some time to blossom into who she is today. Remember, we're talking about 2021 data, so we're looking back almost as far as two years now. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if she showed up as first place at some point, though I guess that's kind of moot now because R18 is going away. At the same time I think it's worth recognizing that she's much different than almost everyone else on the list and I think that really paints a picture about how amazing she has to be. I can look at Hitomi and recognize that her tits are selling themselves, or Kurea and recognize her butt is selling itself, but Ichika has to work hard to see the success she has.

Kana Momonogi isn't someone I would have expected on this list. We've seen her show up on our lists a few times but it was always a more shocking moment than it was expected like many other actresses here. I think that's a testament to some of the more traditionally Japanese favoured actresses becoming more popular in the west. You look at a list like this and you see a lot of common trends: curvy butt, huge tits, 10 year veterans, enhanced, even gal, but not really on the more traditional Japanese look Kana brings. It's nice to see the variety Kana brings and especially the variety an exclusive like her brings. The list only has four exclusives in total, and among them we have Yua Mikami and Hitomi... Anyway, Kana is a surprisingly varied actress and I think it's part of her charm. Even for an actress that isn't traditionally someone I would be into, I can recognize the hype around her and encourage people who aren't titty fiends like I am to give her a chance (of course, if you're not already watching her).

First off, don't get me started on there only being 29 entries. For whatever reason R18 listed it as a top 30 and then forgot entry 30. With that said let's continue on.

Looking at the most popular actresses on this side of things we've got eight Yua Mikami entries, four Rara Anzai entries, three Kana Momonogi entries, and three Hitomi entries. That's not a totally unexpected result to be honest though it's interesting to see that some of the top actresses didn't actually have top releases. If you look at the four other actresses in the top 15 who have no entries here they're all freelancers. It really goes to show industry differences with freelancers and really the viewing habit of people. As much as people like someone like Eimi or Yui, I think they simply don't have the top tier quality releases you get from a studio like S1, but maybe it's more like their success is spread across a huge number of releases. I think especially for freelancers with high outputs (like Yui has been in the past) you get a large backlog of videos from previous years to watch too, so everyone can be very spread out about what they're watching. Even I often skip watching the most recent release of an actress to watch a better video from their past, and this is especially true of major freelancers like Kurea Hasumi.

Moving onto top studios, we've got S1 with a whopping 13 entries on the list. It's nearly half of the list and goes to show how dominant they are. When even compilations of former stars there (Kirara Asuka) are making the rounds it's a pretty clear indication. I think the thing with S1 is that they have so many actresses that are actually really fantastic. Rosters for other studios often have one or two anchor actresses, like Hitomi at Oppai with all three of their entries or Kana at IP with all three of their entries. Even if you fan out a bit at IP, who else is considered top tier there? Maybe Momo Sakura and Minami Aizawa? It's just not the same as S1's roster. You could look at S1 and wonder if their top tier talent is Saika Kawakita or Yua Mikami or Ria Yamate or Rara Anzai or any number of other big names they have like Konan Koyoi, Aka Asuka, Aika Yumeno, Tsukasa Aoi, Riri Nanatsumori, miru... the list goes on.

I can't say that I was expecting the first place title to be what it is but I also can't say that I'm surprised about it. It's a compilation of some of Kaho Shibuya's works and it has some really great videos among it. I think there are two simple facts of the matter here: for one, it's a compilation with some good content in it, so the bang for your buck is there. That lines up a lot with the six other S1 compilations that are on the list. Secondly, I think the cover does wonders, it's quite nice and can really tempt a guy. Some of the covers aren't much of anything (like Saika's in 27th place) but a cover like Kaho's here is incredible (as are most of her covers in general).

Rara Anzai is a very interesting actress because she's surprisingly not as popular as you would expect. I think the stereotype of her being a weak performer really resonates with people and they tend to avoid her. That's why almost all her top releases this year are all compilations. It's not worth it to pay top dollar for a pretty mediocre release, but paying a reasonable amount for a compilation is far more worth it. OFJE-288 was as low as $2.16 for a 7-day rental, and it's only four releases so you could absolutely manage it in a week period. One of the things with Rara specifically is that she's more of a looker not a shower, which is to say that you enjoy looking at her in videos not seeing what she has to offer. Even if her compilations end up with boring videos, you don't really mind it that much. As much as I am someone who wants an interesting video, Rara's release is going to have a weak performance so the merits of the video aren't adding as much.

