A Song for ××

A Song for ××
A black-and-white up-close shot of Ayumi Hamasaki's face looking into the camera.
Studio album by Ayumi Hamasaki
Released January 1, 1999 (1999-01-01)
Recorded 1998
Genre Pop
Length 70:38
Label Avex Trax
Producer Max Matsuura
Ayumi Hamasaki chronology
Nothing from Nothing
(1995)
A Song for ××
(1999)
Loveppears
(1999)
Singles from A Song for ××
  1. "Poker Face"
    Released: April 8, 1998
  2. "You"
    Released: June 10, 1998
  3. "Trust"
    Released: August 5, 1998
  4. "For My Dear..."
    Released: October 7, 1998
  5. "Depend on You"
    Released: December 9, 1998
Professional ratings
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A Song for ×× (the "××" is silent) is the major-label debut album and second album overall by Japanese pop artist Ayumi Hamasaki, released January 1, 1999 by Avex Trax. Primarily a rock-pop album, it features musical composition and arrangements by Yasuhiko Hoshino, Mitsuru Igarashi, and others. Hamasaki acted as the album's sole lyricist, a notable feat for a pop artist her age at the time.

"Poker Face" was released as the album's lead single on April 8, 1998. Entering the Oricon chart at number twenty, it became her first charting single. Four further singles were released to promote A Song for ××: "You", "Trust", "For My Dear...", and Depend on You". All of them were top twenty hits in Japan, with the latter three reaching the top ten.

The album debuted atop the Oricon Charts with first week sales of 548,210 copies; it topped the chart for five weeks, a remarkable feat for a debut album. Its high first week sales were partly due to its debut sales being the first and second week sales combined (Oricon only has 51 weeks instead of 52). The album charted for 63 weeks and was certified Million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for shipments exceeding one million copies in the country. As of 2008, A Song for ×× is Japan's 139th best selling album of all time.[1]

Track list

All lyrics written by Ayumi Hamasaki. 

CD
No. TitleMusicArranger(s) Length
1. "Prologue" (Instrumental)Yasuhiko HoshinoHoshino 1:25
2. "A Song for ××"  HoshinoHoshino 4:44
3. "Hana"  HoshinoHoshino 4:07
4. "Friend"  HoshinoAkimitsu Honma 4:11
5. "Friend II"  Mitsuru IgarashiIgarashi 3:59
6. "Poker Face"  HoshinoHonma 4:41
7. "Wishing"  Hideaki KuwabaraHonma 4:29
8. "You"  HoshinoHonma 4:46
9. "As If..."  Kazuhito KikuchiHonma 5:36
10. "Powder Snow"  KuwabaraHonma 5:27
11. "Trust"  Takashi KimuraHonma, Kimura 4:48
12. "Depend on You"  KikuchiHonma, Takashi Morio 4:20
13. "Signal"  KuwabaraHonma 4:25
14. "From Your Letter"  Akio TogashiTogashi 4:38
15. "For My Dear..."  HoshinoHoshino 4:33
16. "Present"  HoshinoHoshino 4:31

Release history

Region Date Format Catalogue Number
Japan January 1, 1999 CD AVCD-11691
Taiwan
Hong Kong
China December 25, 2005 CD AVTCD-95224CB
  • SCD-822

Charts

Oricon Sales Chart (Japan)
Release Chart Peak position First Week Sales Sales total Chart run
January 1, 1999 Oricon Daily Albums Chart 1
Oricon Weekly Albums Chart 1 548,210 1,451,910 63
Oricon Monthly Albums Chart 1
Oricon Yearly Albums Chart 15

Singles

Date Title Peak Position Weeks Sales
8 April 1998 Poker Face 20 6 weeks 43,150
10 June 1998 You 19 10 weeks 78,260
5 August 1998 Trust 9 10 weeks 181,820
7 October 1998 For My Dear... 9 7 weeks 74,440
9 December 1998 Depend on You 6 9 weeks 131,460
28 February 2001 Poker Face (12 cm re-release) 31 2 weeks 24,000
You (12 cm re-release) 25 6 weeks 36,000
Trust (12 cm re-release) 29 2 weeks 24,000
For My Dear... (12 cm re-release) 33 2 weeks 23,000
Depend on You (12 cm re-release) 27 3 weeks 28,000

Total Album and Single Sales: 2,0960,040

References

  1. 歴代アルバムランキング
Preceded by
Moment by Speed
Oricon Weekly number-one album (first run)
December 21, 1998 – January 10, 1999 (3 weeks)
Succeeded by
People of the World by J-Friends
Preceded by
People of the World by J-Friends
Oricon Weekly number-one album (second run)
January 18, 1999 – January 31, 1999 (2 weeks)
Succeeded by
Discovery by Mr. Children
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