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.
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".
The discography for the Japanese band Mr. Children consists of 18 studio albums, 5 compilations albums and 38 singles. They are one of the best selling artists in Japan.
B'z The Best "Pleasure" is the third compilation album by the Japanese rock duo B'z and released in 1998. It includes many of the group's hit singles from 1989 to 1998. With the exception of "Be There", all the songs are #1 hits on the Oricon charts.
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".
"Hadashi no Megami" is the thirteenth single by B'z, released on June 2, 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 #11. It sold over 1,735,000 copies according to Oricon, becoming their 4th best selling single in Japan.
"Don't Leave Me" is the fourteenth single by B'z, released on February 9, 1994. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon chart, selling 800,000 copies in its first week. It sold over 1,444,000 copies according to Oricon. The song won "the best five single award" at the 9th Japan Gold Disc Award.
"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.
"Tsunami" is a song by the Southern All Stars, released as their forty-fourth single on January 26, 2000.
"Chameleon Army" is Pink Lady's tenth single release, and their ninth number 1 hit on the Oricon charts. The single sold approximately 1,250,000 copies, and spent six weeks at the top of the Oricon charts. This was their last consecutive number one hit.
"Sahara" is the first single from Slash's self titled album, featuring Koshi Inaba on the vocals. It was released as the first single of the album in Japan only. It has been awarded "Single of the Year" by the RIAJ.
Best II is the fourth compilation album by Japanese singer Akina Nakamori.
CD'87 is the third greatest hits album by Japanese singer Akina Nakamori. It was released on 1 May 1987 under Warner Pioneer. This greatest hits includes smash-hit single Desire, the second best sold single in 1986 which has rewarded multiple awards.
