Distance is the second studio Japanese album (third overall) released by Japanese-American singer Hikaru Utada on March 28, 2001 through Toshiba-EMI.

Distance
Standard cover, The deluxe edition was on the lighter format instead of green.
Studio album by Hikaru Utada
Released	March 28, 2001
Recorded	1999–2000
Genre	J-pop R&B rock techno[1]
Length	64:26
Label	Toshiba-EMI
Producer	Hikaru Utada Darkchild Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis Akira Miyake Teruzane Utada
Hikaru Utada chronology
First Love (1999) Distance (2001) Deep River (2002)
Singles from Distance
"Addicted to You" Released: November 10, 1999 "Wait & See (Risk)" Released: April 19, 2000 "For You / Time Limit" Released: June 30, 2000 "Can You Keep a Secret?" Released: February 16, 2001

Distance is the second-best-selling album in Japan of all time with over 5.4 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 Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson and 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 their then-husband and director Kazuaki Kiriya.

Track listing

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).

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)

See also

• List of fastest-selling albums

References

На других языках

[es] Distance (álbum)