To Love

To Love (stylized as to LOVE) is Japanese R&B singer-lyricist Kana Nishino's second studio album. It was released on June 23, 2010, by SME Records. Beginning sometime in 2009, the album's production was handled by several music producers, such as Jeff Miyahara, Giorgio Cancemi, Daniel Sherman, Mats Lie Skåre, ViVi, Andreas Levander, among others. It also features a guest appearance from Japanese hip-hop and reggae musician Minmi. Nishino contributed towards the album as the executive songwriter. to LOVE is primarily a J-pop album with numerous elements of dance-pop, pop rock, R&B, electropop, adult contemporary, and pop ballads. The album spawned four Oricon Top 10 singles, "Motto...", "Dear.../Maybe", "Best Friend" and "Aitakute Aitakute". All of the singles went on to be certified "million" for full song downloads of over 1 million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), establishing Nishino as a dominant force on music charts and digital platforms. "Aitakute Aitakute" in particular is one of the best-selling multi-format singles in Japan with total sales of excess 5,097,000 (5,000,000 downloads and 97,000 physical units). A commercial success, to LOVE became Nishino's first number-one album in Japan, premiring at the top spot with first week sales of 290,048 units. By the end of 2010, to LOVE sold 645,417 units and became the third best-selling album of the year in Japan behind Ikimonogakari's Ikimonobakari: Members Best Selection and Arashi's Boku no Miteiru Fūkei. In its astonishing 104-week chart run, to LOVE went on to sell an additional 66,769 units in 2011, and 15,211 more in 2012. This is Nishino's best selling album, with 727,945 units sold in total. Background "To Love" is Nishino's first album released after she solidified her popularity in the digital market. Despite Nishino's initial singles for her first album, Love One., not seeing much success, the songs promoted around the album's release ("Tōkutemo" feat. Wise, "Kimi ni Aitaku Naru Kara" and "Kimi no Koe o" feat. Verbal (M-Flo)) were gradual hits in the digital market. Since then, all of her singles have hit No. 1 on RIAJ's Digital Track Chart, which tracks full-length song downloads to cellphones. "Best Friend" stayed at No. 1 for three consecutive weeks, while "Aitakute Aitakute" and "Motto..." reached No. 1 for two.