"Eternal" is the first solo single by Japanese singer-songwriter and former

KAT-TUN is a Japanese boy band formed under Johnny & Associates (Johnny's) in 2001. The group's name was originally an acronym based on the first letter of each member's family name: Kazuya Kamenashi, Jin Akanishi, Junnosuke Taguchi, Koki Tanaka, ...

member

Jin Akanishi is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and actor. He has been active since 1998 as one of the two lead vocalists of the J-pop boy-band KAT-TUN before starting a solo career in 2009. Akanishi has also acted in several films and dramas. Biog ...

, released on March 2, 2011 by

Warner Music Japan Warner Music Group's labels include the following. Flagship labels *Atlantic Records * Elektra Records *Parlophone Records * Warner Records Atlantic Records Group * 1st & 15th Entertainment * All Money In * Artist Partners Group * Asylum ...

. It topped both

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 ...

and '' Billboard'' Japan

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

singles charts.

Background

In February 2010 Akanishi held over 30 concerts titled "You & Jin" in Japan, while in June had 3 sold-out shows at

Club Nokia Club Nokia was a mobile internet digital distribution portal, similar to an App Store, operated by Nokia to provide special offers, paid-for ringtones, picture messages and game content directly to members. Following resistance from its mobile ope ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. In July was announced that he would permanently leave the group KAT-TUN, becoming the first solo artist of

Johnny & Associates is a Japanese talent agency, formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which trains and promotes groups of male entertainers known as . History 1962–1989 In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group, Johnnys. In its early days, Kitagawa's agency rente ...

to perform in the United States. In November was held tour "Yellow Gold Tour 3010", named after the tour's title song "Yellow Gold", and the venues included were

Rosemont Theatre The Rosemont Theatre is a concert hall in Rosemont, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The venue, which has seats for 4,400 people, opened in 1995 and hosts many different musical artists and shows. It is located near O'Hare International Airport, F ...

in Rosemont,

The Warfield The Warfield Theatre, colloquially referred to as The Warfield, is a 2,300-seat music venue located in San Francisco, California. It was built as a vaudeville theater and opened as the '' Loews Warfield'' on May 13, 1922. History In the 1920s, ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

House of Blues House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers''. The first location opened at ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, Club Nokia in Los Angeles, and MTV Iggy Studio and Best Buy Theater in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Akanishi signed a global deal with

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

in December 2010.

Release

The single was released in standard and limited editions. The limited edition A comes with a bonus DVD with music video of "Eternal" and its making-of plus cover photo shooting from the video making, while limited edition B comes with a 24-page special photo booklet. They both feature an alternate cover artwork.

Chart performance

The single was released on March 2, 2011 by Warner Music Japan, and on its debuting first day it topped the

daily singles chart with 161,000 copies sold. By the end of the week it sold 217,000 copies, marking the first time a solo artist’s first week sales exceeded 200,000 in 2 years (the last time was in 2009 when Yusuke’s "Himawari" sold 219,000 copies), It was also the best-selling single of the month, and as it charted for twelve weeks, it was the 8th best-selling single with 241,630 copies sold in the first six-months. By the end of the year it was reported by Oricon that it was 23rd best-selling single, and was certified platinum by

RIAJ The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include p ...

denoting over 250,000 shipments. It has also peaked at number one on the ''Billboard''

Japan Hot 100 The ''Billboard Japan'' Hot 100 is a record chart in Japan for songs. It has been compiled by ''Billboard Japan'' and '' Hanshin Contents Link'' since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at Billboard-japan.com ( JST) and every Thur ...

and Hot Singles Sales, as well number six on Hot Top Airplay.

Track listing

Charts

References

{{authority control 2011 singles 2011 songs Billboard Japan Hot 100 number-one singles Jin Akanishi songs Oricon Weekly number-one singles Warner Music Japan singles Songs written by Jin Akanishi