The discography of Japanese-American R&B and pop singer Hikaru Utada consists of eleven studio albums, four compilation albums, eleven video albums and numerous singles and promotional singles. Utada began as a musician in the early 1990s as a member of U3, a family unit made up of her, her mother Junko Utada, also known as 1970s enka singer Keiko Fuji, and her father, musical producer Teruzane Utada. U3 released their debut album Star in 1993, with the hope to debut in America. In 1996, the group was rebranded as Cubic U, an R&B project focusing on Hikaru Utada, resulting in the English language album Precious in 1998 with record label Toshiba EMI.
"This Is Love" is Hikaru Utada's first Japanese digital single. It was released on May 31, 2006 as a promotional single for her fourth Japanese studio album. "This Is Love" was tied-in as the CM song for a Nissin cup noodle campaign and the opening theme for an anime "Freedom," which was also tied into the Nippon campaign. The digital single reached number one in virtually every online music store in Japan prior to the ULTRA BLUE album's release, including the most used store in Japan, iTunes Japan, as well as OnGen, among others. Utada herself is quoted to have said that this song is about expressing that "Love is like a mix of extremes: anxiety and peace."
The discography of Mika Nakashima includes 11 studio albums, 7 compilation albums, 45 singles and 20 video albums. These have all been released through Sony Music Entertainment Japan.
"Chu-Lip" is Ai Otsuka's 14th single under the avex trax label. It is also her first single released in 2007.
The discography of Japanese-American musician Yuna Ito consists of three studio albums, one compilation album and nineteen singles. Her debut album, Heart, was released in 2007 after six singles, including one of the two theme songs for the film Nana, "Endless Story" (2005), which also featured Ito in her acting debut, as well as "Precious" (2006), the theme song of the film Limit of Love: Umizaru. Both of these songs were very commercially successful, becoming certified by the RIAJ.
The discography of Ayaka consists of six studio albums, two compilation albums, a cover album and numerous singles, released through Warner between 2006 and 2009, and through Ayaka's independent label, A Station, from 2012 onwards.
"Eternally" is a song by Japanese musician Hikaru Utada, from their 2001 album Distance. It was re-arranged in 2008 as "Eternally (Drama Mix)" for use in the Maki Horikita starring Fuji TV drama Innocent Love. It was released as a digital single on October 31, 2008, and eventually released onto CD in March 2009, on an EMI compilation album I: Zutto, Zutto, Aishiteru (i(アイ)～ずっと、ずっと、愛してる～).
Hilcrhyme is a Japanese two member hip-hop group. The band's name is a pun on the Japanese pronunciation of hillclimb and the word rhyme. They are best known for their 2009 hit song "Shunkashūtō", which has been certified for 1,000,000 cellphone digital downloads and 1,000,000 ringtone downloads separately. The group was named the New Artist of the Year at the 24th Japan Gold Disc Awards.
SoulJa is a Japanese hip-hop musician and songwriter best known for his collaborations with singer Thelma Aoyama, "Koko ni Iru yo" and "Soba ni Iru ne" – the latter of which was the former Guinness World Records holder for the best selling digital single of all-time in Japan.
Lil'B is a Japanese female pop duo, consisting of singer Mie and rapper Aila. They debuted in 2008 with "Orange," the 15th ending theme song for the anime Bleach. They are best known for their song "Kimi ni Utatta Love Song," which topped the RIAJ's monthly ringtone chart in 2008. They are also well known for their single "Tsunaida Te", which was the 3rd ending theme song for the anime Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
To Love is the second studio album by Japanese recording artist Kana Nishino. It was released on June 23, 2010, by SME Records. Beginning sometime in 2009, the album's production was handled by several music producers, such as Jeff Miyahara, Giorgio Cancemi, Daniel Sherman, Mats Lie Skåre, ViVi, Andreas Levander, among others. It also features a guest appearance from Japanese hip-hop and reggae musician Minmi. Nishino contributed towards the album as the executive songwriter. to LOVE is primarily a J-pop album with numerous elements of dance-pop, pop rock, R&B, electropop, adult contemporary, and pop ballads.
