AAA

The J-pop group AAA formed in 2005 and reached its commercial peak during the following decade, when albums like 2013's Eighth Wonder and 2017's Way of Glory became Number 1 hits on the Oricon Albums Chart. The group's debut single, "Blood on Fire," was released in September 2005 and became a Top 10 hit, earning AAA the "Best Newcomer Award" at the 47th Japan Record Awards later that year. One year later, the group's female lead singer, Uno, appeared in the Hollywood film The Grudge 2, which helped raise the band's international profile. After releasing albums like 2006's Attack and 2007's Around, AAA earned its first Number 1 hit with "Mirage," which topped the Oricon Singles Chart and reached Number 2 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart in 2008. During the following 10 years, AAA released more than 30 consecutive Top 10 hits, earning gold certifications for the chart-topping double single "Aitai Riyū / Dream After Dream" (2010), the Number 3 hit "Makenai Kokoro" (2010), and the 2014 releases "Wake Up!" and "Sayonara no Mae ni." Albums like 2014's Gold Symphony, 2017's Way of Glory, and 2018's Color a Life all went gold, too, while also peaked at Number 1 in Japan. The group's membership proved to be unstable during the latter half of the 2010s, with Chiaki Ito and Naoya Urata both leaving the lineup after spending more than a decade with AAA. The group then embarked upon an indefinite hiatus in 2020.