Junko Sakurada - Musical Accomplishments

Musical Accomplishments

Throughout the 1970s she released a string of hit singles; nine top 5 singles, and in total eighteen top 10 singles of which Hajimete No Dekigoto (First Affair) sold best, grossing over 527,000 copies according to Oricon and peaking at number one. After winning the 4th edition of the Star Tanjō! contest in 1972, with highest ever points and jury votes, she released her first single in February 1973 called "Tenshi Mo Yume Miru" (The Dreams of an Angel) which was written by Yu Aku, and sold over 120,000 copies while peaking at number 12. With the release of her third single, "Watashi No Aoi Tori" (My Bluebird), she won the prestigious Best Newcomer award the 15th edition of the Japan Record Award. In the winter of 1973 following 1974 the single "Hana Monogatari" (Flower Fairy Tales) was her first top ten hit single, which sold over 237,000 copies. She participated for the first time at the 25th edition of the Kōhaku Uta Gassen festival in 1974, with her hit single "Kiiroi Ribbon" (Yellow Ribbon). She would perform for a total of 9 times at the festival.

Following the succes of her single "Hajimete No Dekigoto", the song "Hitori Aruki" (Walking Alone) (which was the theme song for her first ever movie production "Spoon Ippai No Shiawase" (Spoonful of Happiness) was released in March 1975 and peaked at number 4, grossing over 350,000 copies. She was the best selling Japanese female musical artist of 1975, and 4th best selling of 1976. In the summer of 1975 the single "Juushichi No Natsu" (Seventeen Summers) was released, and became her second best selling single; grossing over 404,000 copies and peaking at number 2 on the Oricon charts. At the 17th edition of the Japan Record Awards "Juushichi No Natsu" won her the award for most popular artist voted by the public. In the fall of the same year she was awarded at the 6th edition of the Japan Music Awards for her single "Tenshi No Kuchibiru" (Lips of an Angel), which sold over 281,000 copies and peaked at number 4 on the charts.

After scoring a string of hits in 1976 and 1977 (most notably "Natsu Ni Giyojin" (Beware of the Summer) which sold 360,000 copies, "Ki Ga Tsuite Yo" (I Noticed) which sold 286,000 copies and "Kimagure Venus" (Whimsical Venus) which sold 210,000 copies) she was again awarded at the 20th edition of the Japan Record Awards for her single "Shiawase Shibai" (Pretending to be Happy) which sold over 366,000 copies and peaked at number 3 on the charts (penned by Miyuki Nakajima) with a gold medal. She would score her last top 10 hit single in the summer of 1978 with the disco inspired single "Lipstick", and would release her last single and album in 1983.

Several of her singles have also been featured on the Japanese music show "The Best Ten", which aired from 1978 up to 1989. These include "Shiawase Shibai" (peaking at no. 3), "Oi Kakete Yokohama" (peaking at no. 10), "Lipstick" (peaking at no. 8), "Hatachi Ni Nareba" (peaking at no. 11), "Fuyu Iro No Machi" (peaking at no. 20), and "Santa Monica No Kaze" (peaking at no. 17).