''Thank You, Love'' (styled ''Thank you, Love'') is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by Japanese singer and songwriter

Kana Nishino is a Japanese Pop music, pop singer signed with Sony Music Entertainment Japan, SME Records' Newcome Inc. She debuted on February 20, 2008, with the single "I". Considered one of Japan's most popular songstresses of the late 2000s and 2010s, s ...

. It was released on June 22, 2011, by

SME Records , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

. Nishino acted as the album's primary lyricist, as she had on all of her preceding albums. ''Thank You, Love'' was created with the concept of a "warm album" and reflects Nishino's desire to create a work that includes positive elements. ''Thank You, Love'' marked new lyrical directions for Nishino: while ''Love One''. and ''

To Love To Love () is a 1968 Soviet romantic drama film directed by Mikhail Kalik and Inna Tumanyan. The film consists of four short stories, each of which asks the audience a question: "What is love?" Plot First Story On a rainy day, three couple ...

'' were solely centered on songs about romance, this work is unique in that it expresses things other than that.

Music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

reviewed ''Thank You, Love'' positively, commending Nishino's emotional delivery throughout. The album was successful in Japan, becoming her second number one album on the

Oricon Albums Chart The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon A ...

and selling almost 350,000 copies in Japan. It was also certified double platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan 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 pro ...

(RIAJ). ''Thank You, Love'' was promoted by four singles; " If," " Kimi tte," "Distance" and "Esperanza." every one of them performed well digitally, with the first two selling over a million full-length downloads each. All four tracks except "Alright" made it into the top ten on both the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

and ''Billboard'' single charts, and all topped the RIAJ paid music distribution chart, which is compiled by the RIAJ based on the number of downloads of full chaku-uta songs. Nishino helped promote the album on the tour Kanayan Tour 2011 ~ Summer~.

Background

It was released just one year after the second album ''

to LOVE To Love () is a 1968 Soviet romantic drama film directed by Mikhail Kalik and Inna Tumanyan. The film consists of four short stories, each of which asks the audience a question: "What is love?" Plot First Story On a rainy day, three couple ...

''. It contains 14 songs, including 5 singles released since her previous album. Like ''to LOVE'', the album starts with a "Prologue" and ends with an "Epilogue". The album was produced around April 2011 when Nishino graduated from

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

and took a break. When Nishino looked back at her life, she felt gratitude for the people around her and the "connection" with the fans who could meet her face in music works, blogs, and live performances. "It was because of these people that I strongly felt that I existed, so the title was "Thank you, Love" with gratitude."

Critical reception

''Thank you, Love'' received positive reviews from music critics. Haruna Takegawa of ''Hot Express'' stated, "Up until now, Nishino has expressed his emotions honestly and has garnered a lot of sympathy, but this work proves that she is now one step further." Takegawa also singled out the album's eleventh track "Alright" as an album highlight. Kana Yoshida of ''excitement music'' commented, "It's packed full of the wonders of loving people, the sadness, the sadness, and the importance of interacting with people."

Sales

''Thank you, Love'' debuted at number 1 on the Oricon Daily Ranking on June 21, 2011, selling 50,000 copies on the first day of availability. On the Oricon Weekly Albums Chart dated July 4, 2011, the record debuted at number 1 with first week sales of over 178,000 copies. The album also debuted at number 1 on the Billboard JAPAN Top Albums on the same day. It is reported that ''Thank you, Love'' sold 345,878 copies in Japan.

Background

Critical reception

Sales

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certification and sales

References