Official 安室奈美恵 Namie Amuro Celebration Thread [1992 - 2018] Entire discography removed from platforms!?!?! 😱

A leading figure of the Japanese entertainment industry since the early 1990s, Amuro is known for breaking the youthful idol stereotype of J-Pop, changing the fashion trends and lifestyle of women in Japan, her experimentation across music styles, and for her visual imagery in music videos and live performances.

Due to her career longevity, resilience, professionalism, efforts behind-the-scenes in the music industry, and her way of life, she is considered a pop culture icon in Japan and Asia.[1][2][3][4] She has been referred to as "Diva of Heisei Era" and the "Queen of Japanese Pop", and has been recognized as having the influence and career impact domestically equivalent to artists such as Janet Jackson and Madonna in Western music and pop culture.[5][6][7][8]

Amuro is noted within the Japanese entertainment industry for "producing" and managing her own career.[22] Aside from music, she has appeared in various advertisement campaigns in Japan and founded her own management company Stella88,[23] and her own record label Dimension Point.

Having sold more than 40 million records,[24] Amuro is recognized as one of the best-selling artists in Japan by Oricon. Since her solo debut, she achieved top 10 singles for 23 consecutive years (#1 for solo artist). All of her albums are certified Platinum, and her debut solo album, Sweet 19 Blues, was the best selling album in Japan. She is the only artist in Japan to sell a million albums in her teens, 20s, 30s and 40s.[25]

1. October 16, 1995 : Dance Tracks Vol. 1 (Toshiba EMI) - Genre: 90's Eurobeat + dance pop

- reached #1 on Oricon, sold about 1,865,000, and certified RIAJ: 2× Million

Entire album is up on YT:

2. July 22, 1996: Sweet 19 Blues (Avex) - Proper first solo album - Genre: Pop + a little bit of R&B

- reached #1 on Oricon, sold about 3,700,000 and certified RIAJ: 3× Million

- original release of album had a total of 4 covers - the other 3 were limited edition covers

Album highlight from YT by NA920:

3. July 24, 1997: Concentration 20 (Avex) - Genre: Pop + a little bit of dance rock

- reached #1 on Oricon, sold about 1,930,000 and certified RIAJ: 2x Million

- contains the massive single, Can You Celebrate, to this day still the best selling physical single by a female singer

Album highlight from YT by NA920:

4. January 26, 2000: Genius 2000 (Avex) - Genre: Pop, R&B and little bit electronica

- reach #1 on Oricon, sold about 803,000 and certified RIAJ: 2× Platinum

- it is produced by TK and Dallas Austin (half of album), so more sonically R&B and hip-hop

Album highlight from YT by NA920:

5. December 20, 2000: Break the Rules (Avex) - Genre: Pop with a little bit of R&B

- reach #2 on Oricon, sold about 335,000 and certified RIAJ: Platinum

- It was the final album with TK as a producer and Dallas Austin also produced a few songs for this album (Looking for You is her first all English song)

Album highlight from YT by NA920:

6. December 10, 2003: Style (Avex) - Genre: R&B and Hip-pop

- reach #4 on Oricon, sold about 250,000 and certified RIAJ: Platinum

- First album in 3 years and after her exploration into R&B, hip-hop with the Suite Chic project, she fully transitioned into the genre hip-pop

Couldn't find an album highlight so here are the promoted songs from the album:

Wishing on the Same Star:

Shine More:

Put 'Em Up:

So Crazy:

7. July 13, 2005: Queen of Hip-Pop (Avex) - Genre: R&B and Hip-pop

- reach #2 on Oricon, sold about 494,000 and certified RIAJ: 2× Platinum

- Amuro said she made this album to be performed 'LIVE' so the album only had 1 ballad, the rest are all upbeat

Album highlight on YT by NA920:

8. June 27, 2007: Play (Avex) - Genre: R&B and Hip-Pop

- reach #1 on Oricon, sold about 541,000 and certified RIAJ: 2× Platinum

- first album to be released as a CD and CD+DVD format; also reached #1 on Taiwan music charts

Album highlight on YT by NA902:

9. December 16, 2009: Past < Future (Avex) - Genre: Pop, Electronica, R&B

- reach #1 on Oricon, sold about 600,000 and certified RIAJ: 2× Platinum

- Amuro said this album was a 'fresh' start after the Best Fiction best compilation album

Album highlight on YT by NA902:

10. June 27, 2012: Uncontrolled (Avex) - Genre: Dance pop + Electro-pop

- reach #1 on Oricon, sold about 541,000 and certified RIAJ: 2× Platinum

- It was released before her 20th Anniversary concerts and first album to have multiple (4) all English songs (The single version of Go Round w/ YEAH-OH released prior to album - the lyrics are in Japanese mixed with English; on the actual Uncontrolled album, both Go Round ('n Round n' Round) + Singing "Yeah-Oh" are the all English versions; the other two all English songs are In the Spotlight (Tokyo) and Only You)

- Spent 3 weeks at #1

Album highlight on YT by NA902:

11. July 10, 2013: Feel (Dimension Point) - Genre: Dance-pop + Electro-pop

- first album to be released on her own sub-label, Dimension Point

- reach #1 on Oricon, sold about 393,000 and certified RIAJ: Platinum

- She worked with various Western producers e.g., Zedd, Dsign Music, Anthony Maniscalco, Steven Lee etc.

