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.
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.
Akina Nakamori is a Japanese singer and actress. She is one of the most popular and top selling artists in Japan. Akina achieved national recognition when she won the 1981 season of the talent show Star Tanjō!. Her debut single "Slow Motion" was released to moderate success, peaking at number thirty on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. However, Nakamori's popularity increased with the release of her follow-up single, "Shōjo A", which peaked at number five on the Oricon charts and sold over 390,000 copies. Her second album Variation became her first number-one on the Oricon Weekly Albums Chart, staying in that position for three weeks. She made her acting debut in 1985 with an appearance in the Japanese romance movie Ai, Tabidachi. After an extended hiatus from 2010 to 2014, Akina released two compilation album, All Time Best: Original and All Time Best: Utahime Cover, both of which were commercially successful. As of 2011, Akina has sold over 25.3 million records and was named the third best-selling female Japanese idol singer of all-time.
Exile stylized as (EXILE) is a 19-member Japanese boy band. The leader of the group is Hiro, who debuted as a member of Zoo under For Life Music, but Exile have released their singles and albums under Avex Group's label Rhythm Zone. Hiro and Avex's president Max Matsuura came from the same high school. In 2003, the six original members of Exile founded the management and entertainment company LDH which has debuted many successful groups and soloists ever since. Exile is the representative group of the company.
Drive: Glay Complete Best is the second "greatest hits" album by Japanese pop/rock band Glay. It is composed by some of Glay's most popular singles and album tracks from their debut in 1994 to 2000. The two discs each contain hits from albums Speed Pop to Heavy Gauge as well as various singles. The album peaked at #1 at Oricon charts and sold 2,637,420 according to the charts. The album was certified "Double Million" by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).
Speed Pop is the second album by Japanese rock band Glay. It is the band's major label debut album, was released on March 3, 1995 and peaked at #8 at Oricon charts, with 320,150 copies sold.
Best Fiction is the third greatest hits album by Japanese recording artist Namie Amuro, and the final greatest hits release under her Avex Trax, her record company since 1995. The release follows her two previous greatest hits albums, 181920 (1998) and Love Enhanced Single Collection (2002). The compilation was released as a stand-alone CD and a CD packaging including music videos on a DVD. The album includes two new tracks; "Sexy Girl" and "Do Me More", and spawned an extended play 60s 70s 80s.
All the Best! 1999–2009 is the third greatest hits album by Japanese pop boy band Arashi. The album was released on August 19, 2009 in Japan under their record label J Storm in two editions, a limited 3CD version and a regular 2CD version. The album debuted at number-one on the Oricon album weekly chart, selling 753,430 copies. Thirteen days after the release of All the Best! 1999–2009 the album sold over a million copies. As of September 22, 2009, All the Best! 1999–2009 had overtaken Supermarket Fantasy to claim the title of best-selling album of the year in Japan. On December 18, 2009, Oricon officially ranked All the Best! 1999–2009 as the bestselling album in Japan for 2009, with over 1.43 million copies sold.
Arisa III: Look is the third studio album by Japanese recording artist Arisa Mizuki, released through Nippon Columbia on December 24, 1994. It is predominately a pop and dance music album that features songs written and produced by an array of famous Japanese musicians, including Anri, Yasuharu Konishi, Keizō Nakanishi, Takao Konishi, Chika Ueda, and Tetsuya Komuro. Arisa III: Look is Mizuki's first studio album in over two years.
392 is the second studio album and Japanese release by the South Korean rock band CNBlue. The album is the last indie release of the band in Japan, before the group move to Warner Music Japan. The album was released on September 1, 2011.
"Flower Power" is the sixth Japanese single released by South Korean girl group Girls' Generation. The single was released on November 14, 2012, via digital download on iTunes Japan, with a limited physical release on November 21, 2012. It serves as the third single from their second Japanese studio album, Girls & Peace (2012). Despite limited release, "Flower Power" sold 29,000 copies in its first week, peaking at number five on the Oricon Singles Chart; the single also reached number six on the Billboard Japan Hot 100.
Girls Forever is the sixth studio album and third Japanese release of the South Korean girl group Kara. It was released on November 14, 2012, in four different editions.
Eighth Wonder is the eighth studio album by Japanese music group AAA, released on September 18, 2013. The album contains five singles that were previously released —"Niji", "Miss you/Hohoemi No Saku Basho", "Party It Up", "Love Is In The Air" and "Koi Oto to Amazora"— all of which made the top 10 on the Oricon weekly singles chart.
5x20 All the Best!! 1999–2019 is the fifth greatest hits album by Japanese boy band Arashi. It was released through J Storm on June 26, 2019. The album debuted at the top spot of the Oricon Weekly Albums chart, selling 1,304,251 copies in its first week of release in Japan. It spent the most weeks at number one of any album on the Oricon Albums Chart in 2019, with four, and was both the best-selling album of 2019 in Japan, as well as worldwide, with 3.3 million copies sold, eventually becoming the world's best-selling album of the year for 2019.
Leo-Nine is the fifth studio album by Japanese singer LiSA. It was released on October 14, 2020, through Sacra Music and Sony Music Japan. Leo-Nine marks the singer's first full-length project in over three years since Little Devil Parade (2017). Like Little Devil Parade, Leo-Nine features a wide range of contribution from composers and producers, including long-time collaborators Pablo, Ryo Eguchi, Koichiro Takahashi, and Shota Horie. The album sold over 66,000 copies in its first week, reaching the number one spot on both Oricon Albums Chart and Billboard Japan's Hot Albums chart. Along with "Homura" debuting at number one on the Japan Hot 100, LiSA became the first artist ever to debut atop the Billboard Japan's charts simultaneously. The album has since received a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).
