One of Japan's most popular entertainers during the 1980s and 1990s, Noriko Sakai cracked the Top 10 with her first 16 singles, all while pursuing an equally popular career as a television actress. She was born in Fukuoka, Japan, on February 14, 1971. Her debut single "Otoko no Ko ni Naritai" was released in early 1987 and reached number 6 on the Japanese charts, giving Sakai a genuine hit at 17 years old. By the time 1987 drew to a close, she'd released the debut album Fantasia: Noriko Part I and reached number 4 with the follow-up singles "Nagisa no Fantasy," "No-re-na-i Teen-age," and "Yume Bōken." She released albums in 1988, including the number 8 hits Guanbare: Noriko Part II and Lovely Times: Noriko Part III, and reached number 1 for the first time with her Singles: Noriko Best compilation in 1990. Noriko Sakai's career continued gather momentum throughout the first half of the 1990s, with 1995's double-platinum single "Aoi Usagi" marking her commercial peak. 1996's "Kagami No Dress" went platinum, too, but her popularity in Japan declined during the late-'90s and early 2000s, even as her audience in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China remained strong. A drug scandal in 2009 prompted her to withdraw from the public eye for several years, but she rekindled her career with the 2014 EP Namida Hitotsubu and released several compilations during the years that followed, including 2017's Golden Best and 2023's Premium Best.
