Ayaka

Birth Name:Ayaka Iida 飯田 絢香 (lida ayaka)
Born : December 18, 1987
Origin: Moriguchi, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Genre(s): J-Pop
Occupation(s): Singer
Years active : 2006–present
Label(s) : Warner Music
Website : http://www.ayaka.tv/


Official career

2006

In January 2006, Ayaka recorded "I Believe" as the opening theme for the Japanese Drama, Rondo. At the time of its premiere, Rondo was one of Japan's highest rated dramas and is credited with exposing "I Believe" to wide audiences. The full single was first released as a downloadable only single and would go on to become one of the fastest downloadable song to reach 1,000,000 sales as well as becoming the 3rd highest selling downloadable debut single for a female artist.

"I Believe" was officially released on February 2, 2006 and debuted as the 3rd highest single of the week. The single would go on to stay in the top ten for six more weeks as well as selling a total of 220,000 copies in its entire chart run. An English cover of the song was used by Miki Ando in 2006 Skate America which Ando would go on to win. Ayaka would later perform the song live during the exhibition at the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships.

Ayaka's second single "melody ~Sounds Real~" would go on to have only moderate success on the Oricon charts. The single was limited to 50,000 copies, of which only approximately 10,000 were sold in its first week. "Melody ~Sounds Real~" peaked at number 14 on the Oricon charts and then steadily declined in both sales and chart position. When compared to her earlier songs, melody was a much more rock oriented song, a factor that earned her praise from various Japanese critics for her versatility. To date this is Ayaka's lowest selling single, but it was gone on to stay a while in the charts, slowly gaining sales, and has gotten past the 20,000 mark.

"Real Voice" was Ayaka's third single and was used as the ending theme to the Japanese Drama, Suppli. A B-Side single from "Melody ~Sounds Real~" known as "Blue Days" was also used as an insert song for the same show. "Real Voice" was released on July 17, 2006, selling 15,387 copies within its first week and charting as the 11th highest selling single of the week. To date the single has sold over 50,000 copies.

Weeks before the scheduled release of Ayaka's first album, "First Message", the album was canceled. In its place, the single "Mikazuki" was released as a rerecorded version of the same song from 2005. "Mikazuki" has become Ayaka's highest charting single, selling 40,091 copies within its first week and taking the highest spot on the Oricon weekly charts. The single would then go on to sale over 200,000 copies, making it one of the highest selling singles of the third quarter of 2006.

On November 1, 2006, Ayaka's first album "First Message" was finally released after months of push backs. It sold 350,580 copies within its first week, making it the highest selling album of the week as well as the highest selling debut album for a female artist in 7 years. The album went on to sell 1,003,412 copies and stayed within the top two positions on the Oricon charts for four weeks straight before being listed as the 13th highest selling album of 2006.

2007

On February 28, 2007, a new single was released. The song Winding Road was a collaboration with label mates Kobukuro and used to promote a new line of car. The single reached a peak position of #2 on the Oricon charts.

The 5th single from Ayaka was used as the ending theme to Last Love, a Japanese movie that was released one month prior to the single. Ayaka also performed Jewelry Day, among many other songs, at the Japanese leg of Live Earth in Tokyo on July 7, 2007.
Te o Tsunagō Promo

Ayaka's 6th single, 'Why", released on September 5th, was used for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, a PSP game by Square-Enix, as the theme song to the game.

At the end of 2007 Ayaka performed "Peace Loving People (special piano version)" in the annual music show Kōuhaku Uta Gassen.

2008

On February 29, 2008, her first starring live event, Power Of Music was held. On March 5, 2008, Ayaka's first single of 2008, Te wo Tsunagō / Ai o Utaō was released. It was a double A-side single, first track used as a theme song for the movie, Nobita and the Green Giant Legend 2008, and the second track was used for Beauté de Kosé's "Esprique Precious" commercial. Her second single of the year, Okaeri, was released in May 2008. Okaeri is used as the theme song of the drama Zettai Kareshi.

Her second album Sing to the Sky was released on June 25, 2008. It reached #2 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and has thus far sold over 500,000 copies.

Anata to, the second collaboration single with Kobukuro, was released on September 24, 2008. The single was released due to fan requests after hearing the song performed live in concert.

Ayaka sang 'Okaeri' at the 59th annual Kōuhaku Uta Gassen

2009

On April 22, 2009, ayaka will be releasing her second double A-side single "Yume wo Mikata ni / Koikogare te Mita Yume", almost seven months after her last single. Featuring two songs, "Yume wo Mikata ni" and "Koi Kogarete Mita Yume", the single will also include a live version of "Kimi ga Iru Kara" that was recorded from her live performance in February at Shibuya-AX. "Yume wo Mikata ni" is a part of the Benesse promotion campaigns, used to cheer high school students on in their studies. The single will come in two different versions, Limited and Regular.