''Deep River'' is the third studio album (fourth overall) released by American singer-songwriter

Hikaru Utada , who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan. Born in the United States to Japanese parent ...

, released on June 19, 2002. It sold just over 2.35 million copies in its first week of release, charting at number one on the weekly, monthly and yearly

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

charts. ''Deep River'' is ranked as Japan's fifth-highest album in debut sales, and eighth in the all-time album sales in Japan. The final track, "

Hikari may refer to: Places *Hikari Station, a station on Sanyō Main Line in Hikari, Yamaguchi * Hikari, Chiba, a former town in Sousa District, Chiba, Japan *Hikari, Yamaguchi, a city in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan People *Hikari (name), people and ...

", would be her first single to reach number one on the Oricon Weekly Singles chart three times, and the Japanese version of the theme song for Square Enix's RPG video game, ''

Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square (video game company), Square). It is a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company and is under the leadership of Tetsuya ...

''. The English version, "Simple and Clean", (released on her "

Colors Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

" single), also accompanied promotion of ''Kingdom Hearts'' in overseas versions. The album was cited by many fans and critics as Utada's most acclaimed work, as well as achieving the Triple Crown at the 17th Golden Disc Awards in Japan. According to the

IFPI The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 19 ...

, the album is listed at number 18 on the ''Top 50 Global Best Selling Albums'' for 2002.

Track listing

All songs were arranged by Kei Kawano and Hikaru Utada, except for the following: * 1. "Sakura Drops" – arrangement: Hikaru Utada and Kei Kawano (the order of the name was changed) * 7. "Tokyo Nights" – with string arrangement: Kei Kawano * 8. "A.S.A.P." – arrangement: Yuichiro Honda, additional rhythm track arrangement: Kei Kawano and Hikaru Utada * 10. "Final Distance" – with string arrangement: Neko Saito

Singles

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album’s

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

Vocals

– lead vocals, backing vocals (all tracks)

Instrumentation

Production

* Hikaru Utada – songwriting (all tracks), executive production * Utada Sking Teruzane – executive production * Miyake Akira – executive production

Technical

Artwork

* Kiriya Kazuaki – art direction, photography * Cho Kenji – art direction, design * Mayama Yuki – styling * Inagaki Ryoji – hair, make-up

Charts

Japan (

)

References

{{Authority control Hikaru Utada albums 2002 albums Japanese-language albums Universal Music Japan albums