Wikipedia

Ultra Blue

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ULTRA BLUE is an album by Utada Hikaru, released in 2006 (see 2006 in music). It debuted at #1 on the Oricon daily, weekly and monthly charts and sold 500,317 copies in the first week. ULTRA BLUE had sold more than one million copies worldwide and almost four million digital single tracks and ringtones according to EMI.[1] After two months of digital downloads, Utada remains in the top ten in Japan's largest online music store, iTunes Japan, suggesting that the EMI figures from July 13, are outdated.

Untitled

Promotion

Taiwanese promotion

This album is perhaps her heaviest promoted album in Taiwan since her compilation album, Utada Hikaru SINGLE COLLECTION VOL.1. Pre-order receipts were made available 2 weeks before the actual Taiwanese pressing of ULTRA BLUE. Those who pre-ordered received a very large-sized Japan imported ULTRA BLUE poster packaged in a transparent cylindrical tube. Commercials were aired often on buses, MRT stations, as well as local channels helping to promote the album, playing "BLUE" in the background. One of its tag-line was, "The whole world is waiting, Utada Hikaru, ULTRA BLUE" (this is a direct translation). Also, Toshiba-EMI of Taiwan collaborated with Yam.com and created a special ULTRA BLUE blog similar to Utada's Japanese blog. The website held an essay contest about "You and Utada Hikaru". Toshiba-EMI Taiwan also held a private premier listening press party by inviting an ambassador from the Japan branch of Toshiba-EMI to represent the absent Utada. For what seems to be the final wave of promotion, the company put together a short "BLUE" Promotional Video to air in between show blocks on various channels. The video consisted of pictures of the ULTRA BLUE booklet, the commercial clip of ULTRA BLUE and also a scene from the "COLORS" video.

North America promotion

After the physical CD was released in Japan on June 14, 2006, the album was made available on iTunes to Japan and other countries, including the United States and Canada, on June 28, 2006. It was also released on the UK edition of iTunes.

In Canada, the physical CD's for Ultra Blue and Utada Hikaru SINGLE COLLECTION VOL. 1 were released on July 11, 2006. [2] [3]

Track listing

  1. "This Is Love"
  2. "Keep Tryin'"
  3. "BLUE"
  4. "Nichiyō no Asa" (日曜の朝; lit. "Sunday Morning")
  5. "Making Love"
  6. "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" (誰かの願いが叶うころ; lit. "When Someone's Wish Comes True")
  7. "COLORS"
  8. "One Night Magic feat. Yamada Masashi" (lead vocalist of J-Rock band, The Back Horn)
  9. "Kairo" (海路; lit. "Sea Route")
  10. "WINGS"
  11. "Be My Last"
  12. "Eclipse (Interlude)"
  13. "Passion"

Singles

Digital singles

Sales chart

Oricon sales chart (Japan)

Release Chart Peak Position First Week Sales Sales Total Chart Run
14 June 2006 Oricon Daily Charts #1
14 June 2006 Oricon Weekly Charts #1 500,317 895,497 36 weeks
14 June 2006 Oricon Monthly Charts #1
14 June 2006 Oricon Yearly Charts #7 882,343

Trivia

  • "Nichiyō no Asa" is a reference to Christmas, 2005, which was a Sunday.
  • "Passion" was used as the second theme song for the PlayStation 2 game Kingdom Hearts II. The English version, called "Sanctuary", was used for the international release. The English version was written before the Japanese version.

References

  1. ^ Ultra Blue EMI-Report
  2. ^ ShopEMI.com - Ultra Blue on ShopEMI
  3. ^ ShopEMI.com - Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 1 on ShopEMI
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