Yuuri (優里)

Overview

Yuuri (優里, born March 23, 1994) is a Japanese singer-songwriter born in Tokushima Prefecture and raised in Chiba. He is signed to Ariola Japan and also runs the YouTube channel "Yuuri Channel." A former member of the four-piece rock band THE BUGZY, he also writes songs for other artists, including BAK, YO-CO and artists produced by CHIMERAZ.

Career

2019

Yuuri fronted THE BUGZY until the band disbanded in May 2019, then began street performances centered on Tokyo. While singing My First Story's "Hana -0714-" at Shibuya's scramble crossing, My First Story vocalist Hiro jumped in to sing the second verse, which became a hot topic. On November 30 he joined the encore of the final show of "MY FIRST STORY TOUR 2019" at Saitama Super Arena, performing his original song "Kakurenbo" (recording supervised by Hiro) together with "Hana -0714-". On December 1 he made his indie debut with "Kakurenbo," which ranked 4th on the iTunes Japan general chart; My First Story's version was released the same day.

2020

On February 28 he released his second indie song, "Kagome," which topped the USEN indies chart on March 18. He made his major debut with Sony Music on August 9 with "Peter Pan," and on October 25 released his second major single, "Dry Flower." He started his YouTube channel in March 2020.

2021

On February 1, "Dry Flower" passed 100 million streams on Billboard Japan's Streaming Songs chart after 13 weeks of charting, the fastest by a solo male artist. On March 22, "Kakurenbo" also passed 100 million streams, the first time an artist had two songs reach that mark within eight months of major debut. "Dry Flower" passed 400 million streams on September 1 and 500 million on December 22, a first and fastest for a solo artist. It was named No. 1 on Billboard Japan's "HOT 100 of the Year 2021" and topped Oricon's 2021 annual digital single and streaming rankings, the first annual digital double crown in Oricon history.

2022

His first original album, "Ichi" (壱), was released on January 12 and debuted at No. 1 on Billboard Japan's Download Albums chart and Oricon's weekly digital album ranking, both firsts for him. On January 31 he released his first non-Japanese single, the English version of "Dry Flower" titled "Dried Flowers." In February, "Betelgeuse" passed 100 million streams. Singles that year included "Time Machine" (July 12), "Dried Flowers (Chinese ver.)" (August 8), "Oni-gokko" (September 12), "Christmas Eve" (November 27) and "Merry-go-round" (December 22).

2023

He released "Billimillion" on January 19 and "The Day We Stopped Being Lovers" on February 14. His second original album, "Ni" (弐), arrived on March 29, reaching No. 1 on Billboard Japan's Hot Albums and Oricon's weekly combined album ranking, both firsts for him. On July 7, "Dry Flower" topped Oricon's first-half karaoke ranking for a third straight year. He appeared on TV Tokyo's The Voice Japan in April and May, and released the album "Hibiki" (響) on November 29.

2024

On April 13 he announced a band called "Yowamushi Danshaku" with Takaya Kawasaki and Tani Yuuki, with a first live show at Shibuya O-crest. On July 17, Billboard Japan announced that "Dry Flower" had passed one billion streams, the first billion hit by a solo artist. "Curtain Call" was released on July 19, and on September 14 he publicly disclosed that he has panic disorder and agoraphobia.

2025 and beyond

He released "DiNA" (January 10), "Sai & Kyo" (April 20), "Rinne Tensei" (June 28) and "Saitei na Kimi ni Okuru Uta" (November 14). On January 14, 2026, he released "Sekai ga Owarimashita," the theme song for the TV Asahi drama "Saikai: Silent Truth."

Musical style and influences

Influenced by his mother's love of Western rock, Yuuri grew up listening to Bon Jovi, Queen and AC/DC; Bon Jovi inspired him to become a singer. In high school he turned to Japanese artists such as BUMP OF CHICKEN and Spitz, and he names Koji Tamaki as the musician he respects most. He writes his own lyrics and music, and has supplied songs to others, including Jun Miyasaka's "Shutter," Little Glee Monster's "Kokoro ni Sora wo," Hey! Say! JUMP's "Bitter Chocolate" and TOMORROW X TOGETHER's "Hydrangea Love."