Hikaru Utada
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Hikaru Utada |
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Utada Hikaru (宇多田ヒカル, born January 19 1983), also known by her fan-nickname of Hikki (ヒッキー, Hikkī), is an American-born Japanese pop singer-songwriter.
She is one of the most successful pop singers in the Japanese music industry. With the release of her seven studio albums, including one compilation and two all-English, 21 singles and several VHS/DVD releases, she has sold a combined estimated total in Japan of some 32,000,000 records in Japan as of 2006. Her worldwide total of albums, singles and VHS/DVDs to date is well past 40,000,000 units. Her success has been, in large part, because of her fluent bilingual skills in English and Japanese, having been raised in New York City and Tokyo. Utada became an unprecedented icon in Japan after her debut, First Love, began shattering a number of records in 1999, and has shown extremely consistent and strong sales of albums, singles and chart presence since. She has won the Golden Disk (Japan's most-esteemed musical award) award for twelve of her singles since 2000, a record for a solo or group artist. In addition, she has won the Golden Disk for all but one of her studio albums.
In 2003, HMV Japan announced that Utada Hikaru is the #24 Japanese pop artist in its survey of "Top 100 Japanese pop artists" of all-time, making her the youngest artist with the highest rank in that survey.[1]
Biography
Hikaru Utada was born in New York City, New York, United States to Japanese parents, who both had roots in the Japanese music industry: her father, Teruzane Utada, was a producer (who produced her records too), while her mother, Junko Utada, was an enka singer (she performed under the stage name "Keiko Fuji"). She made her first professional recording at the age of twelve, and recorded her first album, Precious, in 1996 under the pseudonym Cubic U. The album led to her career overseas. In an MTV interview (MTV's You Hear It First, October 2004), Utada said: "Someone in Japan heard it, at a Japanese record company, and he said, 'Oh, can't you write in Japanese? You speak Japanese.' And I didn't want to say no, so I had to try it."
She is currently married to Kazuaki Kiriya, a photographer and film director. He has directed several of her music videos, including "Final Distance", "traveling", "Hikari", "Sakura Drops", "Deep River", "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro", "You Make Me Want to Be a Man", "Be My Last", "Passion", and "Keep Tryin'". Also, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" is the theme song of Kiriya's directorial debut, Casshern.
Utada's names
Utada's name variations have been a source of some minor confusion in the past. Her legal Japanese name is currently Hikaru Iwashita (岩下光, Iwashita Hikaru), born Hikaru Utada (宇多田光, Utada Hikaru). The current status of her legal U.S. name is unclear. She debuted as Cubic U in the U.S., but went mostly unknown during this era in her career. When she moved from the U.S. to Japan, she made it big under her homonymic stage name Hikaru Utada (宇多田ヒカル, Utada Hikaru), which she is still popularly known as in Japan, even after her marriage. In Japan, it was known to her fans that her nickname growing up in the U.S. was "Hikki". However, due to her immense popularity in Japan, she became better known under this nickname in Japan than in the United States. Unlike most Japanese artists, she became well known in the English speaking world under the surname-first name ordering ("Utada Hikaru"), since her name has been romanized only in that order for the Japanese domestic market. After her successes in Japan, she re-entered the U.S. market simply as Utada. On a few rare occasions, she has been credited in full on U.S. domestic albums as either "Hikaru Utada" or "Utada Hikaru".
Eras
Precious era
Cubic U (Utada Hikaru's pseudonym before becoming a superstar in Japan) released her debut single "Close to You," which was a cover of the Carpenter's song. She then released her debut album "Precious," but it failed to be released in the United States due to restructuring issues at her then record label EMI US. She released "Precious" in Japan on January 28, 1998 and then later re-released it on March 31, 1999 to much better success. It has sold 698,000 copies to date in Japan, making it a significant hit for an all-English album.
