"Don't U Ever Stop" is the seventh single by Japanese

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Ma ...

, KAT-TUN, and the first single from their fourth studio album, '' Break the Records: By You & For You''. The single was released in four editions and as such features four different covers; the three limited editions featured two solo songs (and its instrumental tracks) from two members each.Don't U Ever Stop
, Wiki.theppn; retrieved on July 29, 2008. The first single with no tie-ins to commercials or television dramas since " Real Face", "Don't U Ever Stop" was released on May 14, 2008 and became KAT-TUN's seventh consecutive single to debut at number 1. The single was the eight bestselling single in Japan according to Oricon for 2008.

Song information

The single is co-written by SPIN, a frequent songwriter for KAT-TUN who is also known for writing hit singles for Arashi (" Kitto Daijōbu", " Love so sweet", " Pikanchi Double" and "

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''hero ...

" all reached number 1). The track's music was composed by Shusui, Fredrik Hult, Carl Utbult and additional arrangement was done by Yukihide "YT" Takiyama. The solo tracks featured on the three limited editions are "w/o notice??" (sung by

Kazuya Kamenashi is a Japanese singer, actor, host, producer, magazine model and a member of KAT-TUN. Born and raised in Edogawa, Tokyo, he joined the Japanese talent agency, Johnny & Associates, at the age of 12. He was drafted as a member and co-lead vocalist ...

), "" ( Junnosuke Taguchi), "LOVEJUICE" (

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. Bio ...

), "PARASITE" ( Koki Tanaka), "" ( Tatsuya Ueda) and "SMACK" ( Yuichi Nakamaru).

Release and promotion

KAT-TUN performed the song on television for the first time on ''

Music Station is a Japanese music television program. Broadcasting live weekly on TV Asahi since October 24, 1986, it currently airs from 9PM-10PM on Fridays. The program is also colloquially known as , , and . The show is currently syndicated throughout th ...

'' on April 25, 2008 and again on May 2, 2008. The group returned to the show on May 16 to sing it for the third time as part of a medley which included each of their respective solo songs. On May 11, Taguchi and Ueda appeared and performed the song on their kōhai

Hey! Say! JUMP Hey! Say! JUMP (HSJ or JUMP) is an eight-member Japanese boy band under the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates. The group is split into two sub-groups: Hey! Say! BEST and Hey! Say! 7. In Japan they sold more than 10 million physical ...

's variety show, ''Hi! Hey! Say'', while Tanaka was a guest performer on HSJ's other show, ''Show wa Hey! Say!'', the day after. All three rejoined the rest of the group on May 12 to perform on

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 ...

's ''

Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ ''Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ'' was a Japanese music variety show on Fuji Television hosted by the comedy duo Downtown, which consists of Hitoshi Matsumoto and Masatoshi Hamada. It is a very popular show with comical hosts who like to pick on t ...

''. Two days later, the band debuted the song on their own show, '' Cartoon KAT-TUN''—the same day the single was released in Japan. On May 15, KAT-TUN made their fourth appearance on

SMAP SMAP was a Japanese boy band, composed of Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori. The group was created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Johnny & Associates, originally as a ...

member Masahiro Nakai's ''

Utaban was a Japanese music variety show, broadcast weekly from October 15, 1996 until March 23, 2010 on TBS. The name of the show is an abbreviation of , meaning "music program". A special version of the show, running for two hours, was occasionally ai ...

'' and a day later, sang on '' Shounen Club Premium''.

Chart performance

In its first week of release, the single reportedly sold over 381,672 copies and knocked off NEWS' "Summer Time" from the top spot on Oricon's singles chart. It also debuted at number 1 on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

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 Thu ...

. The song's total reported sales currently stand at 447,971 copies. The song was the second best-selling single for the first half of 2008 behind Thelma Aoyama's " Soba ni Iru ne" and later ranked as the eighth bestselling single of the year by Oricon and was later 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 ...

denoting over 250,000 shipments. The song was honored at the 23rd Japan Gold Disc Awards when it placed on the "Best 10 Music Singles (Domestic)" list alongside " Lips".EXILE dominates music sales for first half '08
Tokyograph; retrieved on July 29, 2008.
retrieved on October 1, 2009.

Track listings

* Regular edition track listing * Limited edition 1 track listing * Limited edition 2 track listing * Limited edition 3 track listing

Sales and certifications

References

{{authority control KAT-TUN songs 2008 singles Oricon Weekly number-one singles Billboard Japan Hot 100 number-one singles 2008 songs Songs written by Koki Tanaka