Dubbed The Eternal Idol, Seiko Matsuda has dominated the Japanese pop landscape for more than four decades, making her one of the country’s most successful artists of all time.
∙ Debuting in 1980 with the single “Hadashi no Kisetsu,” she topped the charts a few months later with “Kaze wa Aki Iro,” setting off an incredible run of 24 consecutive No. 1 singles.
∙ Matsuda has hit No.1 on the Japanese album charts 19 times, beginning with North Wind, her sophomore full-length (and second LP of 1980).
∙ In 1990, she scored a minor US hit with “The Right Combination,” a duet with Donnie Wahlberg (of New Kids On the Block) from her English-language album Seiko.
∙ Known for performing at Japan’s famed Budokan arena more than any other female artist in history, she has taken stage there upwards of 100 times.
∙ A star of Japanese film and TV, she’s also appeared in such US productions as Armageddon and Bones, and she made her directorial debut with an episode of HBO Asia’s Folklore.
∙ A winner of multiple Japan Record Awards—the country’s equivalent of the Grammys—she took home Best Vocal Performance honors in 2015.