First Love era
Utada moved to Tokyo later that year and attended the American School in Japan as well as Seisen International School, while continuing to record on a new contract with Toshiba-EMI. She soon made her mark on Japanese music with her phenomenally successful single "Automatic / time will tell" (over 2,063,000 units sold cumulatively of its two versions, made it the 2nd most successful single by a solo female artist in Japanese music history, behind Namie Amuro's Can You Celebrate?) and, two months later, with "Movin' on without you" (her first #1 single that would also clear 1 million confirmed units), soon followed by her much-anticipated official studio debut album First Love, which sold over five million copies in a month during March and April of 1999, and placed Utada among the 100 wealthiest people in Japan. Since the "Automatic / time will tell" single were actually two separate products (8cm and 12cm versions), she only managed to reach #4 and #2 on the Oricon. Her next single "Movin' on without you" would achieve the #1 ranking on Oricon, and would become her second platinum single and first #1 single. A month after First Love was released, "First Love" was released as a single due to popular demand, and sold 800,000 units, a very impressive feat for a post-album single. It should be noted that this was Utada's only album to have only three single releases, all her subsequent work would contain at least four. In addition to the album reaching #1 on the daily, weekly and monthly charts of the Oricon Top 200, she also broke the record of units (the previous title holder was B'z The Best "Pleasure" compilation by the rock duo B'z) sold of a single album in Japan by the year's end (over 7.6 million units), all by age 16, which she still holds to this day.
Distance era
Eight months after "First Love" was released, Utada then released a single, "Addicted To You." It hit #1 on the Oricon and eventually sold 1,784,000 copies, and remains her most successful single of all time ("Automatic" isn't considered to be by Oricon rules to be her highest-selling single since its was released in two separate versions versus this one). On April 19, 2000, Utada released her first single in 2000, "Wait & See ~Risk~." It also reached #1 pinnacle on the Oricon and sold an astounding 1,662,000 copies. A month later, she released a half single "Remix: Fly Me to the Moon" in English and Toshiba-EMI released an animated music video for the single version of Fly Me to the Moon. The single was a limited edition release, but did sell out rapidly of its 20,000 units, and had a chart peak of #16 on the Oricon. The follow-up "For You / Time Limit," her second double A-sided single, was released in late June, and proved much more successful, becoming her fourth #1 hit, selling 888,650 units. It was her last single in 2000, and whom's success could probably be attributed to that, in July-August of this year, Utada decided to go on her first major headlining tour, the BOHEMIAN SUMMER Circuit Live 2000, within weeks post its release. Utada returned to New York after "For You / Time Limit"'s release to attend Columbia University as a freshman, but finding her break into Japanese music scene "easier than expected", she left after a year to pursue her career.[2]
In 2001, Utada released a final Distance single, "Can You Keep a Secret?" on February 16, 2001. It brought her #1 hit count up to five, and became her fifth platinum single. A month later, she released her much-anticipated sophomore album, "Distance," on March 28, 2001, after nearly a two year hiatus. It was awarded with the largest first-week sales for any album in J-music history, with over 3.02 million units sold. [citation needed] At the end of 2001, it became the most sold album for any J-music artist worldwide with 4.6 million copies sold in Japan alone. She had the #1 single and album of the year as well in Japan, for "Distance" and its last released single, "Can You Keep A Secret?"
The video for Utada's 2001 song "Can You Keep a Secret?" received some attention as part of "International Week," which coincided with the 2001 EMAs, on the American channel MTV2. The video's airplay was likely Utada's first chance at exposure in the United States.
Deep River era
After Distance, Utada quickly released the singles "Final Distance", "traveling", "Hikari", and "Sakura Drops / Letters" for her 2002 follow-up album, Deep River. With the exception of "Final Distance" (#2 peak), they would all become instant #1 smashes on the Oricon singles chart, selling a combined total of about 2.8 million physical units by the end of 2002.
In May of 2002, she became sick right before the release of Deep River. She was diagnosed with an ovarian tumor, and then underwent surgery. [citation needed] During this period, she had to put on hold her TV appearances and other promotional activities. In June of 2002, just over a year and a month after "Distance", the album was released. While there were no TV appearances, she promoted her album in magazine and radio interviews. The Oricon count of the album was another amazing first-week sales debut for Utada, with 2.35 million sold for the week post its release day, or 1.89 million by Planet's count. Oricon reports that sales eventually surpassed 3.60 million, meaning she was the only singer or group in Japanese music history to have three consecutive albums surpass the triple-platinum (3 million) sold mark, by RIAA standards. It was also her third consecutive time to hold the #1 position on Oricon's Yearly Albums chart. [citation needed] Shortly afterwards, in September 2002, she announced her marriage to Kazuaki Kiriya, a photographer and film director fifteen years her senior. Once again, she had the #1 album of the year, but had the #2 single with "traveling", behind rival Ayumi Hamasaki's "H".
In 2001, Utada performed a well-received duet with Foxy Brown, "Blow My Whistle", which is featured on the Rush Hour 2 soundtrack.
