Distance (Utada Hikaru album)
Distance is the second Japanese album (third overall) released by Japanese-American J-pop singer Utada Hikaru, released on March 28, 2001 in direct "competition" with A Best by Ayumi Hamasaki (see 2001 in music).
| Distance | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 28, 2001 | |||
| Recorded | 1999–2000 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 64:26 | |||
| Label | Toshiba-EMI | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Utada Hikaru chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Distance | ||||
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Distance is the fourth-best-selling album in Japan of all time with over 4.47 million copies sold,[2] and sold over three million copies in its debut week, setting Japan's one-week sales record and the world's highest one-week sales in a single territory, Hamasaki's album having the second highest ever,[3] a record held by the two albums until 2015, when Adele's third album 25 sold 3.4 million copies in its first week in the United States. According to Oricon, Distance is the highest selling Japanese album of the decade.[4]
Globally, the album was one of the best-selling of 2001, being listed at number 10 on the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's Top 50 Global Best Selling Albums list for 2001.[5]
Production
For this album, Utada worked with American producers for a few tracks: Rodney Jerkins, who has worked with the likes of Toni Braxton, produced (and performed rap vocals on) the track "Time Limit", while songwriters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis 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 on the track "Interlude" found on the First Love album. Due to time constraints, the song could not 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" in memory of a fan who died in the June 2001 Osaka school massacre; this new version would appear on her next album, Deep River.
The cover art for the album, as well as the whole album photography, was done by her then husband and director Kazuaki Kiriya.
Track listing
All tracks are written by Utada Hikaru, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Arranger | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Wait & See (Risk)" |
| 4:48 |
| 2. | "Can You Keep a Secret?" |
| 5:08 |
| 3. | "Distance" |
| 5:30 |
| 4. | "Sunglass (サングラス, Sunglasses)" | Shin'ichiro Murayama | 4:46 |
| 5. | "Drama (ドラマ, Drama)" (lyrics written by Utada; music composed by Utada and Takuro Kubo) | Yu'ichiro Honda | 4:36 |
| 6. | "Eternally" |
| 4:45 |
| 7. | "Addicted to You (Up-in-Heaven Mix)" |
| 5:19 |
| 8. | "For You" | Kei Kawano | 5:22 |
| 9. | "Kettobase! (蹴っ飛ばせ!, Kick It!)" |
| 4:31 |
| 10. | "Parody" | Kei Kawano | 5:25 |
| 11. | "Time Limit (タイム・リミット, Taimu Rimitto)" (lyrics written by Utada; music composed by Utada and Takuro) | Rodney Jerkins | 4:55 |
| 12. | "Kotoba ni Naranai Kimochi (言葉にならない気持ち, Indescribable Feelings)" | Shin'ichiro Murayama | 5:03 |
| 13. | "Hayatochi-Remix (早とちリミックス, Jumping to Conclusions-Remix)" (bonus track) | Utada Hikaru | 4:10 |
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 and making the Top 100 list 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?" | 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
Japan (Oricon)
| 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 |
See also
- List of fastest-selling albums
References
- Martin, Ian. "Distance - Hikaru Utada | Songs, Reviews, Credits". Allmusic. Archived from the original on March 21, 2020. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
- "歴代アルバムランキング".
- ORICON STYLE - Weekly album chart : 2nd week of April 2001
- Brasor, Philip (18 December 2009). "The noughties played it nice" – via Japan Times Online.
- "Top 50 Global Best Selling Albums for 2001" (PDF). International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-19. Retrieved 2011-04-08.
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