B'z are a Japanese rock duo, consisting of guitarist, composer and producer Takahiro "Tak" Matsumoto and vocalist and lyricist Koshi Inaba, known for their energetic hard rock tracks and pop rock ballads. B'z is one of the best-selling music artists in the world and the best-selling in their native Japan, having released 49 consecutive No. 1 singles, 25 No. 1 albums, 3 No. 1 EPs on the Oricon music charts and sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
J-pop, natively also known simply as pops, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in traditional Japanese music, but significantly in 1960s pop and rock music, such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys, which led to Japanese rock bands such as Happy End fusing rock with Japanese music in the early 1970s. J-pop was further defined by new wave and crossover fusion acts of the late 1970s such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Southern All Stars, then Eurobeat in the early 1990s, namely Namie Amuro.
Mai Kuraki is a Japanese pop and R&B singer-songwriter and record producer. After releasing her US debut single "Baby I Like" in 1999, Kuraki signed with Giza Studio and released her Japanese debut single "Love, Day After Tomorrow" in 1999. In 2000, she released her debut album, Delicious Way, which debuted at number-one and sold over 2.2 million copies in its first week. The album has spawned four top-three singles, "Love, Day After Tomorrow", "Stay by My Side", "Secret of My Heart", and "Never Gonna Give You Up". Eventually, the album sold over 3.5 million copies nationwide and became the best-selling album in Japan in 2000, and has been the ninth best-selling album in Japan of all-time.
Arashi is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15, 1999, in Honolulu, Hawaii, and made their debut CD on November 3, 1999. The group was initially signed to Pony Canyon and released one studio album and six singles—beginning with their 1999 eponymous debut single before moving to the Johnny's subsidiary label J Storm in 2001, which was initially set up for their succeeding releases. While their debut single sold close to a million copies, the group took a mixture of pop and alternate/contemporary approach to its music which attracted core followers, but subsequently faced commercially slow sales.
GLAY is a Japanese rock band, formed in Hakodate in 1988. Glay primarily composes songs in the rock and pop genres, but they have also arranged songs using elements from a wide variety of genres, including progressive rock, punk, electronic, R&B, folk, gospel, reggae, and ska. Originally a visual kei band, the group slowly shifted to less dramatic attire through the years. As of 2008, Glay had sold an estimated 51 million records; 28 million singles and 23 million albums, making them one of the top ten best-selling artists of all time in Japan.
Namie Amuro is a Japanese former recording artist, producer, songwriter, dancer, model, actress and entrepreneur who was active between 1992 and 2018. A leading figure of the Japanese entertainment industry since the early 1990s, Amuro is known for breaking the youthful idol stereotype of J-Pop, changing the fashion trends and lifestyle of women in Japan, her experimentation across music styles, and for her visual imagery in music videos and live performances. Due to her career longevity, resilience, professionalism, efforts behind-the-scenes in the music industry, and her way of life, she is a pop culture icon in Japan and Asia. She has been referred to as "Diva of Heisei Era" and the "Queen of Japanese Pop", and has been recognized as having the influence and career impact domestically equivalent to artists such as Janet Jackson and Madonna in Western music and pop culture.
Koshi Inaba is a Japanese vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He is best known as the singer and lyricist of the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan. He has also had a successful solo career, with five studio albums and five singles topping the Japanese music charts. He collaborated with Slash on single "Sahara" which was released in 2009. In 2017, he released a collaborative album, Chubby Groove, with Stevie Salas under the name "Inaba/Salas".
Shazna is a Japanese visual kei rock band originally active from 1993 to 2000. Originally having a strong gothic rock influence, the band's sound greatly shifted to a more new wave direction by 1996. At their peak, they were considered one of "the big four of visual kei" alongside La'cryma Christi, Fanatic Crisis and Malice Mizer. Their 1998 major label debut album Gold Sun and Silver Moon reached the number two position on the Oricon chart, sold over a million copies and was named "Rock Album of the Year" at the Japan Gold Disc Awards. In 2006, Shazna reunited, though after releasing an album and a single they disbanded once again in 2009. In 2017, Shazna officially reunited again for their 20th anniversary.