Pre-Exodus era
Utada released "Colors", a single, on January 29, 2003 and her only single in 2003. She then released a singles compilation album Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol.1 on March 31, 2004. It set a new array of records for Utada's already legendary discography. It became the best-selling album of 2004 in Japan, making her the only solo or group artist to reach #1 four times on the yearly charts. It was the first compilation album to reach #1 in six years on the yearly charts, and the first compilation album to reach #1 in twenty six years by a female artist. [citation needed] It debuted with 1.4 million units sold in its first week and would eventually go on to sell over 3.4 million units, which was a particularly amazing achievement, since it received very little promotion and contained no new material or photos. Moreover, it charted longer on the Oricon Albums chart longer than any other Utada release to date, over 2 years. It was also her first to debut at #1 on the United World Charts, the first time in music history for any Asian artist. [citation needed] A month later, on April 21, she released her only Japanese single in 2004, "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro", which was a heavy power, acoustic-piano ballad that topped the singles chart for two consecutive weeks, and almost unheard of feat for that chart, and sold 365,000 units by the year's end. The title translates to "When Someone's Wish Comes True", and it is also the main theme song for Casshern, her husband's directorial debut.
Both "Colors" and "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" would eventually become available in Utada's fourth studio album, Ultra Blue.
Exodus era
On October 5, 2004, Utada Hikaru released her North American English-language debut album, Exodus, under the name "Utada". It was released nearly a month earlier, on September 9 in Japan, with a special booklet and housed in a cardboard slipcase. In an MTV interview, Utada said: "I don't think it's the music that I'm concerned about. It's obviously that I look really different and there really aren't any completely Asian people [who are popular singers in the U.S.] right now."[3] The album featured much more overtly sexual lyrics, which shocked some audiences. [citation needed] Even so, it became Utada's fourth consecutive release to debut at #1 and boast 500,000+ first-week sales. It had a chart run of twenty weeks on the Oricon and saw her reach #1 on the World United Charts a second time.[citation needed] It sold considerably less than her three previous Japanese releases as Utada Hikaru, possibly due to its heavy experimentation in other music genres such as dance and hip hop. However, it still managed to sell an exceptional 1.35 million copies, the fact that, strangely enough, none of its singles charted in Japan and it was a foreign language album to the territory.
In spite of enlisting the help of Timbaland to produce and co-write some songs, her American debut as an Island Def Jam Music Group artist was met with indifference by the American market, almost purely due in part to the fact there was virtually no promotion on her record label's part, selling a minimal 30,000 units. Despite the failure in the international markets, this album topped the charts in Japan, though again, it sold less than her releases as Utada Hikaru.
"Easy Breezy" was released as the lead single in early August 2004, peaking at #9 Billboard Hot Dance/Club Airplay chart, followed up by "Devil Inside" a month and two weeks later. "Exodus '04" was released at the end of June 2005. The fourth single from her Exodus album, "You Make Me Want to Be a Man", was released in October 2005. "Devil Inside" became a club smash in the U.S. and topped the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Airplay charts, and remains her most successful single release in the U.S.. "Exodus '04" also charted with a lesser #24 peak. Maxi singles featuring remixes from The Scum Frog, Richard Vission, JJ Flores and Peter Bailey were also released. Both the Exodus album and "You Make Me Want to Be a Man" single were released in the UK, with different artwork from the USA and Japanese versions, in October 2005, another #1 on the Billboard Dance chart.
Ultra Blue era
A year after the international releases and promotion of Exodus, Utada triumphantly returned to the Japanese music scene with the proper first "Ultra Blue" single, "Be My Last". Although it became her eleventh #1 Japanese single to date as of 2006, it sold considerably less than all of her previous singles pushing only 150,000 units. These relatively low physical sales by Utada standards were probably due to its lack of A-sides or B-sides on the single. Instead of purchasing an expensive single with few songs and a lack of a karaoke track, consumers bought the song digitally which, on an opposite view of its overall success, led to extremely strong digital sales, as demonstrated by the single topping the OnGen digital chart and coming in at #2 on the iTunes Japan yearly chart. The single itself demonstrated a new era in Utada's music, with emotionally charged lyrics incorporated into a ballad unlike any of her previous compositions.