When I was looking at what compilation videos would make the top list this was not the one I had in mind. Kaho Shibuya compilation? Sure, she's great and has some amazing tits. Yua Mikami and Rara Anzai compilations? Of course, we see those all the time. Nitro's mask series compilation? Not my first guess for sure. It definitely is an interesting series and something I would recommend people try at least once. The videos are all premised on having extremely busty women who put on that mask to hide their identity. The whole goal of the series is to objectify them and treat them as nothing more than a piece of meat. It's like any hardcore video but with this extra side of degradation. It's surprisingly not as bad as it seems and is a concept we've been seeing more and more of in recent months and years. It's definitely come outside of the niche that Nitro had it painted as though other studios don't necessarily objectify the women like Nitro does. There's all sorts of big name actresses in the compilation, including Shiori Tsukada, Chitose Saegusa, and Nina Nishimura. I'm sure for a lot of fans the price is right on this one, especially since without the face or a narrative, the actresses themselves aren't as important. I mean sure, I'll enjoy Shiori, Chitose, or Nina as I do, but actresses people don't recognize like Miyuki Matsushita, Mahoro Aino, or Rion Nishikawa (who is displayed prominently on the front) can be quite enjoyable too in this kind of content.

I never really thought about Rena Momozono being that popular in the west but it's hard to argue with that cover. I've seen this video as well as another from SOD with the exact same plot and it's a pretty good one. It's actually the kind of concept I talk about a lot, mashing a theme together with a narrative to take the best of both worlds. The theme is simple in some cosplay stuff, and you get simple things like the bunny suit or even a schoolgirl outfit, all with the exposed boobs angle. Then the narrative is the school fair, and they intertwine the theme into the narrative claiming she's doing it to help the school fair succeed. You could have one or the other and make a perfectly reasonable video but coupling the pair together is better than the sum of its parts. Don't get me wrong about Rena, she's cute and busty, a deadly combination, but that cover is doing wonders for her popularity here in more ways than one.

Just like the Rena video above, Maria's cover is doing wonders for her. Maria was an actress I was into when she first redebuted as her proportions were much more reasonable. As she's gone and done more and more work, her proportions are a bit too much for me. That being said, you're literally not going to find an ass like that anywhere else in JAV and it shows in her popularity. I think especially in the west where enhancements like that are more common, Maria stands to be a bigger force to be reckoned with. Even though this video is directed by Samoari (and we all know how little some people here like him), the focus on Maria and the themes certainly pop for people. Watching her go prowl at night, that huge ass and big tits, of course it's going to be a popular one abroad.

Okay now this one is super interesting to make a top list. Obviously off the bat you notice that it's an American actress in a JAV. It's not that uncommon for them to do it, that's what Plush as a studio is all about. However, this one stars a fairly well known western actress in Gabbie Carter. Even I know that she's popular in America, and that's saying something since I watch almost no western porn. I suppose Gabbie having big tits (34DDD) is why she's someone I know, but the point still stands that she is actually fairly popular. I would guess that a lot of fans saw it and were interested in it just for the novelty. It's the same as when I saw other big names like Siri or Angela White in JAV - the video won't be that good but I'll watch it nonetheless. I'm sure it's tough to get actually good talent from America but the results speak for themselves with this one.

Even though Saika didn't make the top 15 names this year that's 100% going to change next year. She's been super dominant in 2022 and her comeback has easily been one of the most successful I can think of. We've got just her redebut video above and I do absolutely recall it selling extremely well last year. We've been seeing a lot of redebuts in recent times, and while some are probably pandemic fueled I'm still excited as a fan to see my favourites come back, like Minori Hatsune and Chitose Saegusa for example. I would definitely not be sad to see more come back, especially Hitomi, and maybe Saika's success will inspire a few to follow suit, though I have a feeling most of our pandemic redebuts are over and done with now. Instead you'll just have to settle for another dozen Sika videos selling out every release.

Apologies for getting this out quite late but I guess better late than never. It's a weird feeling doing this with R18 crashing and burning now but it's also a bit of a send off I guess. I've been following JAV for a long time and R18 has been a bit of a blessing for me. Just having a site in English, even if it's not always perfect, is so useful. I've spent literally countless hours on their website and it's a shame to see it go. It's also a shame to see the big western retailer leave the scene. Everyone knows me as a bit of a data hoarder and I enjoyed seeing the differences between the English and Japanese markets for the same content. We've historically seen quite a few differences, particularly with Japan catering more to newer actresses whereas the west caring more about their favourites. It's even been interesting seeing names like Hitomi fall down the list (much to my chagrin). This will almost certainly be the last time I post anything about R18 but my sales reports will still keep going and we should be getting a 2022 yearly DMM one in the not too distant future. Until next time!