Orange Range

Orange Range formed in Okinawa, Japan, in 2001. Although initially a cover band, the group began playing original music inspired by American trends like pop and rock. Orange Range first introduced this sound with the debut single "Michishirube/Midnight Gauge" in 2002. Although the song wasn't a hit, "Michishirube/Midnight Gauge" was reissued in 2004, after Orange Range signed with Sony Music. The support of a major label proved to be integral to the band's success, with "Michishirube/Midnight Gauge" becoming the group's first Number 1 hit on the Oricon chart. Orange Range remained at the top of the Japanese charts throughout 2005 and 2006, during which time the band released eight consecutive Number 1. This record-breaking run of chart-topping singles included "Loco Lotion," "Please! Señorita," and "Kizuna." Meanwhile, albums like 2004's MusiQ and 2005's Natural also climbed to Number 1, making Orange Range one of the decade's most successful rock bands in Japan. The group continued to top the charts with subsequent releases like Range (2007) and Panic Fancy (2008), although Orange Range's run of Top 10 singles had dried up by the end of the decade. Nonetheless, the band enjoyed success during the 2010s with albums like 2012's Neo Pop Standard, 2013's Spark, and 2018's Eleven Piece, all of which cracked the Top 20. In 2022, more than 20 years after the band's formation, Orange Range released its twelfth studio album, Double Circle.