Arashi

In the closing years of the 1990s, the Tokyo-based quintet Arashi, whose name translates as “Storm,” was assembled by Johnny & Associates to mirror the Western boy-band wave then led by acts such as Westlife and Backstreet Boys. The group was positioned to sweep across Asia and succeeded in doing so throughout East Asia, sustaining an uncommonly extended career that saw them issue a new album—nearly every one of which debuted at number one—in all but a single year across nearly two decades. Their sound fused J-pop, J-rock, hip-hop, and R&B, allowing them to top Japanese charts while achieving platinum status in Taiwan and Korea with early releases that included the 2001 debut Arashi No. 1 Ichigou, the 2007 album Time, and the 2010 set Boku no Miteiru Fukei. Momentum carried into the following decade, yielding repeated multi-platinum, chart-topping projects that kept the band dominant nearly twenty years after formation. In 2019 the members declared an official hiatus scheduled to commence 31 December 2020, mapping out a year-long series of farewell concerts across Asia plus a performance at the National Stadium during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, events later disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Formed by the leading Japanese male-idol agency Johnny & Associates, Arashi made their first public appearance in Honolulu in 1999. On a television broadcast the members selected Satoshi Ohno as leader through a round of rock-paper-scissors; the lineup was completed by Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Their debut single, “A-RA-SHI,” served as the theme for the Volleyball World Cup staged in Japan that year and approached one million copies sold. From 1999 to 2001 the group recorded for Pony Canyon; after delivering the platinum-certified, chart-topping debut album Arashi No. 1 Ichigou: Arashi wa Arashi wo Yobu!, they moved to J-Storm, a label created expressly for them by Johnny & Associates. Under the new imprint the next two albums, Here We Go! (2002) and How’s It Going? (2003), both reached number two, after which every subsequent single and album topped the Japanese charts. Between 2002 and 2020 each single also functioned as a theme song for a film, drama, or anime series. The band further issued multiple DVDs, two additional singles compilations, and hosted numerous television and radio programs while its members appeared in various movies and series.

Arashi entered overseas markets in 2006 with the album Arashic, released in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, and South Korea, where it reached number one on the non-Korean albums chart; promotional shows took place in Taiwan and South Korea, though the Thailand date was canceled amid a political coup. Their ninth studio album, Time (2007), moved 190,000 units in its opening week and drew a combined audience of 200,000 across dome concerts in Osaka and Tokyo. Touring continued into 2008 with a five-dome Japanese run plus dates in Taipei, Seoul, and Shanghai; the group also earned strong prime-time ratings on the TBS network and occupied the top two positions on the Oricon yearly singles chart with “Truth”/“Kaze no Mukou He” at number one and “One Love” at number two—the first such achievement in nineteen years. Their eighth studio album, Dream Alive, ultimately surpassed 300,000 copies sold.

Save for 2009, Arashi maintained an annual album release schedule, consistently leading regional charts and accumulating further multi-platinum certifications, with at least three albums exceeding one million copies each; two topped Korea’s import chart and four reached number one in Taiwan. Their most successful project, the 2010 “comeback” album Boku no Miteiru Fukei, became their biggest seller to date. The double A-side single “I Seek”/“Daylight,” drawn from the 2016 album Are You Happy?, sold more than 800,000 copies and marked their strongest single performance since debut, both tracks serving as themes for television dramas featuring band members.

Following the sixteenth album, 2017’s Untitled, the group paused its yearly cycle to mark its twentieth anniversary. Plans included a fifty-date tour and the greatest-hits collection 5x20 All the Best! 1999-2019, which debuted at number one and surpassed one million copies. During the same period the members confirmed the impending hiatus beginning 31 December 2020. Ahead of that date they issued the documentary Arashi’s Diary ~ Voyage ~ and made their entire catalog available on streaming platforms. The COVID-19 outbreak, however, forced postponement of touring, unsettling the farewell arrangements.