Listen to The Best Japanese Songs Playlist Now!

Part 1. 宇多田 ヒカル (Utada Hikaru)

Utada Hikaru is one of the most influential artists of the decade in the Japanese music landscape. Born in the United States and growing up in a musical family, Utada began to write music and lyrics at an early age and she released her English-language debut album Precious under the artist name Cubic U in 1998. However, the album met commercial failure.

Utada moved to Tokyo in the summer of 1998 and continued to record on a new contract with Toshiba-EMI. In the following year, she released her Japanese-language debut First Love, and the album was a massive success. First Love went on to sell over 7 million copies in Japan alone, becoming the highest selling album in Japan's recent history.

Over the years, ten of her albums have become chart-toppers and Utada is one of Japan's top-selling recording artists of all time. Besides, Utada is internationally known for writing and producing four theme-song contributions to the video game series Kingdom Hearts.
Below are some of the representative songs by Utada Hikaru.

Part 2. 安室奈美恵 (Namie Amuro)

Even if you don't know much of Japanese music, you certainly hear of Namie Amuro. Often deemed as the Queen of J-Pop and even the Japanese Madonna, Namie Ameuro is a leading figure of the Japanese entertainment industry since the 90s. Although Amuro officially retired from the music and entertainment business, she brought us a huge array of music with 12 studio albums released and 30 million records selling in Japan.

Referred to as "the diva of the Heisei era", Amuro still holds the title of best selling single ever by a woman in Japan for her track "Can You Celebrate". Amuro is also noted for her changing music styles. She collaborated with many international musicians and producers such as David Guetta and Skylar Mones.

Besides, Amuro's live performances are commonly recognized by people, which always brings you surprises.

Part 3. BoA

If you love watching Japanese anime, you may know about BoA, for she has released several anime theme songs. But you may not know that BoA is actually a South Korean singer. BoA is one of the leading artists active in South Korea as well as Japan. One of the important factors is that she can speak Japanese. Her linguistic skills help her branch out into the Japanese market and quickly gain popularity.

BoA began her Japanese music career in 2002 and released her debut album Listen to My Heart. Up till now, BoA has released nine Japanese language albums. But the debut album marks a breakthrough in BoA's career, helping her in becoming the first Korean pop star to debut atop the Oricon chart. BoA's second Japanese studio album, Valenti is her best-selling album, with over 1 million copies sold.

In addition, she is one of the foreign artists to have three albums sold more than one million copies in Japan and been certified Million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).

Here is a playlist of some of her best Japanese songs to enjoy.

Part 4. 嵐 / Arashi

One of the biggest names in Japanese music is the household boy band Arashi. The group consists five members who are Ohno Satoshi, Sakurai Sho, Aiba Masaki, Ninomiya Kazunari, and Matsumoto Jun. Arashi officially formed on September 15, 1999 under the Johnny & Associates talent agency.

Arashi's first release was the eponymous single "Arashi", which was the image song for the 8th World Cup of Volleyball hosted in Japan in 1999. The song was sold close to a million copies by the end of its chart run and it is the group's highest-selling single to date.

One of their defining songs is their eighteenth single "Love So Sweet", which used as the opening theme song for the high-rating Japanese drama Hana Yori Dango 2. The song gained great commercial success, becoming one of the top five best-selling singles of 2007 in Japan.
As of September, 2019, Arashi had sold over 54 million copies of albums, singles, and videos, and became the best-selling boy band in Asia.

Part 5. AKB48

In terms of scale, AKB48 probably is one of the biggest groups in the World. Originally a band of 48 members, AKB48 now have approximately 140 rotating members. Holding an "idols you can meet" concept, fans can vote for their favorites to appear in certain music videos or attend "handshake" events to meet group members. Besides, older members of the group will graduate and are then replaced by new singers in a talent show style competition.

AKB48 is one of the highest-earning musical performers in Japan. With thirty-five latest singles topping the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart, they've sold over 40 million singles and have spawned television shows and video games.

The following are some of their biggest hits to help you know more about them.

Part 6. 初音ミク (Hatsune Miku)

Hatsune Miku is one of the most popular VOCALOID known by people around the world. Strictly speaking, Hatsune Miku is a vocal library for the VOCALOID software. She was initially released in August 2007 for the VOCALOID 2 engine and was the first member of the Character Vocal Series.

Miku has been heavily promoted since 2008 and was originally aimed at professional musicians. Her voice is provided by the Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita. As a virtual idol, Hatsune Miku performs in several concerts. She even was the opening act for Lady Gaga's world tour ArtRave: The Artpop Ball, performing throughout the first month of her tour from May 6 to June 3, 2014.

Here is a list of best songs by Hastune Miku

In the End…

This is the list that includes the household singers or groups from Japan as well as their defining songs. And if there are any missing on the list, feel free to share your views with us. Besides, it is possible to download any Japanese song that you think the best with a powerful tool – VidPaw Free Online Video & Audio Downloader. Choose it to download the best Japanese songs and have a listen!