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 the name for a form of popular music 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.
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".
Japanese rock duo B'z has released 21 studio albums, 12 compilation albums, eight extended plays (EP), 57 singles and 19 live albums. With more than 82 million sales in Japan, the duo is the best-selling artist in Japan and with 100 million sales one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
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.
"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.
Negai is the sixteenth single by B'z, released on May 31, 1995. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon chart. It sold over 1,498,000 copies according to Oricon.
"Real Thing Shakes" is the twentieth single by B'z, released on May 15, 1996. This song is one of the band's many number one singles in the Oricon chart. This is the only B'z single that was not produced by Matsumoto. It sold over 1,140,000 copies according to Oricon. It was used as the theme song for the drama Oretachi ni Ki o Tsukero..
"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.
"Kon'ya Tsuki no Mieru Oka ni" is the twenty-seventh single by B'z, released on February 9, 2000. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon chart, and sold over a millions copies, with 1,129,000 copies sold. It was used as the main theme for the TV drama Beautiful Life.
"Juice" is the twenty-ninth single by B'z, released on July 12, 2000. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles on the Oricon chart. Although sales aren't very high like their previous single, it is well known among fans being usually played live. It was also often used as a tie up in TV.
"Ring" is the thirtieth single by B'z, released on October 4, 2000. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon charts. It was the drama Asu o Dakishimete's theme song. The single were less successful, charting only at #37 in the Oricon 2000 yearly Charts, with 546,000 copies sold in 7 weeks of chartrun. It became also their first single since Itoshii Hitoyo Good Night... to sell less than 600,000 copies.
"It's Showtime!!" is the thirty-fourth single by B'z, released on March 26, 2003. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon charts.
"Yasei no Energy" is the thirty-fifth single by B'z, released on July 16, 2003. This song is one of B'z's many number-one singles in Oricon charts.
"Banzai" is the thirty-sixth single by B'z, released on May 5, 2004. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon charts.
"Shōdō" is the fortieth single by B'z, released on January 25, 2006. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon charts. The title track was used as the seventeenth opening theme of Case Closed.
"Eien no Tsubasa" is the forty-third single by B'z, released on May 9, 2007. It reached number-one on the weekly Oricon Singles Chart, one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon charts.
"Super Love Song" is the forty-fourth single by B'z, released on October 3, 2007. The song peaked at number one on the Oricon Charts, and is B'z 40th consecutive number one single, with 180,650 sales. The following week it dropped to #3. The B-side "Friction" was featured on the racing games Burnout Dominator and Burnout Paradise.
Magic is the seventeenth studio album by the Japanese rock duo B'z, released on November 18, 2009. A limited edition was released featuring a bonus DVD with the video "Magical Backstage Tour 2009".
