is the 25th single by Japanese entertainer Miho Nakayama and a collaboration with the band

Wands A wand is a thin, straight, hand-held stick of wood, ivory, or metal. Wand or magic wand may also refer to: People * Günter Wand, a German orchestra conductor and composer * Hart Wand, an early white American blues musician and composer from Ok ...

. Written by Show Wesugi, Nakayama, and

Tetsurō Oda is a Japanese composer, record producer, and singer-songwriter. Oda gained prominence as a songwriter in Japan during the late 1980s. He composed over 50 top-ten hit singles on the Japanese Oricon chart during the 1990s, including 12 that have ...

, the single was released on October 28, 1992, by King Records.

Background and release

"Sekaijū no Dare Yori Kitto" was co-produced by

Daiko Nagato is a Japanese musical producer, musical arranger, writer and composer. He's more known as a founder of music company Being Inc., which provided million seller hits during the 1990s and with his music company provided more than 80 theme songs for ...

, who selected it from a stock of

's compositions.

Takeshi Hayama is a Japanese musical arranger and guitarist under Being Inc. records. Biography In 1978, he debuted with his own blues band under Trio Records. In 1990s he entered to Being recording agency. Takeshi becomes the main arranger of Japanese s ...

gave it an 8-beat arrangement. The main single has Nakayama on lead vocals with Wands vocalist Show Wesugi on backing vocals. The B-side, "Sekaijū no Dare Yori Kitto (Part II)", was rearranged as a slow ballad with the vocal roles reversed. The song was used as the theme song of the

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

drama series , which also starred Nakayama. It was also used as a hold tone for a line of

Sanyo , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiaries and affiliates, and was founded by ...

cordless phones in 1995. "Sekaijū no Dare Yori Kitto" became Nakayama's seventh No. 1 and Wands' second No. 1 on

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 ...

's weekly singles chart. It sold over 1,833,000 copies and was certified Quadruple Platinum by the RIAJ, making it Nakayama's biggest-selling single of her career. The song was also certified Platinum in Download Sales by the RIAJ in December 2020. Nakayama and Wands performed the song on the 43rd ''

Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...

'' in 1992.

Other versions

Wands re-recorded the song on their 1993 album ''

Toki no Tobira is the first full-length studio album by Japanese rock band Wands, released by B-Gram Records on April 17, 1993. It features the No. 1 singles "Toki no Tobira", "Motto Tsuyoku Kimi wo Dakishimetara", and "Sekaijū no Dare Yori Kitto", the latter c ...

'', with a rearrangement by

Masao Akashi is a Japanese musical arranger in distributors Being Inc., mainly in their label B-Gram Records. In 1988, he debuted as arranger in debut single "Dakara Sono Te o Hanashite" by Japanese hard-rock band B'z. Until 1998 his arrangement work has b ...

and backing vocals by

Keiko Utoku is a Japanese singer and songwriter under UK Sweet label. Biography Keiko made her debut with a chorus part in the band B.B.Queens then joined with J-pop female band Mi-Ke from 1991 to 1993, before starting a solo career. As a child, Utoku liste ...

. A live version of the song is included in the band's 2000 compilation album '' Best of Wands History''. In 2020, the band with new vocalist Daishi Uehara self-covered the song as on their fourth album '' Burn the Secret''.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Show Wesugi and Miho Nakayama; all music is composed by

; all music is arranged by

Charts

Weekly charts Year-end charts

Certification

Awards

* 7th Japan Gold Disc Awards: Best 5 Single Award * 12th JASRAC Awards: Gold Award

Noriko Sakai version

"Sekaijū no Dare Yori Kitto" was covered by

Noriko Sakai is a Japanese given name for females. Possible writings * 徳子, "benevolence child" * 法子, "method, law child" * 則子, "rule child" * 紀子, "chronicle child" * 教子, "teach child" * 範子, "pattern child" * 典子, "rule, precedent, ...

as her 36th single, released by

Victor Entertainment , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ente ...

on August 22, 2007. The song was used in a series of

Toyota Noah The is a minivan with two rear sliding doors built by Toyota and sold mainly in Asian countries. It is positioned below the Estima and Alphard, and above the Sienta. Being a front-wheel drive-based vehicle, it replaces the rear-wheel drive-b ...

commercials that year. The B-side is a re-recording of her 1995 single " Aoi Usagi", which was also composed by Oda. The single peaked at No. 44 on

's singles chart This was her last single before she and her then-husband Yūichi Takasō were involved in a drug scandal in 2009.

Track listing

All music is composed by

and arranged by Takayuki Hijikata.