Three months later, she released another single mid-December, "Passion", commonly known around the world as the theme for the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts II (although the background music is actually "Sanctuary", its English version also written and composed by Utada). Despite the large tie in for the single, it only peaked at #4 on the Oricon Top 200 singles charts. The single would sell only 112,000 physical units. Yet again, however, Utada proved to be a top digital seller as "Passion" did reach #1 on the OnGen Weekly Downloaded Singles chart, as well as iTunes Japan. "Passion" would also be her last single released in 2005. In addition to "Passion", Utada composed an English song, "Sanctuary", that would be used in the Kingdom Hearts II advertisement and game releases worldwide. Despite the same background music found in both songs, the meaning and lyrics of the two songs are notably quite different, much as "Simple and Clean" and "Hikari" were before them for Kingdom Hearts. Interestingly, Utada reportedly wrote and recorded "Sanctuary" before "Passion".
After another three months, Utada released another, and final physical single, from her upcoming Ultra Blue album entitled "Keep Tryin'" on February 22, 2006. In addition to a much stronger performance on the Oricon weekly single charts than "Passion" (the single reached #2 behind Hyde's "Season's Call" by about 3,000 units or so), "Keep Tryin'" also garnered the strongest digital sales of any Utada release single to date, staying at #1 on the OnGen top 20 weekly online download singles for over a phenomenal two months. The song also sold more than 2.5 million downloads digitally, more than sixteen times as many copies as the physical single sold 2006. Although these low sales by Utada standards reflected in the performance of the physical single in comparison to earlier achievements, "Keep Tryin'" reached number one on iTune Japan's year-end chart. Compared to Utada's recent track releases, "Keep Tryin'" was a much more upbeat song with a more encouraging and immediate message of perseverance. Moreover, Utada included a B-side on this single, the first B-side she had included in over three years, since 2003's "Colors". The B-side, "Wings", was a soft R&B tune, reminiscent of "Sakura Drops"' A-side, "Letters".
In May of 2006, Utada released her first Japanese digital sales only single, "This Is Love", which would not be available in physical format. It aired on the radio on Sunday, May 7, 2006, and the song was released as a digital single through iTunes Japan on May 31 and other online and mobile phone music stores and topped the iTunes Japan sales chart for that week. It would go on to be the ninth most downloaded song in Japan for 2006, continuing her trend as a top contender in digital sales of songs. The song was used as a promotional tool for Utada's fourth Japanese album, Ultra Blue. The entire album aired on Japanese radio on May 29, 2006. Unlike many of her previous albums, this album contained no track that matched the title of the album. Instead, a song, "Blue" was recorded, using Utada's new experimental pop/dance tone found in the album's last physical single "Keep Tryin'" and other Ultra Blue tracks, including "This Is Love", "Making Love" and "One Night Magic" with Yamada Masashi, lead vocalist of the Back Horn, her first collaboration ever (besides "Blow My Whistle" with rapper Foxy Brown on the Rush Hour 2 soundtrack). The album was finally released on June 14, 2006 for physical CDs and released on June 28, 2006 for digital download in many Japanese online stores, most notably iTunes Japan. With physical copies alone, Ultra Blue cleared 500,317 copies in the first week out, easily topping the Oricon Daily, Weekly and even Monthly charts, in addition to her third #1 debut on the United World Charts, still the most for any Asian or foreign artist to date. This gave Utada her sixth consecutive chart-topping album to sell in excess of 500,000 units for first-week sales, setting a new record. It also charted a second week at #1 on the Oricon Daily and Weekly charts, selling a further 157,000 units. As of week twenty-seven of charting on the Oricon (the week of December 17-23, 2006), it has sold 883,298 units and has been certified triple-platinum by the RIAJ. Even though this makes Ultra Blue the first Japanese studio album to not reach #1 on the Oricon Yearly Album rankings in her ongoing discography, Oricon has confirmed it was the 2nd highest selling original album of 2006, behind Def Tech's "Catch The Wave", and the 7th best-selling album overall, considering it to still be a major success (It should be noted all the top five best-selling albums were "best of "collections).
