Namie Amuro

The other four members of the Super Monkey's formed their own group, MAX, under the Avex Trax label. Amuro released two more solo singles under Toshiba-EMI before moving to Avex Trax herself. Read Less

She returned to music in 1998 with the number-one single, "I Have Never Seen", but faced gradual declining sales. After unofficially severing ties with Tetsuya Komuro in 2001, Amuro joined Suite Chic group, and then as a solo singer made forays into R&B and hip-hop. Since reinventing herself as a hip-pop singer with her sixth studio album 'Queen of Hip-Pop'(2005), Amuro has achieved newfound fame and popularity. Her seventh album 'Play'(2007) debuted at the top of the charts and was followed by "60s 70s 80s" (2008).

Over a decade after her debut, Amuro has remained one of the longest surviving popular female acts in Japan. She also continues to successfully combat social stigma as a divorced, working, single mother. On July 30, 2008, Amuro released her first greatest hits album, Best Fiction, since transitioning to R&B music. It spent six consecutive weeks at the number-one position on Japan's Oricon weekly charts, and was elected as "the best album of the year" at the 50th Japan Record Awards. From 2008 to 2009, she toured Japan to promote the album. It was estimated that she played to an audience as large as 400,000 people, potentially the largest audience of her career. According to an update list made by Music Station in 2010, she has sold over 30 million copies in Japan alone, making her one of the best selling Japanese artists of all time. Read Less

After the tour, she released a single, "Never End", in July. The single was used as part of the G8 summit taking place in Okinawa, Japan that year. It was commissioned by late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who asked Tetsuya Komuro to write a song conveying "a vision of harmony and interaction in the world in the 21st century". Obuchi later asked Amuro to perform the single at the summit. Read Less

Afterwards, it was announced that a new single was going to be released soon, and on July 28 her 34th single "Break It/Get Myself Back" was released (during her Past < Future tour summer hiatus). "Break It" was used in a Coca-Cola Zero commercial and the song reached number "3" on Oricon's weekly chart. The single has been certified Gold for shipment of 100,000 copies, as well as "Get Myself Back" being certified as a gold download to cellphones according to RIAJ. Read Less