Hanataba wo Kimi ni

Updated on Oct 22, 2023

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Format Digital download Genre J-pop Label Universal Music Japan		Recorded 2016 Length 4:42
Released April 15, 2016 (2016-04-15)

Hanataba o Kimi ni (花束を君に, lit. "A Bouquet For You") is a song by Japanese singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada. It was released digitally April 15, 2016, at the same as the other new single, Manatsu no Tōriame. The song is the theme to the dorama Toto Neechan. The single is Utada's first release since 2012's Evangelion 3.0 theme song Sakura Nagashi and it marks her official comeback to Japanese music scene. The song achieved #1 in 107 different charts in and outside Japan.

Composition

"Hanataba wo Kimi ni" is a soft J-pop ballad featuring prominent strings, as well as a piano and drums. It is one of her few singles to be completely in Japanese, with no English words in it. Lyrically, it speaks about the appreciation felt for a departed person and symbolically sending them a bouquet to show it. During one verse, she talks about how pain and sorrow were vital for love to exist (If there weren't any of the daily secret pains and loneliness / And there were only fun things / Then we got away without feeling anything like love).

Commercial reception

On April 30, 2016, the song entered Billboard's Japan Hot 100 at number 3, based on strong radio airplay and digital sales. The next week, it rose one place to number 2, which became its peak position on the chart. In its third week the song fell to number 7, then to number 9 and continued to slowly drop down on the chart during the following three months. After 16 weeks, it fell off the chart on the issue dated August 20, but re-entered the next week at number 64. Boosted by the release of the official music video in early September, "Hanataba wo kimi ni" shot up 52 positions from 79 to 27 and then stayed in the top 40 nearly uninterrupted until early November, reaching number 23 shortly after the album's release. It again descended down the charts and stayed in lower positions throughout November and December, but re-entered the top 20 after new year's day. It has been on the Hot 100 for 40 non-consecutive weeks so far.

The song has received a double-platinum certification by the RIAJ for digital sales in excess of 500,000 copies or more and became the second-highest-selling download single of the year, behind only "Zenzenzense" by Radwimps. It thus became her highest-selling download single since 2008's "Prisoner of Love, which was certified Million.