Gospellers -- Hitori（ひとり）

It's been a while since I've actually done a Gospellers（ゴスペラーズ）tune. In fact, I think it was back in 2015 that I wrote about "Towa ni"（永遠に）, one of their love ballads. However, I have yet to cover their most successful song to date, "Hitori" (Alone).

With leader Tetsuya Murakami（村上てつてつや）and the rest of Gospellers giving their loving all to this particular ballad, I had assumed that this was a celebratory acapella song of romance. However, as it turns out, it's gosh darn sad since it's all about wishing a just-left-the-relationship partner all the best right after the downward spiral of a breakup, and it still hurts like a fractured rib. Moreover, I used to hear this one all the time on television.

Released as their 16th single in March 2001, "Hitori", which was penned by Murakami, hit No. 3 on Oricon and hung around the Top 10 for 11 weeks straight, selling around 600,000 copies. It ended up as the 22nd-ranked single of the year. Also, it became a track on Gospellers' February 2002 album "Frenzy", which peaked at No. 2 and ended that year as the 37th-ranked album. Gospellers also got their first invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 2001 to perform "Hitori".