"To Be Free" is a song recorded by Japanese boy band

Arashi is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15, 1999 ...

. It was released on 7 July 2010 through their record label

J Storm is a Japanese music and film company owned by Johnny & Associates. It was established on November 12, 2001, initially as a label for the Johnny's group, Arashi, after which it was named. Aside from producing and releasing CDs and DVDs, the co ...

. "To Be Free" was the CM song for the

Asahi Soft Drinks is a soft drink company founded in 1982 and headquartered in the Azuma-bashi district of Sumida, Tokyo, Japan. It is a subsidiary of Asahi Breweries. The company sponsors the Asahi Soft Drinks Challengers, an American football team in the Japane ...

Mitsuya Cider is a Japanese carbonated soft drink, created in 1884 and acquired by Asahi Soft Drinks in 1972. While branded as a "cider", the Cider#East Asia, East Asian use of "cider" refers to a very different drink from that typically referred to in Eng ...

commercials, which starred Arashi member

Sho Sakurai (born January 25, 1982) is a Japanese singer, songwriter, rapper, actor, news anchor, host and former radio host. He is a member of the boy band Arashi. Sakurai began his career in the entertainment industry when he joined the Japanese talent a ...

. Only one version of the physical single was released, containing the song's instrumental track and a DVD.

Track listing

Commercial performance

The single debuted at number one on the

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 ...

daily singles chart with initial sales of 180,000 copies. On the week ending 13 July 2010, "To Be Free" placed number one on the weekly singles chart, selling 426,000 copies in its first week of release. It became the group's twentieth consecutive number-one single on the chart (since their 2004 single "

Pikanchi Double "Pikanchi Double" (stylized as PIKA★★NCHI DOUBLE) is the twelfth single of the Japanese boy band Arashi is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno ...

"). Together with member

Satoshi Ohno is a Japanese idol, singer, actor, radio host, artist, dancer, and choreographer. He is the lead vocalist and leader of the boy band Arashi, hence his nickname . Ohno began his career in the entertainment industry when he joined the Japanese ta ...

's solo single , which was released on the same day as "To Be Free", Arashi and Ohno accomplished the rare feat of a group and a solo artist from the group simultaneously taking the top two spots for the first time in nearly ten years. "To Be Free" entered the ''

Billboard Japan ''Billboard Japan'' is a sister organization of the U.S.-based music magazine ''Billboard''. It is operated by the Japanese Osaka-based company Hanshin Contents Link (a subsidiary of Hanshin Electric Railway), holding an exclusive licence from ''Bi ...

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 ...

chart on the week ending 28 June 2010. It peaked at number one on 19 July 2010, and remained number one for two consecutive weeks. According to

, "To Be Free" was the tenth best-selling single of 2010 in Japan. It placed ninth on the year-end Japan Hot 100 chart. The single was certified Double Platinum for shipments of 500,000 units.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

Product information
2010 singles Arashi songs Billboard Japan Hot 100 number-one singles Oricon Weekly number-one singles 2010 songs J Storm singles Songs written by Samuel Waermö {{2010s-Japan-single-stub