Ultra Blue is the award-winning fourth Japanese studio album (sixth overall) by Hikaru Utada, released in 2006. It debuted at #1 on the Oricon daily, weekly and monthly charts and sold 500,317 copies in its first six days of sales. Ultra Blue had sold more than one million copies worldwide and almost four million digital single tracks and ringtones as of July 13, 2006 according to EMI.

Ultra Blue was also a strong online digital seller. After two months of digital downloads, Ultra Blue remained in the top ten album downloads in Japan's largest online music store

Online music store

An online music store is an online business which sells audio files, usually music, on a per-song and/or subscription basis. It may be differentiated from music streaming services in that the music store offers the actual music file, while streaming services offer partial or full listening without...

, iTunes Japan. This album also became the fourth most downloaded album on iTunes Japan of the year and won an "Album of the Year" title at the 2007 Nihon Golden Disk Awards. On July 30, 2007, EMI Group released its Annual Report for 2007, and in it reported that Utada’s album ULTRA BLUE had sold 1.3 million units worldwide, making it EMI Music’s 10th-best selling album of 2006. Despite its success in terms of promotions, "Ultra Blue" is Utada's least commercially successful Japanese album to date in terms of physical sales, until it was surpassed by Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2

Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2

Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 is Japanese pop singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada's second compilation album, released on November 24, 2010, the same day as her Universal-released English language compilation album, Utada the Best...

 in 2010.

Taiwanese promotion

This album is perhaps her heaviest promoted album in Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 since her compilation album, Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1

Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1

-Charts:Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1 - Oricon Sales Chart...

. Pre-order receipts were made available 2 weeks before the actual Taiwanese pressing of Ultra Blue. Those who pre-ordered received a very large-sized Japan imported Ultra Blue poster packaged in a transparent cylindrical tube. Commercials were aired often on buses, MRT

Taipei Rapid Transit System

The Taipei Metro, more commonly known as the MRT or formally as the Taipei Rapid Transit System, is a rapid transit system serving metropolitan Taipei in Taiwan. The system is built and operated by the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation and consists of 89 stations and of revenue track...

 stations, as well as local channels helping to promote the album, playing "Blue" in the background. One of its tag-line was, "The whole world is waiting, Utada Hikaru, Ultra Blue" (this is a direct translation). Also, Toshiba-EMI of Taiwan collaborated with Yam.com and created a special Ultra Blue blog similar to Utada's Japanese blog. The website held an essay contest about "You and Utada Hikaru". Toshiba-EMI Taiwan also held a private premier listening press party by inviting an ambassador from the Japan branch of Toshiba-EMI to represent the absent Utada. For what seems to be the final wave of promotion, the company put together a short "Blue" music video to air in between show blocks on various channels. The video consisted of pictures of the Ultra Blue booklet, the commercial clip of Ultra Blue and also a scene from the "Colors" video. The album debuted and stayed at the #1 spot in the G-Music Combo album charts for three consecutive weeks, with its debut week accounting for 26.39% of the total album sales in Taiwan for that week, charting for a total of 15 weeks.

North America promotion

This album is perhaps her heaviest Capitol Records

Capitol Records

Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

 promoted album since her Cubic U album, Precious

Precious (Cubic U album)

Note: Several US-promo copies of the album have the track "Here and There and Back Again" as track 5. This was not on the re-released Japanese version.-Release history:-Single:- Charts :Precious - Oricon Sales Chart...

. After the physical CD was released in Japan on June 14, 2006, the album was made available on iTunes

ITunes

iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

 to Japan and other countries, including the United States and Canada, on June 28, 2006. It was also released on the UK edition of iTunes.

In Canada, the physical CDs for Ultra Blue and Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol.1 were released on July 11, 2006. In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the physical CDs for Ultra Blue and Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol.1 were released on September 19, 2006.

Track listing

All songs are written, composed and arranged by Hikaru Utada, except "Colors" (arranged by Hikaru Utada & Kei Kawano).

Singles

Date	Title	Peak position	Weeks	Sales
January 19, 2003	"Colors Colors (Hikaru Utada song) "Colors" is Hikaru Utada's 12th Japanese-language single , and is the only single she released in 2003. It was released on January 29, 2003 and debuted at #1 on the Oricon charts with 437,903 copies sold in the first week, and became her fifth single to perform the rare two-consecutive weeks at... "	1	45	893,790
April 21, 2004	"Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro is Hikaru Utada's 13th Japanese-language single and her 1st and only Japanese single for 2004. She released 2 versions of Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro: CD and DVD. It was released on April 2, 2004. Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro is also included in the "Our Last Days" - "Casshern" OST as the... "	1	22	365,206
September 28, 2005	"Be My Last Be My Last "Be My Last" is a song by Hikaru Utada, released as her 14th Japanese single on September 28, 2005. It was used for the 2005 film Spring Snow, an adaptation of the 1966 Yukio Mishima novel of the same name.... "	1	13	150,928
December 14, 2005	"Passion"	4	15	112,345
February 22, 2006	"Keep Tryin' Keep Tryin' "Keep Tryin" is a song by Utada Hikaru. It was released as her 16th Japanese single on February 22, 2006. The song was the first promotional song for Lismo! au Listen Mobile Service... "	2	11	125,077

Oricon sales chart (Japan)

Current total Sales (worldwide): 1.3 million

Release	Chart	Peak Position	First Week Sales	Sales Total	Chart Run
14 June 2006	Oricon Daily Charts	1
14 June 2006	Oricon Weekly Charts	1	500,317	900,343	64
14 June 2006	Oricon Monthly Charts	1
14 June 2006	Oricon Yearly Charts	7		900,343 (2006) 909,113 (total)