is Hikaru Utada's 13th Japanese-language single (15th overall) and her 1st and only Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 single for 2004. She released 2 versions of Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro: CD and DVD. It was released on April 2, 2004. Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro is also included in the "Our Last Days" - "Casshern" OST as the theme song. Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro debuted at #1 on the Oricon

Oricon

, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

 chart with 150,020 copies sold, became her sixth single to go #1 for two consecutive weeks, and went on to sell 365,000. It was performed on Music Station

Music Station

is a Japanese music television program. It began broadcasting on October 24, 1986 and continues to be broadcast weekly in High-definition from 8PM-9PM on tv asahi...

 and on her Utada United 2006

Utada United 2006

Utada United 2006 was a 2006 concert tour by Japanese American pop singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada.- Set list :- The show :During the filmed concert, Utada wore 4 different outfits. The first outfit worn was a long, tattered, black and white outfit, with pieces of cloth that hung a little above her...

 tour. The single reached #1 on Oricon and charted for 22 weeks. This song became the #14 song of 2004 in Japan. This single reached #20 on World Charts for single airplay, and reached #2 for sales. "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" was featured in a Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 commercial for Hi-MD

Hi-MD

In January 2004, Sony announced the Hi-MD media storage format as a further development of the MiniDisc format. With its release in later 2004 came the ability to use newly-developed, high-capacity 1 gigabyte Hi-MD discs, sporting the same dimensions as regular MiniDiscs.- Main features :* The...

.

Track listing

Charts

"Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro" - Oricon

Oricon

, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

Sales Chart (Japan)

Release	Chart	Peak Position	Sales Total	Chart Run
April 21, 2004	Oricon Daily Singles Chart	1
	Oricon Weekly Singles Chart	1	365,206	22
	Oricon Yearly Singles Chart	14

Behind the Scenes

• A music box shown at the beginning of the single's promotional video is playing the "Blue Danube Waltz".
• The single's promotional video is the first to show Utada playing an instrument, the piano, as she sings. She was credited for playing the acoustic piano in the song in the single's booklet and also in the Ultra Blue
  Ultra Blue
  Ultra Blue is the award-winning fourth Japanese studio album by Hikaru Utada, released in 2006. It debuted at #1 on the Oricon daily, weekly and monthly charts and sold 500,317 copies in its first six days of sales...
  
  booklet, although she has not played any instruments on her live performances of "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro". (She can also play the guitar; this is shown in the video for "Keep Tryin'," and she has also performed "Devil Inside" while playing the guitar.)

External links

• Hikki's Website — official EMI Music Japan site
• Lyrics - Translation in Romaji and English