"Alright!!" is a song by Japanese recording artist Superfly. It is her first single that was exclusively released digitally, rather than being a promotional single from one of her other singles or albums that was released through digital means. The song itself, made popular and originally only known by its "Na-Nana" hook, was used as the theme song for the Fuji TV drama BOSS. A ringtone version of "Alright!!" was initially released on May 6, 2009, and the full song was released to the iTunes Store and the Mora stores on June 3, 2009. "Alright!!" was subsequently released as the first track on the Box Emotions album three months later.
"Jet Coaster Love" is the third Japanese single of South Korean girl group Kara. The single was originally set to be released on March 23, 2011, but following the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan, the physical single was rescheduled to April 6, 2011. In order to help out the areas affected by the disaster, the group had decided to donate all proceeds from the sales of this single, both physical and digital, to relief efforts. It eventually became the group's first single to reach #1 on Oricon Daily and Weekly charts.
The discography of Japanese musical act Superfly consists of seven studio albums, four compilation albums, three extended plays, five video albums and thirty-four singles. Superfly began as a duo in 2003 by vocalist Shiho Ochi and guitarist Koichi Tabo; signing with Warner Music Japan in 2007. Tabo left the band in 2007 just before the release of their single "I Spy I Spy", finding it difficult to work as both the act's songwriter and guitarist. However, Tabo remained attached to Superfly, composing and producing songs for the unit until Superfly's single "Ai o Karada ni Fukikonde" (2014) and Superfly's fifth studio album White (2015), where Ochi collaborated with a range of songwriters instead.
"Ai o Komete Hanataba o" is a song by Japanese pop-rock act Superfly. Used as Edison no Haha's theme song, "Ai o Komete Hanataba o" was released as the band's fourth single on February 27, 2008. The song was Superfly's break-through single, breaking into the Oricon physical singles chart's top 20. As of 2011, it is Superfly's most successful single, being certified as a million ringtone download, triple platinum as a cellphone download, and single platinum for digital sales.
The discography of Monkey Majik consists of thirteen studio albums, five compilation albums and numerous singles and digital downloads. The band's releases were originally self-released in Sendai, after which they were signed to independent label and management Under Horse Records, and released material through there between 2004 and 2005. In 2005, Monkey Majik were signed to major label Avex Entertainment, and continue to release under the Binyl Records sub-label.
The discography of Tokyo Jihen consists of five studio albums, three compilation albums, one regular release extended play and three vinyl exclusive extended plays and 13 video releases, released through Toshiba EMI, EMI Music Japan and Universal between 2004 and 2013.
The discography of Japanese pop singer Kana Nishino consists of seven studio albums, six compilation albums, thirty-four singles and ten video albums. Nishino debuted in 2008 under Sony Music Japan, and gained national recognition with the singles "Tōkutemo" and "Kimi ni Aitaku Naru Kara" (2009). Nishino has released some of the most digitally successful songs in Japan: "Motto..." (2009), "Dear..." (2009), "Best Friend" (2010), "Aitakute Aitakute" (2010), "If" (2010) and "Kimi tte" (2010), all of which were certified million by the RIAJ.
Japanese collective unit E-girls have released five studio albums, one greatest hits compilation album, three live DVDs, 39 music videos, and 18 singles. E-girls are a unit composed of three sub-groups: Dream, Happiness and Flower, and three original members. Additionally, the band also incorporates two other units; Rabbits and Bunnies, who are yet-to-debut groups and serve under the management LDH, managed by Exile Hiro. They debuted with their single "Celebration!", which generated moderate success in Japan. Follow-up releases managed to achieve more notability, but their single "Follow Me!", became their first single to gain a certification by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ)—receiving a double platinum award.
Thank You, Love is the third studio album by Japanese singer and songwriter Kana Nishino. It was released on June 22, 2011. Nishino acted as the album's primary lyricist, as she had on all of her preceding albums. Thank you, Love was created with the concept of a "warm album" and reflects Nishino's desire to create a work that includes positive elements. Thank you, Love marked new lyrical directions for Nishino: while LOVE one. and to LOVE were solely centered on songs about romance, this work is unique in that it expresses things other than that.
