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.
SMAP was a Japanese boy band, composed of Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori. The group was created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Johnny & Associates, originally as a six-piece with Katsuyuki Mori, until his departure from the band in 1996. The name stands for "Sports Music Assemble People". After making their debut in 1991, the group took the Japanese entertainment industry by storm, becoming one of the most successful boy bands in Asia. The group is often referred to as a "national treasure" and a "fortune and property of the country" in Japan.
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 best-selling album in Japan for 2009, with over 1.43 million copies sold.
"Promise" is a song recorded by Japanese singer-songwriter Kohmi Hirose, from her seventh studio album, Rhapsody. It was released on November 27, 1997 by Victor Entertainment as the album's second single. It is Hirose's second best-single, behind "Romance no Kamisama", selling over 600,000 copies. Promise was featured in commercials for the Alpen company's 1998 winter campaign.
"Romance no Kamisama" is a song recorded by Japanese singer-songwriter Kohmi Hirose, from her third studio album, Success Story. It was released on December 1, 1993 by Victor Entertainment as the album's second single. It is Hirose's most successful single to date, selling two million copies in Japan alone. Romance no Kamisama was also the first of Hirose's songs to be featured by the Alpen company, a Japanese winter sports store, in their winter advertisements, resulting in the Japanese public affectionately naming Hirose the "Queen of Winter".
Super Best Records: 15th Celebration is the second greatest hits album by Japanese singer Misia. It was released to commemorate Misia's 15th anniversary as a recording artist by Ariola Japan on February 20, 2013, one day shy of her actual 15th anniversary. The three-disc set was released in Blu-spec CD2 format and each disc was remastered by a different music engineer. The compilation includes four reworked tracks, the singles "Koi wa Owaranai Zutto", "Deepness" and "Back in Love Again", and the new song "Holiday", which was released as a promotional single for the album.
Sakanaction is the sixth studio album by Japanese band Sakanaction, released on March 13, 2013. Primarily created in recording sessions that began in September 2012 and lasted approximately four months, the album was recorded at the home of band's vocalist and songwriter, Ichiro Yamaguchi. In order to reach an audience, the band challenged themselves by creating music for commercial tie-ups and television dramas. Prior to the album, the band released three singles: two acting as theme songs for Japanese television dramas and another used in a commercial campaign for the design school Mode Gakuen.
"Love Love Love" is a song recorded by Japanese band Dreams Come True for their eighth studio album, Love Unlimited ∞. It was released as the album's lead single by Epic/Sony Records on July 24, 1995. It is the theme song to the TBS drama series Aishiteiru to Itte Kure. The single's B-side, "Arashi ga Kuru", was also featured throughout the series' twelve episodes. With over two million copies sold, "Love Love Love" is the tenth best-selling Japanese single of all time and remains the band's most successful single.
"Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" is a song recorded by Japanese boy band SMAP. The Noriyuki Makihara composed song was released as a single in 2003 and sold more than 2.57 million copies, becoming the third best-selling single in Japan in Oricon history. Along with Hikaru Utada's "Colors", it was one of the only two singles to sell over a million copies in 2003, a year that saw CD sales declining due to the Japanese economic slump.
The discography of Japanese boy band SMAP consists of 21 studio albums, 5 compilation albums, 23 video albums, and numerous singles. Sports Music Assemble People, abbreviated as SMAP, was formed in 1988 by a group of backup dancers for the boy band Hikaru Genji of Johnny & Associates. The band's initial releases performed poorly on the charts, but the following ones started gaining attention, aided by the group's appearance on their own variety show, SMAP×SMAP. Meanwhile Kimi Iro Omoi single was used in anime Akazukin Chacha broadcast in Japan only. In worldwide broadcast, Kimi Iro Omoi single was replaced by Shoko Sawada. However, that single can only available on MP3 Store, then download between TV Size and Full version. Their 2003 single "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" sold over two million copies in Japan, becoming one of the best-selling singles in the country. In August 2016, the group announced that they will disband by the year end. Since 2003, all of the band's releases have peaked at number one on the Oricon Albums or Singles Chart. The group has sold over 38,5 million records in Japan.
Japonism is the fourteenth studio album of the Japanese idol group Arashi. The album was released on October 21, 2015 under their record label J Storm in three editions: a first press/limited edition, a Yoitoko limited edition, and a regular edition. The first press edition comes with an 84-page photo lyrics booklet and bonus DVD with the music video and making-of for the album's lead track, "Kokoro no Sora". The Yoitoko limited edition comes with a 32-page lyrics booklet, and the regular edition comes with a 36-page lyrics booklet. The album sold over 820,000 copies in its first week and topped the Oricon charts for two consecutive weeks. With more than 1,000,000 copies sold, the album was certified for Million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). On December 23, 2015, Oricon ranked Japonism as the best-selling album of 2015 in Japan. On February 27, 2016, Japonism was awarded Album of the Year in the 2016 Japan Gold Disc Awards.
"Moment" is a song by Japanese band SMAP. Released as a single on August 1, 2012, the song was used as the theme song for the Tokyo Broadcasting System Television broadcast of the 2012 Summer Olympics, for which SMAP member Masahiro Nakai was the main sportscaster. It was written by the band Sakanaction's vocalist and songwriter Ichiro Yamaguchi, while the single's B-side "Te o Tsunagō" was written by producer Kenichi Maeyamada. The single was commercially successful, reaching number one on Oricon's singles chart, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan.
Are You Happy? is the fifteenth studio album of the Japanese idol group Arashi. The album was released on October 26, 2016 under their record label J Storm in two editions: a first press/limited edition and a regular edition. The regular edition comes with a 36-page lyrics booklet and the limited edition comes with an 80-page photo lyrics and a bonus DVD with the music video and making-of for "Don't You Get It?". The album sold over 636,000 copies in its first week and topped the Oricon charts. With more than 720,000 copies sold, the album was certified for Triple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). It was released digitally on February 7, 2020.
SMAP 25 Years is a greatest hits album by Japanese boy band SMAP and the last one overall before their disbandment. It was released on 21 December 2016. It reached number-one on the weekly Oricon Albums Chart with 667,802 copies sold. It also reached number-one on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart. It went on to sell over 1,174,000 copies and was the second best-selling album in Japan of 2017.
She: Best of Best is the seventh compilation album by Japanese singer Shizuka Kudo. It was released on December 16, 1996, through Pony Canyon. The first disc includes songs from Kudo's Tsugutoshi Gotō-produced era albums, while the second disc features songs from Kudo's self-produced records. Disc 2 contains a new song written specifically for the album, entitled "Hot Winter".
"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.
"Hitomi o Tojite" is a song recorded by Japanese singer Ken Hirai, from his sixth studio album Sentimentalovers. It was released by Defstar Records as the album's second single on April 28, 2004. It is the theme song to the film Crying Out Love in the Center of the World. "Hitomi o Tojite" was the most successful song of 2004, topping the year-end Oricon Singles Chart with over 800,000 units sold. Hirai performed the song on his fourth appearance on Kōhaku Uta Gassen on December 31, 2004. "Hitomi o Tojite" was one of the eleven recipients of the Japan Gold Disc Award for Song of the Year. Although the song was considered for contention at the 46th Japan Record Awards, Hirai declined the Japan Record Award nomination.