Charts

Other cover versions

Sammi Cheng Sammi Cheng Sau-man (; born 19 August 1972) is a Hong Kong singer and actress. She is considered one of the most prominent female singers in Hong Kong, with album sales of over million copies throughout Asia. Most notably in the 1990s, she was dub ...

covered the song in Cantonese as "Only You Are Irreplaceable" (唯獨你是不可取替) in her 1997 concert ''Sammi Star Show 97’ Live''. This version appeared in many of her albums, including ''Sammi vs. Sammi'' (2004), ''True Legend 101'' (2013), and ''Unforgettable'' (2016).

Andy Hui Andy Hui Chi-on (born 12 August 1967) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. Hui is considered one of the most successful Hong Kong singers, with an extensive list of Cantonese and Mandarin hits to his credit. Early life Hui's mother is Vietnamese ...

has also covered the song; sometimes as a duet with Cheng. *

Ryoko Shiraishi is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Kashiba, Nara. She is affiliated with Aoni Production. Possessing a husky voice, Shiraishi voices young to teenage men as well as young girls and teenage women. However, in a break from tradition, on ...

and Junichi Miyake covered the song on the 2006 drama CD ''Mansuri Moe Chapter 6: Happy! Valentine''. *

Hitomi Shimatani is a Japanese pop singer signed to the Avex Trax label. Shimatani started her career as an Enka singer with the release of her debut single in 1999, but later decided to get into the dance/pop style for her music. Shimatani's music has also a ...

covered the song on the 2006 various artists cover album ''Beautiful Woman''. *

self-covered the song on his 2006 cover album ''Melodies'' and 2009 cover album ''Songs''. * Cover Lover Project covered the song on the 2007 cover album ''The Best of Bossa Covers: Seishun Pop''. * Milini Khan ( Chaka Khan's daughter) covered the song in English on the 2008 various artists cover album ''E35: Eigo de Utaou J-pop''. * Osamu Sakata and his daughter Megumi Sakata covered the song on the 2008 various artists cover album ''Kodomo to Utaitai! Family Hit Songs''. * Yasushi Nakanishi covered the song on his 2008 cover album ''Standards 3''. *

Junichi Inagaki is a Japanese popular music singer. Biography Inagaki was born and raised in Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture, and graduated from Miyagi Prefectural Technical High School. One of his earliest musical influences was Stevie Wonder. W ...

covered the song with

Keiko Terada is a Japanese rock singer. She was co-founder and lead singer of the successful Japanese female hard rock and heavy metal band Show-Ya from 1982 to 1991, before going solo. On her solo albums she expanded from hard rock and heavy metal to blu ...

on his 2009 duet cover album ''Otoko to Onna 2''. * Eric Martin and

Debbie Gibson Deborah Ann Gibson (born August 31, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Gibson released her debut album '' Out of the Blue'' in 1987, which spawned several international hits, later being certified triple plati ...

covered the song in English in two vocal arrangements; The "Mr. Vocalist Version" was included on Martin's 2010 cover album '' Mr. Vocalist 3'', while the "Ms. Vocalist Version" was featured on Gibson's 2010 cover album '' Ms. Vocalist''. A solo version by Martin was included on the bonus disc of his 2011 compilation album '' Mr. Vocalist Best''. * Hideaki Tokunaga covered the song on his 2011 compilation album ''Vocalist & Ballade Best''. * jyA-Me covered the song with Jun (Cliff Edge) on her 2013 cover album ''With Me: Duet Cover''. * Nanase Aikawa covered the song on the 2015 tribute album ''Treasure Box: Tetsuro Oda Songs''. *

Daigo Daigo may refer to: Buddhism *Daigo (Zen) (大悟), a Buddhist term meaning ''great enlightenment'' or ''great realization'' *Daigo (Shōbōgenzō) (大悟), or ''Great Realization'', a book in Eihei Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō *Daigo Temple (醍醐寺 ...

covered the song on his 2018 cover album ''Deing''. *

Mone Kamishiraishi is a Japanese actress and singer. She is the older sister of actress and singer Moka Kamishiraishi. Biography Born in Kagoshima, Her family lived in Mexico for three years due to her father's work. She can speak English and a little bit of Spa ...

covered the song on her 2021 cover album ''Ano Uta 2''.

References

External links

;Miho Nakayama and Wands version * * * ;Noriko Sakai version * * {{Authority control 1992 singles 1992 songs 2007 singles Japanese-language songs Japanese television drama theme songs Miho Nakayama songs King Records (Japan) singles Victor Entertainment singles Songs written by Tetsurō Oda Oricon Weekly number-one singles