Distance is the second Japanese album (third overall) released by Japanese-American J-pop singer

J-pop

, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music, such as The Beatles, and replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene...

 Hikaru Utada, released on March 28, 2001 in direct "competition" with A Best

A Best

- International version :A Best was later re-released in other countries outside Japan, including Singapore, the Philippines and Korea. The international version did not have new vocal mixes and had a slightly different cover art to the standard Japanese version....

by Ayumi Hamasaki

Ayumi Hamasaki

is a Japanese singer-songwriter, record producer, model, lyricist, and actress. Also called "Ayu" by her fans, Hamasaki has been dubbed the "Empress of Pop" because of her popularity and widespread influence in Japan and throughout Asia. Born and raised in Fukuoka, she moved to Tokyo at fourteen to...

 (see 2001 in music

2001 in music

See also:* 2001 in music Record labels established in 2001-Events:*January 1**Comeback of Guns N' Roses in House of Blues**Hum disbands.*January 17 – Bass player Jason Newsted leaves Metallica after 14 years with the band....

).

Distance is the 4th best-selling album in Japan of all time with over 4.47 million copies sold, and sold over 3 million copies in its debut week, setting Japan's one-week sales record and the world's highest one week sales, Hamasaki's album having the second highest ever. According to Oricon

Oricon

, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

, Distance is the highest selling Japanese album of the decade.

According to IFPI the album is listed at #10 on the Top 50 Global Best Selling Albums for 2001

Production

For this album, Utada worked with American producers for a few tracks: Rodney Jerkins

Rodney Jerkins

Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. Jerkins received two Grammy nominations in 2011.-Biography:...

, who has worked with the likes of Toni Braxton

Toni Braxton

Toni Michelle Braxton is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Braxton has won six Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, and five Billboard Music Awards and has sold over 60 million records worldwide...

, produced (and performed rap vocals on) the track "Time Limit", while songwriters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis

James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III and Terry Steven Lewis are an American R&B and pop-music songwriting and record production team...

 produced both "Wait & See: Risk" and the Up-in-Heaven mix of "Addicted to You".

The melody of "Kotoba ni Naranai Kimochi" was originally introduced in the track "Interlude" found on the First Love album. Due to time constraints, the song couldn't be finished on time for release in full on First Love, and was carried over to this album. The title of the track "Hayatochi-remix" is a portmanteau Utada created of "Hayatochiri", the name of the original song on the "Wait & See: Risk" single, and the word "remix".

The song "Distance" was originally planned to be a single without any alterations, but it was instead released in a rearranged ballad form called "Final Distance

FINAL DISTANCE

"Final Distance" is Hikaru Utada's 8th Japanese-language single and the 1st single on her Deep River album. "Final Distance" is the first song that Hikaru Utada's ex-husband Kazuaki Kiriya filmed the music video to. This is also the first time that Hikaru Utada has worked with M-Flo. The song...

" in memory of a fan who died in the June 2001 Osaka school massacre

Osaka school massacre

The Osaka School Massacre took place on June 8, 2001, at Ikeda Elementary School, an elite primary school affiliated with Osaka Kyoiku University in Osaka Prefecture, Japan.- The attack :...

; this new version would appear in her next album, Deep River.

The cover art

Cover art

Cover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...

 for the album, as well as the whole album photography, was done by her now-former husband and director Kazuaki Kiriya

Kazuaki Kiriya

, born April 20, 1968 in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, is a Japanese photographer and director of films and music videos. His birth name is .He made his feature film debut writing and directing the live action film adaptation of Casshern in 2004. In 2009, he wrote and directed his second film,...

.

Track listing

All lyrics and music by Hikaru Utada, except for "Time Limit" and "Drama", music by Hikaru Utada and Takuro Kubo

Takuro (musician)

Takuro Kubo is one of the guitarists and leader of the popular Japanese rock band Glay. He is the main composer and lyricist of Glay's songs....

 of Glay

Glay

Glay is a rock/pop band from Hakodate, Hokkaidō, Japan formed by guitarist Takuro and vocalist Teru in high school in 1988. Glay primarily composes songs in the rock and pop genres, but they have also composed songs using elements of different styles such as reggae and gospel...

.

Singles

The singles released from Distance would become the biggest hits of Utada's career in terms of physical sales. Three of the four singles sold at least a million units, earning a million certification from the RIAJ

Recording Industry Association of Japan

The Recording Industry Association of Japan is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved the music industry...

 and making the Top 100 listing of best-selling singles in Japan, while "For You/Time Limit" fell just short of that mark, selling just a little over 900K (909,000).

Date	Title	Peak position	Weeks	Sales
November 10, 1999	"Addicted to You"	1	16	1,784,050
April 19, 2000	"Wait & See (Risk)"	1	21	1,662,060
June 30, 2000	"For You/Time Limit"	1	13	909,000
February 16, 2001	"Can You Keep a Secret? Can You Keep a Secret? "Can You Keep a Secret?" is a song by Hikaru Utada, released as her seventh Japanese-language single on February 16, 2001. It was the theme song for a Japanese television drama called Hero, Utada made a cameo appearance as well as her acting debut in this drama as a waitress... "	1	11	1,485,000

Personnel

• Miyake Akira – producer
• Nishihira Akira – arranger, keyboards, programming
• David Barry – guitar
• John Blackwell – drums
• Darnell Davis – keyboards
• Paul Foley – editing
• Steve Hodge – engineer, mixing
• Goh Hotoda – engineer, shaker, mixing
• Jimmy Jam – arranger, producer, musician
• Ted Jensen – mastering
• Rodney Jerkins – arranger, programming, producer, engineer, rap
• Terry Lewis – arranger, producer, musician
• Harvey Mason, Jr. – engineer, editing
• Michael McCoy – assistant engineer
• Alexander Richbourg – producer, drum programming
• Philippe Saisse – keyboards
• Dexter Simmons – mixing
• Xavier Smith – drum programming, assistant engineer
• Mike Tocci – assistant engineer
• Sanada Yoshiaki – executive producer
• Honda Yuichiro – guitar, arranger, keyboards, programming, pre-production arranger
• Toriyama Yuji – guitar

Charts

Distance - Oricon

Oricon

, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

Sales Chart (Japan)

Release	Chart	Peak Position	Debut Sales	Sales Total	Chart Run
March 28, 2001	Oricon Daily Albums Chart	1
March 28, 2001	Oricon Weekly Albums Chart	1	3,002,720	4,472,343	51*
March 28, 2001	Oricon Yearly Albums Chart	1