Archive for May, 2008

Utada’s “Beautiful World” picked up the Best Video from a Film award at the MTV Japan Video Music Awards for its role as the theme song to “Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone.” The clip was directed by Hideaki Anno, the creator and director of “Evangelion.” To see the complete list of MTV VMA winners, click here.

A new Oricon poll has been released, where readers were asked to submit their favorite Japanese drama for the spring season, along with their favorite theme song. Fuji TV drama “Last Friends” came in at #1, with Utada’s “Prisoner Of Love” taking the #1 spot for favorite theme song. Viewership for “Last Friends” remains steady, with last [...]

For those who have received a copy of Utada’s latest single, “Prisoner Of Love,” it’s interesting to note that the director for the music video is Takeishi Wataru, the same director who created many of Utada’s earlier works, including “Addicted To You,” “Wait & See ~risk~,” and “For You.” He is a staple to many [...]

Utada’s latest single, “Prisoner Of Love,” went on sale in Japan today, with full digital downloads commencing for the new “Prisoner Of Love -Quiet Version.” Additionally, for the first time, several of Utada’s latest music videos are available for digital consumption. iTunes Japan now offers videos for “Prisoner Of Love,” “HEART STATION,” and “Flavor Of [...]

For those interested, a breakdown of the 15 million downloads that were reported for all songs off of Utada’s latest album, “HEART STATION,” is posted after the jump, courtesy of Barks Japan.

JASRAC, the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, have announced the top royalty-garnering songs of 2007. Utada’s “Flavor Of Life” comes in at #1, making this her first time since 2000’s “Automatic” to make the top of the list. The royalty figures account for physical CD sales along with mobile and PC downloads [...]

According to several Japanese news outlets, Utada’s total Japanese album sales (5 original + 1 single collection) have surpassed the vaunted 20 million mark. Her latest album, “HEART STATION,” continues to sell strongly in its 8th week, coming in at #4 this week on Oricon’s weekly album ranking. Combined digital sales for all tracks represented on [...]

According to a new article from Nikkan Sports, Utada’s latest album “HEART STATION” has shipped over 1 million units. In a statement from EMI Japan, this marks Utada’s 5th consecutive Japanese original album to ship over 1 million units, starting with 1999s debut album “First Love.”

According to a new article from Listen Japan, Utada’s “Prisoner Of Love” has sold roughly 1.4 million downloads across all formats. This includes Chaku-Uta, Chaku-Uta Full, and PC downloads. The song continues to chart high on digital rankings, and will hopefully continue to gain momentum prior to the song’s physical release on May 21st.