is a song by the Japanese band
Greeeen
Gre4n Boyz (stylized as GRe4N BOYZ), until March 2024 named Greeeen (stylized as GReeeeN), is a Japanese all-male vocal group from Kōriyama in Fukushima Prefecture, comprising the four members: HIDE, navi, 92 (read as "kuni"), and SOH.
They de ...
(now Gre4n Boyz). It was released on May 16, 2007.
Release and reception
"Ai Uta" was released on May 16, 2007, as the band's third single.
The song was later included in the band's first album ''
Ā, Domo. Hajimemashite''. Greeeen's label,
Nayutawave Records, specifically marketed the song towards junior and senior high school students in an attempt to appeal to them, as they estimated that 85% of Greeeen fans were high schoolers.
The song quickly rose to popularity, selling 250,000 copies. The ''
chaku-uta'' version of the song was downloaded 2 million times in two months.
"Ai Uta" later became the third best-selling multi-format single of 2007 in Japan with over 6.2 million combined sales.
It ranked second on Recochoku's 2019 "Heisei Download Ranking", just behind "
Kiseki", another one of the band's songs. The song surpassed 100 million streams on ''
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 fr ...
'' in February 2024, making it the ninth song from the 2000s to do so.
The song ranked as the ninth most played 2000s song on Spotify Japan in 2022. It peaked on Oricon's weekly chart in May 2007 at second.
At the 22nd Japan Gold Disc Awards, Greeeen won the category of New Artist of the Year for the song. The song was ranked as the third highest certified song 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 ...
, with 2.5 million downloads tracked between 2007 and 2009. In a survey conducted by Oricon in 2007 about "heart-throbbing love songs that are perfect for autumn and will liven up your romance", the song ranked first; the survey wrote that the song was "making girls' heart fluttered."
The song was used as the sixth ending theme covered by
Rie Takahashi
is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with 81 Produce. A member of the musical unit Earphones, she had a leading role in the anime series '' Seiyu's Life!''. She voiced Megumin in '' KonoSuba'', Emilia in '' Re:Zero'', Takagi in ...
for the 2018 anime ''
Teasing Master Takagi-san'', and the second ending theme covered by
Manaka Iwami for the 2023 anime ''
The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten''. The song was also covered by
Whiteeeen for the ending theme of the live-action adaptation of the manga ''
Strobe Edge''.
A live-action adaptation of the song entitled was announced in April 2018 and premiered on January 25, 2019, in Japan on
Line Live, starring
Ryusei Yokohama. It was directed by Taisuke Kawamura and the script was written by Greeeeen with Shimizu Tadashi. The film was distributed by
Toei.
Chart
See also
*
List of best-selling singles in Japan
In 2007, Japan had the second largest music market in the world. In 1962, Tokushin music reports was founded and became the leading provider of music sales in Japan. However their reports and charts are only available to industry insiders and are ...
*
Kiseki (Greeeen song)
is the 7th single released by Greeeen on May 28, 2008. The term "Kiseki" is the kakekotoba of and in the lyrics of the song.
It reached the number-one position on the Japanese Oricon weekly charts for 2 weeks and physically sold over 500,000 co ...
References
{{Greeeen
Songs in Japanese
2007 singles
Universal Music Japan singles
2007 songs
Live-action films based on song
Songs by Gre4N Boyz