KAT-TUN is a Japanese boy band formed under Johnny & Associates (Johnny's) in 2001. The group's name was originally an acronym based on the first letter of each member's family name: Kazuya Kamenashi, Jin Akanishi, Junnosuke Taguchi, Koki Tanaka, Tatsuya Ueda, and Yuichi Nakamaru. Their debut on March 22, 2006 was marked by a tripartite release of a CD single, album and music DVD on their exclusive record label J-One Records. Since then, all of their single, album and music DVD releases have debuted at number one on the Oricon music and DVD charts.
"Lady Navigation" is the eighth single by B'z, released on March 27, 1991. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon chart. The single was re-released in 2003, and re-entered at #6. This song sold over 1,172,000 copies, becoming their first single to sell over one million copies, according to Oricon. It also charted at #7 in the 1991 yearly charts, becoming their first yearly top 10. The song won "the best five single award" at the 6th Japan Gold Disc Award.
Alone is the ninth single by B'z, released on October 10, 1991. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon chart. The single was re-released in 2003, and re-entered at #8. It sold over 1,127,000 copies according to Oricon. It was used as the drama Hotel Woman's theme song. The song was the 10th best selling single of 1991 and the 56th best selling single of 1992, making their only single to chart for two years in the yearly charts.
Blowin' is the tenth single by B'z, released on May 27, 1992. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon chart, selling over 500,000 copies in its first week. The single was re-released in 2003, and re-entered at #9. It sold over 1,763,000 copies according to Oricon, becoming the 41st best selling single of all time in Japan. The song won "the best five single award" at the 7th Japan Gold Disc Award.
Ai no mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi dake wo Kizutsukenai is a song by B'z, released as their twelfth single, on March 17, 1993. This song is one of B'z many number one singles in Oricon chart. The single was re-released in 2003, and re-entered at #5. The single sold over two-million copies according to Oricon. According to Oricon, the song was their best-selling single in Japan. The song won "the best five single award" at the 8th Japan Gold Disc Award. It was released in the best-of album B'z The Best "Pleasure".
"Love Me, I Love You" is the seventeenth single by B'z, released on July 7, 1995. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon chart. It sold over 1,393,000 copies according to Oricon, giving their 10th million selling single. B'z became the first artist in Japan to have 10 million sellers consecutively. It was used as the drama Gehai Hiiragi Mata Saburō's theme song.
"Love Phantom" is the eighteenth single by B'z, released on October 11, 1995. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon chart. The song was used as ending theme for The X-Files during the height of its popularity in Japan. The single sold over 950,000 copies within one week. It sold over 1,862,000 copies according to Oricon. The song won "the best five single award" at the 10th Japan Gold Disc Award.
"Home" is the twenty-fifth single by B'z, released on July 8, 1998. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon weekly chart. Japanese rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel released three singles in the same day. Although L'Arc-en-Ciel's three singles—"Honey", "Shinshoku " and "Kasō"—passed the first week sales of 500,000 copies each and were ranked at number two, three and four respectively, the single "Home" managed to debut at the number-one position. The single sold over 961,000 copies according to Oricon. While they won "the artist of the year award", the song was elected as one of "songs of the year" at the 13th Japan Gold Disc Award.
"Innocent World" is the fifth single released by Mr. Children on June 1, 1994.
"Tomorrow Never Knows" is the sixth single released by Mr. Children on November 10, 1994. The single sold 2.766 million copies and is the eighth-highest-selling single in Japan in the Oricon history.
"Tsunami" is a song by the Southern All Stars, released as their forty-fourth single on January 26, 2000.
"Tada Nakitaku Naru no" is the 28th single by Japanese entertainer Miho Nakayama. Written by Yurie Kokubu, Nakayama, and Masaki Iwamoto, the single was released on February 9, 1994, by King Records.