Utada United and "Boku wa Kuma"
"Utada United 2006" commenced June 30, 2006 (about a week after Ultra Blue's release) and ended on September 12, 2006 after Utada's performances at Yoyogi. Aside from her Japanese work, the tour's set list featured songs from Exodus. The dates were all cumulatively announced, and ticket sales started on May 28, 2006 with the majority of venues selling out in less than two hours. On September 20, 2006, Exodus will be re-released in Japan for ¥1,470. Also to be released in September 2006 is the "Utada Hikaru Single Collection" Volume 4, which will feature all of the music videos for all the Ultra Blue singles, in addition to "A Making" segment for each of them. It will also feature the live internet footage of "Be My Last" and "Passion" which were performed in late 2005. For the week of October 8, 2006, it entered the Oricon Music DVD charts at #1, selling an approximate 22,000 units. [1]
On November 22, 2006, Utada released an anticipated new single, "ぼくはくま (Boku wa Kuma, lit. I'm a Bear)." The song is tied with Passion as her lowest charting single as it placed #4 in its first week, and is also has the lowest first-week sales of her career. Even so, its been her first single since "Dareka no Negai Go Kanau Koro" to chart at more than three consecutive or non-consecutive weeks in the "Top 10 Oricon singles" chart. As of the end of the week for December 23, 2006, the single has sold 88,985 copies, although it should be noted that Oricon only counts the standard edition sales of this and all singles, meaning that actual total sales are much higher than published. The song title is a reference to her stuffed bear, Kuma-chan, and is her first time writing a children's song. Oricon Style did confirm that "Boku wa Kuma" and its karaoke version were the only tracks on this new single, as originally there were to be six, including either an A or B-side with another new track, "Hero".[4]Included in the first press edition of the single will be a picture book created by Utada, and the single will be used in Japan's NHK channel's Minna no Uta children's program commercials as an advanced promotional tool from November 2006 through January of 2007. This is also Utada's first single release to have three different pressings: one limited edition that includes a picture book, a standard single and cover, and then finally one CD+DVD combo pack (that is confirmed to only contain a music video for the single in its tracklist). As a special gift to fans, and her last release of any kind for 2006, will be the "Utada United 2006" tour show DVD which released on December 20, 2006.
2007
Although new releases for 2007 are largely unnamed, Hikaru's official site recently disclosed a new single to be released in February. Details as to the title, the track listing, the PV, and the precise release date have not been specified.[5] She is also planning to release a Kuma Chang t-shirt.
Discography
Studio albums
| Year | Title | Chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | United States | ||||
| 1998 | Precious | 4 | — | ||
| 1999 | First Love | 1 | — | ||
| 2001 | Distance | 1 | — | ||
| 2002 | Deep River | 1 | — | ||
| 2004 | Exodus | 1 | 160 | ||
| 2006 | Ultra Blue | 1 | — | ||
Odd recordings
- Colors (Godson Mix) – Used for a Toyota Wish commercial in 2004
Others — various artists
- Japanese
- Beautiful Drivin' Classic — Wish (November 6, 2003)
- English
Awards
| Years | Awards |
|---|---|
| 1999 |
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| 2000 |
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| 2001 |
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| 2002 |
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| 2003 |
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| 2004 |
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| 2005 |
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| 2006 |
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Trivia
- The Kingdom Hearts series features four of Utada's songs—"Hikari" and "Passion" in the original Japanese versions, and "Simple and Clean" and "Sanctuary" in the international versions.
- Freedom Project, an OVA animation series with characters designed by Katsuhiro Otomo features "This is Love" as the official theme song.
- Utada has met with the United States President, George W. Bush, as well as former Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi, at the Kantei. [8]
- Utada Hikaru is the youngest artist to appear on MTV Unplugged so far. There, she sang her rendition of U2's "With or Without You".[9]
- According to Oricon, Utada is now on a record for having 5 straight #1 albums since debut in Japan.[10] She also reached #3 on Total Female Artist Album Sales.[11]
- Utada went to the same high school in Japan as Lisa from m-flo. Lisa invited Utada to the last airing of her live radio show in June 2001. They were working together on her then new song "Final Distance" at the time.
- Utada owns a stuffed bear named Kuma-chan; "kuma" is "bear" in Japanese, and "-chan" is an affectionate suffix added to names. She often posts photos of him on her U3 blog. After discovering the "made in China" tag on Kuma-chan's bottom, he was given the full name of "Kuma Chang" (which is technically pronounced identically to "Kuma-chan" in Japanese anyway). A staff pass was issued to him for the "Utada United 2006." tour. [12] It is thought that Kuma Chang was a gift to her by her husband Kazuaki Kiriya for her birthday in 2006.
