Distance is the second album released by Japanese pop singer Hikaru Utada, released on March 28, 2001 in direct "competition" with A BEST by Ayumi Hamasaki.(see 2001 in music).

Distance is the 4th best-selling album in Japan of all time with over 4.46 million copies sold. Moreover, with over 3 million copies sold in its debut week, it has world's biggest one-week album sales of all time.

Track listing

All songs are written and composed by Hikaru Utada. (Except "Time Limit" is co-written by her and Takuro of GLAY.)

Singles

The singles released from the "Distance" album would become the biggest hits of Utada's career in terms of physical sales. Every one sold at least a million units, earning a million certification from the "RIAJ" and making the Top 100 listing of best-selling singles in Japan, except "For You / Time Limit," which sold just under 900K (888,650 units).

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

Charts

Distance - Oricon 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	4,469,135	45
March 28 2001	Oricon Yearly Albums Chart	1

Production Notes

• The song "Distance" was later re-arranged into a new single called "Final Distance" in memory of a fan who died in the June 2001 Osaka school massacre.
• Rodney Jerkins, famed producer who has worked with the likes of Toni Braxton, produced (and performed rap vocals on) the track "Time Limit".
• American R&B songwriters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis produced both Wait & See ~Risk~ and the UP-IN-HEAVEN mix of Addicted to You.
• "Kotoba ni Naranai Kimochi"'s melody 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".

Rivalry and sales

In 2001, Utada Hikaru and Ayumi Hamasaki were the two biggest artists in the country. Each artists' record company began fabricating a "feud" between these extremely popular J-divas. This feud reached its apex when Avex Trax, Ayumi Hamasaki's record label intentionally put her first greatest hits album, A Best, in direct competition with Utada's highly anticipated second album, Distance. Both albums were set for a March 28th release, and quickly tabloids began to document the tension between both artists. Although Ayumi has publicly stated in interviews that she was saddened by this record company-fueled rivalry and Hikaru has never shown ill feelings toward Ayumi, this rivalry has been regarded as one of the biggest rivalries in Japanese music history. Distance recorded the highest first week sales for any album ever released in Japan (and possibly worldwide for a solo artist) with just over 3,002,720 copies sold. A Best debuted right behind it at #2 with 2,870,000 in first week sales, the second highest first-week sales for an album in Japan. Although "A Best" was certainly more aggressively promoted than "Distance," this album was nonetheless the follow-up to the best-selling album in Japan's history, Utada's debut "First Love," and therefore expectations and anticipation may have been more concentrated on it having there been a 2 year hiatus for it. By years end, both albums had sold over 4,000,000 copies and landed at the #1 and #2 position on the Oricon Albums year-end charts. According to Oricon, Distance is the 4th highest-selling Japanese album of all time and the highest selling Japanese album of the 21st century.

Notes and references