generasia:Featured article for 2017 week 30
Nishino Kana
Nishino Kana (西野カナ) is Japanese pop singer under Sony Music Japan. In the year 2005, she was the winner of 40,000 participants "Miss Phoenix Audition" audition held by Sony. Nishino made her major debut in February 2008 with the single "I".
After two unsuccessful singles, Nishino was chosen to sing the second ending theme for the anime Soul Eater. "Style." was released as her third single and was her highest selling single in 2008 due to the popularity of the anime series. However, her career took off in 2009 with the change in music style with her fifth single "Tookutemo" feat. WISE, which reached #40 on the Oricon charts even without a tie-in. Three months later, Nishino released "Kimi ni Aitaku Naru Kara", which became her first enter to the top 30 weekly of Oricon.
Her first album LOVE one. was released three weeks later featuring all her six singles. The album debuted at #4 on the weekly charts and has a long chart life, rising Nishino's name to stardom. Later that year, she released her seventh single "Motto...". The song debuted at the #1 spot on the RIAJ Digital Track Chart. Her second album to LOVE, released in 2010, reached #1 on the Oricon charts selling more than 750.000 copies. She has been within the top 5 best-selling female solo artists in Japan every year since 2011.
Her 31st single "Girls" is released this week on July 26th.