- In June 2006, Utada confessed on her blog that she has "pillow dependence".[13] She calls her pillow "makura-san" (Mr. Pillow). She enjoys the comfort of feeling the pillow against her face, and would even hold the pillow all day long when she's stressed out. She was later surprised to find out there are many "pillow-addicts" out there, and joked about setting up a "pillow club".[14]
- Utada's U3 blog contains an area for her to post entries in English as well as Japanese. She rarely writes in English, and when she does, it's a lot more diplomatic than Japanese blog entries. As of July 2006, her last post in English was on May 4, 2006. In it, she states she knows her Japanese entries are unofficially translated.[15]
- Utada is allergic to cedar wood. This has slightly affected her performance at the Ehime Prefectural Budokan venue during the Utada United 2006 tour. The building was made with approx. 3,000 m³ of natural wood and laminated wood of cedar. She hadn't told many people about this allergy — not even her father.[16]
- Utada Hikaru said she was a fan of the Black Jack series since she was young and actually performed as the seiyuu for Pinoko, Black Jack's sidekick, in the Black Jack Flash Anime, between 2001 and 2002.[17][18]
Tetris
Utada Hikaru is an avid player of the video game Tetris. She has previously appeared on TV playing Tetris against a TV-host and comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto of the Japanese television program, Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ.
Starting from June 23, 2006, she made several posts on her blog detailing her exploits playing Tetris DS. [19] She has reported that her current high score on Endless Mode is 99,999,999.[20]
In the summer of 2006, Utada was involved with Nintendo of Japan promoting a contest, in which the winners would be able to challenge her to a Tetris match.[21] On August 12, 2006, Utada attended the Nintendo Japan Tetris Contest. She battled 30 finalists from all over the country. The result was 26 wins and 4 losses. She was also able to defeat one (out of two) of the Nintendo assassins (Tetris-DS experts from Nintendo).[22]
References
- ^ http://www.hmv.co.jp/news/newsDetail.asp?newsnum=310200001 No. 24 in HMV Japan Top 100 Japanese Artists
- ^ http://hot.goldsea.com/popstars.html Hot Gold: Rising Stars of Asian America
- ^ Alyssa Rashbaum (2004-10-05). "MTV News: You Hear It First". MTV. Retrieved 2006-09-12.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/music/30942/
- ^ http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/hikki/news/index_j.htm
- ^ http://www.worldmusicawards.com/awards.html
- ^ http://www.oricon.co.jp/music/special/060726_01.html
- ^ http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/hikki/gallery/main06_j.htm
- ^ http://www.emimusic.com.tw/pop/utada/history.htm
- ^ http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/ranking/25390/ Oricon 5 straight #1 albums since debut
- ^ http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/ranking/23188/ Oricon Total Female Artist Album Sales
- ^ http://www.u3music.com/message/backnumber/ja/20060620j.html
- ^ [http://www.u3music.com/message/backnumber/ja/20060622j.html
- ^ http://www.u3music.com/message/index.php?m=1&d=2006081002134j.xml
- ^ http://www.u3music.com/message/backnumber/en/20060504e.html May greetings
- ^ http://www.u3music.com/message/index.php?m=1&d=2006083117334j.xml
- ^ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2001-06-28/new-tezuka-animes-to-be-webcast
- ^ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6193
- ^ http://www.u3music.com/message/index.php?m=1&d=2006062803093j.xml http://www.u3music.com/message/index.php?m=1&d=2006062215584j.xml http://www.u3music.com/message/index.php?m=1&d=2006062217444j.xml http://www.u3music.com/message/index.php?m=1&d=2006062217484j.xml http://www.u3music.com/message/index.php?m=1&d=2006062221124j.xml http://www.u3music.com/message/index.php?m=1&d=2006062221164j.xml http://www.u3music.com/message/index.php?m=1&d=2006062803093j.xml http://www.u3music.com/message/index.php?m=1&d=2006070318521j.xml
- ^ http://www.u3music.com/message/index.php?m=1&l=JP&d=2006070318521j.xml
- ^ http://club.nintendo.jp/tetris_campaign/index.html?C
- ^ http://www.u3music.com/message/index.php?m=1&d=2006081222256j.xml
See also
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
External links
- Hikki's Website — official Japanese Toshiba EMI site
- Hikki's Website — official Chinese EMI site
- Utada — official U.S. Island Records/Universal Music Group site
- Utada — official Japanese Island Records/Universal Music Group site
- U3Music Inc — official Utada Hikaru/Utada Message/Blog site
- Yesasia Article – Utada Hikaru career overview
Listening
- Utada Hikaru audio (click headphones to listen to individual tracks)