This paper presents a data-driven approach applied to the long term prediction of daily time series in the Neural Forecasting Competition. The proposal comprises the use of adaptive fuzzy rule-based systems in a top-down modeling framework. Therefore, daily samples are aggregated to build weekly time series, and consequently, model optimization is performed in a top-down framework, thus reducing the forecast horizon from 56 to 8 steps ahead. Two different disaggregation procedures are evaluated: the historical and daily top-down approaches. Data pre-processing and input selection are carried out prior to the model adjustment. The prediction results are validated using multiple time series, as well as rolling origin evaluations with model re-calibration, and the results are compared with those obtained using daily models, allowing us to analyze the effectiveness of the top-down approach for longer forecast horizons. © 2010 International Institute of Forecasters.