- Album was successful in Taiwan and South Korea too

Album highlight on YT by NA902:

12. June 10, 2015: Genic (Dimension Point) - Genre: Electronica, Synthpop, + R&B

- her last studio album also released on her own sub-label, Dimension Point

- reached #1 on Oricon, sold about 253,000 and certified RIAJ: Platinum

- She continued to work with various Western producers e.g., Sophie, David Guetta, Bardur Haberg, Joacim "Twin" Persson etc.

Album highlight on YT by NA902:

1. September 30, 1996: Original Tracks Vol. 1 (Toshiba-EMI)

- reached #3, sold about 419,000, and certified RIAJ: Platinum

- They released a remastered edition in 2018

There's no highlight on YT so I just selected a few tracks:

Heart ni Hi wo Tsukete:

Taiyou no SEASON:

Rainbow Moon:

2. January 28, 1998: 181920 (Avex)

- reach #1, sold about 2,000,000 and certified RIAJ: 2× Million

- Basically the early singles released prior to her marriage and maternity leave

- There is also a film - videography version with all the music videos, called 181920 & Films

CM for this album:

3. March 13, 2002: Love Enhanced Single Collection (Avex)

- Reach #3, sold about 305,000 and certified RIAJ: Platinum

- Included the 11 out of 12 singles since returning from her maternity leave except Toi et Moi, which is only available as a single and not included on any album

- Namie wrote the Japanese lyrics for the song: Say the Word

Album highlight from NA902:

4. July 30, 2008: BEST FICTION (Avex) lol I don't know why I had to capitalize it lol I think it's a good album to start if you want to dive into her career.

- Reach #1, sold about 1,590,000 and certified RIAJ: Million

- Stayed #1 on the charts for 6 weeks~

- Included two new original songs 'Do Me More' and 'Sexy Girl' and the triple side, mega-hit single/EP: 60s70s80s which were songs for the Vidal Sassoon commercials

Album highlight from NA902:

5. April 27, 2011: Checkmate! (Avex) - a compilation of all her collaboration songs

- Reach #1, sold about 500,000 and certified RIAJ: 2× Platinum

- This album is quite unique for me and not all songs are available on the digital version of the album on iTunes and streaming

- Features collabs with AI, Anna Tsuchiya, Tomohisa Yamashita, After School, Ravex, Zeebra, Mummy-D, Heartsdales, Jhett, Kaname Kawabata, Verbal, Lil Wayne, Double, and M-Flo

Album highlight from NA902:

6. June 4, 2014: Ballada (Dimension Point) - ballad compilation

- Reach #1, sold about 500,000 and certified RIAJ: 2x Platinum

- Amuro asked fans to vote via a poll for the song selection with 15 being selected from the 38 songs included in the poll. Sweet 19 Blues, Can You Celebrate, Contrail were re-recorded with new vocals and arranged.

Album highlight from NA902:

7. November 8, 2017: Finally (Dimension Point) - the last music release by Amuro.

- Reach #1, sold about 2,451,651 and certified RIAJ: 2× Million

- Finally has 3 discs with a total of 39 songs re-recorded with new vocals + arrangements + an additional 13 new tracks were placed on the third disc, making up for her final original album.

Album CM:

- Debut in December 2002.

- Collaborative project between Amuro, Ryosuke Imai, and Verbal of (m-flo other hip-hop and R&B artists in Japan. Idea was from Imai and Verbal proposing to Amuro, who was also wanting to transition to hip-hop and R&B.

- An album 'When Pop Hits the Fan' was released in 2003, selling around 200,000+

- Two promotional singles were released: Good Life and Uh Uh.. - each limited to 30,000 copies

- A remix album 'When Pop Hits the Lab' was also released in 2003

When Pop Hits the Fan album on YT:

Highlight 1:

Sky Wire Mashups made the best Amuro Mega Mix - I listen to it all the time.

Highlight 2:

There's a 20 minute documentary released near the retirement around 25th Anniversary - it's in English + highlights her achievements + records:

Highlight 3: Collab with Jolin Tsai - I'm Not Yours (sung in Mandarin + English - just because I love the music video + their cute friendship)

Highlight 4: Live performance of Amuro + Crystal Kay for Revolution -